Summer Savory Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Savory Is Doing

Summer savory is Satureja hortensis, an annual herb of the mint family native from southeastern Europe to Kazakhstan and northwestern Iran.¹ Britannica describes its flavor as delicate, sweet and spicy, and says the leaves season poultry and stuffings in particular.² In German it is Bohnenkraut, which Duden defines as a seasoning used especially for bean dishes.³ Its oil is built on the same phenols as thyme and oregano: across the studies in one review, carvacrol ranged from 11 to 67 percent and thymol from 0.3 to 28.2 percent.⁴ That shared chemistry is why the best substitutes come from the thyme and oregano side of the mint family.

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.

One ratio on this page comes from a published tasting test. The rest are starting points.

If savory is seasoning stuffing, poultry or soup

1. Thyme and sage, two to one

America’s Test Kitchen tasted savory and found that, although it belongs to the mint family, most tasters detected a stronger resemblance to thyme and sage.⁵ Its test cooks then replaced chopped fresh summer savory with fresh thyme and fresh sage in sausage stuffing and chicken soup, and tasters said the combination was nearly identical to savory.⁵

The chemistry explains half of that. Thyme oil is characterized by thymol and carvacrol,⁶ the same phenols found in savory oil.⁴ Sage brings something different: PROSEA credits its strong smell to thujones,⁷ and it lists stuffings among sage’s main uses.⁷

Ratio (Attributed): ATK says to replace summer savory with 2 parts fresh thyme to 1 part fresh sage.⁵ In its test, 3 teaspoons of savory became 2 teaspoons of thyme and 1 of sage, so the total volume stays the same.

Dried thyme and sage (Method): ATK tested fresh herbs only. If you have dried, keep the same 2:1 proportion and the same total volume as the dried savory called for. Dried thyme and sage both hold up reasonably well in long-cooked dishes with liquid, according to ATK’s separate dried-herb tests.⁸

2. Thyme alone

Thyme is one of the two herbs ATK’s tasters named,⁵ and it shares savory’s phenols.⁶⁴ It is also a hardy herb that ATK groups with those added early in cooking.⁹ The Spice House, going the other way, lists summer savory among its favorite substitutes for thyme.¹⁰

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found for thyme alone. Start with the same amount as the savory and taste.

3. Sage alone

Sage alone gives the stuffing flavor but not savory’s thyme-like side, and it is the stronger herb: the University of Delaware’s guide puts sage in its strong group and savory in its medium group.¹¹

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with half as much sage as savory and taste.

If savory is seasoning beans or lentils

Savory’s German name ties it to beans,³ and Monticello’s notes on winter savory list bean dishes among its uses.¹² Any of the substitutes above will work in a bean pot. Winter savory, if you have it, is the closest relative.

Winter savory

Winter savory, Satureja montana, is a perennial in the same genus.¹³ Britannica says it can be used much like summer savory in cooking but has a harsher, more bitter flavor.² ATK describes summer savory as the more delicate of the two, with winter savory coarser in texture.⁵ One analysis of a Croatian winter savory oil found carvacrol as its leading compound, at 13.7 percent.¹⁴

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Because winter savory is harsher, start with about two thirds as much and add more after tasting.

If savory is one herb in a dried blend

Herbes de Provence

The French Label Rouge specification for herbes de Provence calls for 26 to 27 percent savory, with the same share of rosemary and oregano and 19 percent thyme.¹⁵ It brings savory back, along with a strong dose of rosemary.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with the same amount and taste, keeping in mind that rosemary and oregano make up most of the rest.

If the dish is light or quickly cooked

Marjoram

Marjoram, Origanum majorana, is in the same family as savory and the same genus as oregano.¹⁶ Its sweet note is credited to cis-sabinene hydrate, though some marjoram oils are of a carvacrol and thymol type.¹⁷ The University of Delaware’s guide puts marjoram and savory in the same medium-strength group,¹¹ and the University’s general advice for long-simmered dishes is to add herbs in the last 45 minutes.¹¹

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with the same amount, stirred in toward the end.

If you want a sharper note

Oregano

Oregano is the carvacrol-heavy end of the family. Carvacrol and thymol together make up about 78 to 85 percent of oregano essential oil,¹⁸ and the same review notes that the name “oregano” is applied to plants of several genera, Satureja among them.¹⁸ Britannica describes oregano’s taste as warm and pungent.¹⁹

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. In our judgment dried oregano is more assertive than dried savory, so start with a third to two thirds as much and taste.

What isn’t known

• No published measurement compares the strength of summer savory with any substitute. ATK’s 2:1 thyme and sage blend is the only tested swap we found, and it was tested with fresh herbs in two dishes.
• Fines herbes is sometimes said to contain both thyme and savory. Britannica lists its usual herbs as parsley, chives, tarragon and chervil.²⁰ The French blend that contains both is herbes de Provence.¹⁵
• Thyme and mint, and hyssop, are also suggested as savory substitutes. We found no source for either.
• No source compares how marjoram and savory hold up in long cooking.

Related

• Summer savory, cooking with summer savory and summer savory uses
• Summer savory vs. winter savory and winter savory substitutes
• Thyme, sage, winter savory, marjoram and oregano
• Herbes de Provence, poultry seasoning and fines herbes
• Thyme substitutes and sage substitutes