Sage Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Sage Is Doing

Culinary sage is the leaf of Salvia officinalis, a mint-family plant native from southwestern Germany to southern Europe.¹ PROSEA attributes its strong, characteristic smell to compounds called thujones and lists sausages, stuffings and soups among its main uses as a spice.² The University of Delaware’s extension service puts sage in its group of strong herbs and warns that too much can be “extremely objectionable.”³ No other kitchen herb shares that thujone-led profile, so each substitute below shifts the flavor. Pick by the job sage is doing.

Quick answer

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.

None of the herb-for-sage ratios we found say how they were reached. They are rules of thumb, not measurements of flavor strength.

If the recipe calls for fresh sage and you have dried

Dried sage is the same plant, and it holds up reasonably well. In America’s Test Kitchen’s tests, dried rosemary, sage and thyme fared reasonably well in recipes with fairly long cooking times (more than 20 minutes) and a good amount of liquid.⁴ Dried sage is sold rubbed or ground, and the Spice House gives a conversion between the two.⁵

Fresh to dried (Disputed): The sources do not agree, and the gap is twofold.

The extension figures are general herb rules, while the Spice House and A Couple Cooks give sage-specific figures that differ from each other. None explains how its figure was reached. Start with 1/2 teaspoon of dried or rubbed sage per tablespoon of fresh, taste once the dish has cooked a while, and work up toward 1 teaspoon.

Rubbed to ground (Attributed): The Spice House says 1 teaspoon of rubbed sage is roughly equal to 1/2 teaspoon of ground sage.⁵ It is a volume figure, not a measure of strength.

A sprig (Attributed): When a recipe calls for a sprig, the Spice House says to use about 1/2 teaspoon of dried sage.⁵

If sage is flavoring stuffing or poultry

This is the job most cooks think of. PROSEA lists stuffings among sage’s main uses.² You want an herb with a soft, savory warmth that sits well with bread, onion and fat.

1. Marjoram

The Spice House calls marjoram an especially good match for stuffing because it shares a mild, minty flavor with sage.⁵ Both are mint-family plants.¹⁹ The chemistry differs. Marjoram’s sweet note is credited to cis-sabinene hydrate,¹⁰ while sage’s smell comes mainly from thujones.² The University of Delaware groups marjoram with the medium-strength herbs, a step below sage,³ so expect a softer, sweeter result.

Ratio (Attributed): A Couple Cooks says to substitute equal parts fresh or dried marjoram for fresh or dried sage.⁶

2. Savory

Savory is also in the mint family,¹¹ and Britannica says its leaves season poultry and stuffings in particular.¹² In a tasting by America’s Test Kitchen, most tasters found savory closer to thyme and sage than to mint.¹³ The Spice House includes savory in its list of sage alternatives,⁵ and it is one of the herbs in the French Label Rouge specification for herbes de Provence.¹⁴ Summer savory is the milder of the two kinds; Britannica describes winter savory as harsher and more bitter.¹²

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with the same amount as the sage and taste. If you have winter savory, start with a little less.

If sage is a background note in soups, beans or braises

Thyme

The Spice House names thyme or poultry seasoning as a good substitute for sage in soup.⁵ A Couple Cooks says thyme has a similar herbaceous quality but is not nearly as strong.⁶ Thyme is another mint-family herb,¹⁵ but its oil is led by thymol and carvacrol,¹⁶ so the dish will taste of thyme rather than sage. It is a hardy herb: America’s Test Kitchen groups the hearty herbs, thyme among them, as ones to add early.¹⁷

Ratio (Attributed): A Couple Cooks says to use equal parts fresh or dried thyme for fresh or dried sage.⁶

If sage is seasoning pork, sausage or roast meat

Rosemary

Rosemary is now in the same genus as sage, Salvia.¹⁸¹ A Couple Cooks says it has similar pine-like undertones and works especially well fresh.⁶ Both herbs are in the University of Delaware’s strong group,³ and the European Medicines Agency lists both among plants that contain thujone in variable amounts.¹⁹ Rosemary oil, though, is dominated by α-pinene and 1,8-cineole,²⁰ so in our judgment it reads as piney and resinous where sage reads as musky.

Ratio (Attributed): A Couple Cooks says to use equal parts fresh or dried rosemary for fresh or dried sage.⁶

If sage is one herb in a turkey or soup seasoning

Poultry seasoning

The Spice House notes that poultry seasoning often contains sage and suggests it, or a mix of rosemary and thyme, for turkey.⁵ A Couple Cooks says sage is usually the main ingredient in poultry seasoning.⁶ That is not true of every brand. McCormick Culinary’s poultry seasoning lists thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper and nutmeg,²¹ and US labels list ingredients by weight, largest first,²² so that blend has more thyme than sage.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with the same amount as the sage, then taste; the black pepper and nutmeg come along too.

Italian seasoning

The Spice House and A Couple Cooks both list it.⁵⁶ The USDA’s purchasing specification for Italian seasoning includes sage with thyme, rosemary, oregano and basil,²³ but McCormick’s version lists sage last of seven herbs.²⁴ Expect McCormick’s blend to taste more of marjoram and basil than of sage.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with the same amount and taste.

Other herbs on substitute lists

The Spice House also names oregano, tarragon, bay leaf and basil as alternatives, without amounts.⁵ These move the dish further from sage. Oregano oil is mostly carvacrol and thymol,²⁵ which puts it closer to thyme; tarragon brings a licorice or anise note;²⁶ and in our judgment bay leaf belongs in a simmering pot rather than in stuffing.

Ratio (Method): No published ratios were found. Start with half the sage amount for oregano or tarragon, and one bay leaf per pot in a soup or braise.

What isn’t known

• No published measurement compares sage’s strength with any substitute. Every Attributed figure above is a rule of thumb.
• The fresh-to-dried figure for sage is in dispute, and nobody we found has measured it.
• Whether marjoram’s flavor holds up less well than sage’s over long cooking is often claimed, but we found no source that tests it. The University of Delaware’s general advice for long-simmered dishes is to add herbs in the last 45 minutes.³
• A rosemary amount of one third the sage is sometimes given. We found no source for it; the only published figure we found is one for one.

Related

• Sage, fresh sage vs. dried and cooking with sage
• Rosemary vs. sage and sage vs. lavender
• Marjoram, summer savory, winter savory, thyme and rosemary
• Poultry seasoning, poultry seasoning substitutes and Italian seasoning
• Sage uses, too much sage? how to fix the dish and how to store sage