Tarragon vs. Thyme: Flavor, Uses and Swaps

Tarragon and thyme both belong to the French kitchen, but they do different jobs there. Tarragon is the anise-scented leaf of béarnaise and fines herbes, best fresh and added late.¹²³ Thyme is the savory backbone of bouquet garni and herbes de Provence, and it holds up to drying and long cooking.⁴⁵⁶ Their oils share no main compound: tarragon’s is mostly estragole, thyme’s is characterized by thymol and carvacrol.⁷⁸

Side by side

	Tarragon	Thyme
Species	Artemisia dracunculus L.⁹	Thymus vulgaris L., common or garden thyme¹⁰
Family	Asteraceae (daisy family)⁹	Lamiaceae (mint family), with marjoram¹⁰¹¹
Native range	Temperate Northern Hemisphere to tropical mountains (Kew)⁹	Southwestern Europe and southeastern Italy (Kew)¹⁰
Kinds sold	French tarragon, the cooking type; Russian tarragon, grown from seed, lacks French tarragon’s smell and flavor¹²³	Common thyme, plus others such as lemon thyme, a hybrid with common thyme as one parent¹³
Leaves	Dark green, narrow and slightly twisted³	Tiny: blade 3 to 8 mm long, dotted with oil glands⁸
Main oil compounds	Estragole: 60 to 75% of tarragon oil (EU Scientific Committee on Food)⁷	Thymol and carvacrol; one T. vulgaris oil had 42.44% thymol and 2.28% carvacrol (Dong et al. 2023)⁸¹⁴
Flavor, per the sources	Sweet anise-like scent, bittersweet flavor (PROSEA);¹² licorice or anise (Illinois Extension)³	Not described in the sources; savory, sharp and slightly medicinal is our description
Strength	Medium-strength herb (University of Delaware)¹⁵	Medium-strength herb (University of Delaware)¹⁵
Dried	Flavor quickly lost on drying³	Dried thyme fared reasonably well in long, liquid cooking (ATK)⁶
When to add	Delicate and volatile; late⁶	Hearty; can go in early¹⁶
Signature blends	Fines herbes²	Bouquet garni, herbes de Provence, Italian seasoning⁴⁵¹⁷

The two compound rows come from different studies and different samples. Thyme in particular varies: PROSEA describes six chemotypes of Mediterranean thyme, including one in which thymol and carvacrol are each below 5%.⁸

Why they taste so different

Tarragon tastes of anise or licorice.³ Its oil is dominated by estragole, also called methyl chavicol.⁷ Thyme’s oil is characterized instead by thymol and carvacrol.⁸ No source here tests which compound produces which flavor note, so this page names the leading compounds without claiming they cause the taste.

Both herbs come in more than one kind, and in both cases the name on the label matters:

Tarragon. Seed sold as tarragon is Russian tarragon, which lacks the smell and flavor of French tarragon; true French tarragon never sets viable seed and is sold only as plants.³¹²
Thyme. Lemon thyme is a hybrid of T. pulegioides and common thyme.¹³ See thyme vs. lemon thyme.

Fresh, dried and heat

This is the practical divide.

Tarragon is best fresh and late. Illinois Extension says its flavor is quickly lost when the leaves are dried.³ America’s Test Kitchen lists tarragon among the delicate herbs whose flavor compounds are more volatile.⁶
Thyme handles drying and long cooking. In ATK’s tests, dried rosemary, sage and thyme fared reasonably well in dishes with long cooking times and plenty of liquid.⁶ ATK groups thyme with the hearty herbs that go in early, whose flavor compounds are somewhat more heat-stable.¹⁶

Can one stand in for the other?

Not closely. The University of Delaware puts both in its medium-strength group,¹⁵ so neither overwhelms the other by sheer force, but the flavors do not overlap.

Swap	Ratio	Treatment
Tarragon for thyme	No published ratio. The Spice House suggests tarragon in a rub when thyme is missing, without an amount¹⁸	Method
Thyme for tarragon	No source recommends it	Method

Tarragon for thyme. In a rub or a quick chicken or fish dish, start with about half the thyme amount of tarragon and taste; expect an anise note instead of a savory one. In a long braise or stock, tarragon is a poor stand-in because it is a delicate herb.⁶ Oregano, marjoram or savory are closer matches; see thyme substitutes.

Thyme for tarragon. In béarnaise or fines herbes, thyme makes a different dish. Where tarragon is a background herb in a chicken or vegetable dish, a small pinch of thyme keeps the dish savory without imitating tarragon. For anise-leaning options, see tarragon substitutes. Both starting points are our judgment, not tested ratios.

Where each belongs

Tarragon. Britannica calls tarragon an essential ingredient in béarnaise,¹ and it is one of the herbs commonly found in fines herbes, with parsley, chives and chervil.² PROSEA says it suits chicken, egg and lobster dishes and describes tarragon vinegar made with wine vinegar.¹²

Thyme. PROSEA lists butter, cheese, fish, meat and soups.⁸ It goes into classic French blends: Britannica’s classic bouquet garni is parsley and thyme sprigs with a bay leaf,⁴ and the French Label Rouge specification for herbes de Provence calls for 19 percent thyme.⁵ The USDA’s purchasing specification for Italian seasoning lists thyme with rosemary, sage, oregano and basil.¹⁷ Beyond France, Smithsonian Magazine names fresh thyme, with allspice, as essential to Jamaican jerk,¹⁹ and a University of California extension recipe page says za’atar at its most basic includes thyme, with sumac, oregano and sesame.²⁰

What isn’t known

No published measurement compares the flavor strength of tarragon and thyme.
No source gives a ratio for either swap.
The idea that dried tarragon works better than fresh as a thyme stand-in is often repeated; no source tests it.

“Tarragon”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩ ↩²
“Fines herbes”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
“Tarragon: French”, University of Illinois Extension. extension.illinois.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
“Bouquet garni”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
Label Rouge “Herbes de Provence” (LA 02/03), specification modification request, INAO, 2014. extranet.inao.gouv.fr · Regulator ↩ ↩² ↩³
“Science: Substituting Dried Herbs for Fresh”, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food on Estragole, European Commission, 2001. food.ec.europa.eu · Regulator ↩ ↩² ↩³
S.H. Widodo, Thymus vulgaris, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Artemisia dracunculus L., Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. powo.science.kew.org · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
Thymus vulgaris L., Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. powo.science.kew.org · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
Origanum majorana L., Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. powo.science.kew.org · Reference work ↩
C.C. de Guzman and R.A. Reglos, Artemisia dracunculus, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Thymus × citriodorus (Pers.) Schreb., Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. powo.science.kew.org · Reference work ↩ ↩²
Dong et al., “Chemical Compositions of Essential Oil Extracted from Eight Thyme Species”, Plants, 2023. mdpi.com · Peer-reviewed ↩
“Using Herbs and Spices”, University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, 2025. udel.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
Liz Bomze, “Our Guide to Fresh Herbs”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2019. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩²
Commercial Item Description A-A-20001C, Spices and Spice Blends, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, 2023. ams.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²
“The 11 Best Thyme Substitutes”, The Spice House, 2018. thespicehouse.com · Merchant ↩
Vaughn Stafford Gray, “A Brief History of Jamaican Jerk”, Smithsonian Magazine, 2020. smithsonianmag.com · Publication ↩
“Za’atar Spice Blend”, UC Cooperative Extension Master Food Preservers of El Dorado County. ccfruitandnuts.ucanr.edu · Reference work ↩

Tarragon vs. Thyme: Two French Kitchen Herbs That Do Different Jobs