Pickling Spice Substitutes: What to Use in the Jar and in the Pot

Pickling spice is a mix of whole spices used to flavor pickling brines, and also corned beef and other brined foods. There is no standard recipe: USDA’s purchasing specification for spice blends does not include it,¹ and three commercial blends we compared differ by as many as five ingredients.²³⁴ What they share is a core of mustard seed, allspice, coriander, cloves, bay leaf, pepper, mace and chile.²³⁴ Because the blend is just whole spices, the best substitute is almost always a mix you put together yourself. The bigger question is whether the spices are going into a jar of pickles, where form matters, or into a pot, where it matters much less.

Quick answer

The rest of the page explains each choice.

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship, with the source named.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. We show each one and do not average them.
• Method: we found no published ratio. We give a direction and a cautious starting point, and say so.

The only published proportions on this page are for making the blend itself. We found no published ratio for replacing pickling spice with another blend.

Why whole spices matter in a jar

The National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) lists ground spices as one cause of dark or discolored pickles, and recommends whole spices.⁵ It lists leaving spices in the jars as another cause, and says to put spices loosely in a cheesecloth bag so they can be taken out before canning.⁵ Its quick dill pickle recipe uses 2 tablespoons of whole mixed pickling spice tied in a clean white cloth.⁶ Cooking spices too long in the vinegar, or using too many, can give a strong, bitter taste.⁵

So for pickles, any substitute should be whole spices in a bag, not a ground seasoning. Substituting spices changes flavor; we found no NCHFP guidance on whether it affects safety, so in a tested canning recipe change only the spices and keep the vinegar, water and salt as written. That last point is our judgment.

If pickling spice is flavoring a pickle

1. Make your own

A homemade blend from The Art of Preserving, published by Williams Sonoma, combines one cinnamon stick broken into pieces, 2 crushed dried bay leaves, 2 whole cloves, 2 tablespoons each of mustard seeds and whole coriander seeds, 1 tablespoon of mixed peppercorns, 2 teaspoons each of whole allspice and dill seeds, and 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, stored airtight for up to a year.⁷ Without the cinnamon, bay and cloves, that adds up to about 6 2/3 tablespoons of seeds and flakes.

Ratio (Attributed recipe proportions): The proportions above are the book’s. Use the finished mix one for one in place of store-bought pickling spice.

What each spice brings:

Allspice and cloves share eugenol, so one can partly cover for the other; that inference is ours, from the PROSEA figures. Whole white (yellow) mustard seeds have no smell,¹⁵ and their heat comes from a reaction that needs crushing and water,¹⁴ so whole seeds in a brine add more texture and mild flavor than heat.

2. A short version with what you have

Ratio (Method): No source gives a reduced recipe. Build the mix from whatever whole spices you have, keeping mustard seed and coriander as the largest parts, as they are in the recipe above,⁷ then allspice, peppercorns and a bay leaf. Use the total one for one in place of pickling spice. If you have dill seed, add it; McCormick’s blend has none,² but The Spice House and World Spice include it,³⁴ and NCHFP’s dill pickle recipe adds dill to the jars separately.⁶

The Spice House describes its own blend’s logic: cassia, cloves, allspice and star anise for warm sweetness, and pepper, mustard seed, dill seed and juniper for a savory tang.³ Keeping something from each side is a reasonable guide when you are short of spices.

If pickling spice is flavoring corned beef

The Spice House calls its blend ideal for corned beef and suggests five parts pickling spice to one part coriander seed.³ For a braise rather than a jar, the discoloration NCHFP describes does not apply, and ground spices can stand in for whole if that is all you have. Strain or skim as you like.

Ratio (Computed, whole to ground): McCormick’s conversions are 5 whole allspice berries (about 1 teaspoon) to 1 teaspoon of ground allspice, and 1 teaspoon of coriander seed to 1 1/4 teaspoons of ground coriander.¹⁶ These are volume figures, not potency figures. For the other spices, we found no conversion we could use here; start with the same volume, ground, and taste.

If pickling spice is a warm note in a stew or braise

McCormick suggests its pickling spice for brines, marinades and stews.² In a stew, a ground spice blend with an overlapping set of spices can stand in, as long as you accept a different flavor. None of these belongs in a jar of pickles.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio. Start with half the pickling spice amount, because these are ground and release flavor quickly, and taste before adding more. Check the label for salt and sugar, especially in jerk seasoning, whose McCormick version lists sea salt and sugar.²²

Crab boil seasoning: not for pickles

Old Bay was created in Baltimore as a crab seasoning,²³ and its label lists celery salt (salt and celery seed), spices including red and black pepper, and paprika.²⁴ It is ground and salted, so by NCHFP’s guidance it is a poor choice for a jar,⁵ and its salt will throw off a brine. It shares pepper and chile with pickling spice and little else that its label names.

What isn’t known

• No published ratio exists for replacing pickling spice with any other blend.
• No standard defines pickling spice, so “one part” of a commercial blend is not a fixed mix.¹
• We could not confirm the ingredient list of a whole-spice crab boil product from a label, so those products are not ranked here.
• It is sometimes said that pickling spices are chosen because they hold up to heat and fermentation. We found no source that states this.

Related

• Pickling spice and pickling salt
• Corned beef and cabbage spices
• The component spices: allspice, cloves, coriander, bay leaves, dill, mustard seed uses, black pepper, cinnamon, mace, juniper berries
• Swaps for the components: allspice substitutes, coriander substitutes, bay leaf substitutes, dill substitutes
• Other blends: baharat, garam masala, ras el hanout, jerk seasoning, Old Bay seasoning