Nutmeg Uses: From Béchamel and Spinach to Eggnog and Rum Punch

Nutmeg is the dried seed kernel of Myristica fragrans. Britannica describes its distinctive pungent fragrance and warm, slightly sweet taste.¹ In Western kitchens it is mostly a baking spice, but it has a long savory record too: Katzer calls it the characteristic flavoring of béchamel,² and FAO lists it in sausages, soups and dairy desserts.³ This page sorts nutmeg’s uses by kind of dish. For grating, amounts and timing, see cooking with nutmeg.

At a glance

In sauces

Béchamel. Katzer calls nutmeg the characteristic flavoring of sauce béchamel, in which the only spices are nutmeg and ground white pepper.² Emeril Lagasse’s béchamel uses a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg for 2 cups of milk.⁴ That pinch is a good guide to scale for any white sauce, including the base of a gratin, lasagna or mac and cheese; the extension to those dishes is cooking judgment.

Cheese. Katzer notes that nutmeg sometimes flavors cheese dishes, giving fondue as an example.²

With vegetables

• Spinach. Katzer calls the combination of spinach and nutmeg something of a classic.² McCormick and America’s Test Kitchen both name creamed spinach.⁵⁶
• Potatoes and carrots. McCormick suggests scalloped potatoes and glazed carrots.⁵
• Cabbage and other vegetables. Katzer says Dutch cooks use nutmeg on cabbage, potatoes and other vegetables, as well as in meat, soups, stews and sauces.²
• Pumpkin and squash. The Food Hero curried pumpkin soup, published on MedlinePlus, uses ¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg.¹²

ATK adds quiche to the list of dairy-based savory dishes that take nutmeg.⁶ A common claim extends nutmeg to broccoli, cauliflower and sweet potatoes. Those are reasonable pairings by kitchen practice, but we found no named source for them.

In meat dishes and soups

FAO lists sausages, other meat products and soups among nutmeg’s uses.³ Katzer notes that in Arab countries, Iran and northern India, nutmeg and mace appear in delicately flavored meat dishes.² In French onion soup, Bernard Laurance seasons the onions lightly with salt, a little pepper and nutmeg.⁷

A common claim says nutmeg is traditional in Italian sausages, gnocchi and pasta sauces. We found no source for those specific dishes.

In desserts and baking

PROSEA says that in most countries grated nutmeg is used in small quantities to flavor confectionery.⁸ Katzer says that in Western cooking it is most popular in cakes, crackers and stewed fruits.²

• Custards and dairy desserts. FAO’s list of dairy uses names eggnog, ice cream and milk pudding.³ In Grenada, Katzer writes, nutmeg is so common that people eat nutmeg-flavored ice cream.²
• Pumpkin pie. Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery, printed in 1796, spices a “pompkin” pie with mace, nutmeg and ginger.⁹
• Breakfast. The Food Hero French toast from Oregon State University Extension uses ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon or nutmeg.¹³ See French toast spices.
• Fruit. In Milk Street’s grating test, nutmeg went into banana bread and was sprinkled over fresh mango, and freshly grated won both times.¹⁴ Katzer’s stewed fruits are another fit.²

A common claim says nutmeg goes into jam. Katzer does describe an Indonesian jam, but it is made from the fleshy fruit around the nutmeg seed, not flavored with the spice.²

In drinks

• Eggnog. One of FAO’s listed dairy uses.³
• Grenadian rum punch. FAO says nutmeg is obligatory in it.³
• Haitian cremas. Claudy Pierre’s recipe in Table Magazine uses 2 teaspoons of grated nutmeg.¹⁰
• Hawaij for coffee. Tasting Table describes the Yemeni coffee blend as a powder of ginger, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg.¹¹ See hawaij.
• Hot cocoa. The Nosher’s hawaij hot cocoa adds a pinch of nutmeg.¹⁵

In spice blends

Katzer places ras el hanout in Morocco,² not the wider Middle East as is sometimes said.

Fresh or ground for these uses

Milk Street’s tasters preferred freshly grated nutmeg in every test and found ground nutmeg faded within months of opening.¹⁴ America’s Test Kitchen says grinding your own matters most where nutmeg is the only spice; in foods with lots of spices, preground is fine.⁶ So grate it for béchamel, eggnog and custard, and don’t worry about it in a pumpkin pie spice. More on fresh vs. ground nutmeg.

Safety: how much is too much

The amounts in all of these uses are small. The National Capital Poison Center says nutmeg is not dangerous when used as recipes recommend, and advises keeping nutmeg and mace out of children’s reach.²⁰ Poison centers give different intoxication thresholds, which we show rather than average:

Tennessee says symptoms typically appear 3 to 8 hours after eating it.²¹ A pinch in béchamel or a quarter teaspoon in a pot of soup is far below either figure.⁴¹² For a dish that tastes of too much nutmeg, see too much nutmeg.

Not yet measured

• Whether nutmeg suits broccoli, cauliflower or sweet potatoes better than other vegetables; no named recipe found.
• A typical amount per serving across savory recipes.

Related

• Nutmeg, cooking with nutmeg and how to store nutmeg
• Nutmeg substitutes and too much nutmeg
• Mace vs. nutmeg, allspice vs. nutmeg, cinnamon vs. nutmeg and nutmeg vs. cloves