This easy herb guide helps you figure out which herbs go best with which foods! Find out which herbs work best in various dishes and make more tasty meals!
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Herb Guide – Herbs That Complement Different Dishes
The following herbs go well with these meats:
- Beef: thyme, celery, marjoram, coriander, sage, rosemary, oregano, garlic
- Chicken: garlic, marjoram, tarragon, oregano, coriander
- Fish, fried: mustard, oregano, tarragon, sage
- Fish, grilled: thyme, coriander, fennel, rosemary
- Pork: marjoram, mustard, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, garlic
- Roast Beef: basil, oregano, thyme, mustard, rosemary, garlic
- Turkey: basil, rosemary, cumin, oregano, thyme, sage
The following herbs work well in these dishes:
- Basil: tomatoes, tomato sauces, peas, squash, lamb, fish, eggs, tossed salad, cheese, potatoes, pasta
- Bay leaf: vegetable and fish soups, tomato sauces, poached fish and meat stews
- Dill: fish, cream and cottage cheese, potatoes, fish, vegetable salads, pickles, tomatoes
- Marjoram: fish, vegetable soups, cheese dishes, stew, roast chicken, beef, pork, stuffing
- Mint: jellies, fruit juices, candies, frosting, cakes, pies, pork, potatoes, peas and chocolate
- Oregano: tomato sauces, pork, pizza, vegetable and fish salads, chili
- Parsley: meats, vegetables, soups, eggs, cheese
- Rosemary: poultry stuffing, potatoes, cauliflower, fish
- Sage: stuffing, pork roast, sausage, poultry and hamburgers
- Savory: eggs, meats, salads, chicken, soups and stuffing
- Tarragon: fish sauces, egg and cheese dishes, green salads, pickles, chicken, tomatoes, sauces for meats and vegetables
- Thyme: soups, stuffing, beef, pork dishes, eggs, cheese, bean and vegetable soups and fish
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This is good information to know when I am cooking. Herbs are good for you they help your body to do what it was naturely made to do.
I love herbs. This info is so helpful. Herbs smell and taste so good.
for a change of taste mint goes well with chicken and pork dishes. Sage added to spice blends kicks up the flavour of back ribs as well.
Thanks for the info. All my garden is doing well so this helps.
I have 2 different sage plants growing.
Tarragon which I have never grown or used before.
Thyme is thriving in my rock garden and beside the rhubarb.
Oragano, Rosemary will give me a lot of it to preserve in what ever way I finally decide on.
Parsley is just now starting to show up and 2 different types of basil the sweet basil is great but the cinnamon isn’t doing much of anything and the tai basil is about 1/2 an inch tall so waiting to see how it will do.
Thank heavens my dill plant and seeds are also coming along. we eat a lot of fish and dill is the flavour of choice but an Italian blend is also pretty good.
When the peas are ready I think I will use mint when cooking those.
So as you can see this info will come in very handy.
Try tarragon with seafood. Especially shellfish. In shrimp scampi and in Lobster Newburg. Very delicious.
Grandma, Tarragon is wonderful on chicken. If you are baking a chicken, put some between the skin and meat on the breast or sprinkle some inside the chicken. If you are sauteing it, melt a little butter in the pan, add the tarragon and a touch of lemon juice. Wonderful. I sometimes wait until the chicken is done, take it from the pan, then add the butter and herbs and melt together. Then put the chicken back in the pan for about 3 minutes and turn the pieces so it gets all over the chicken. Put the chicken on the plate and pour the sauce directly over the chicken. If you put rice or noodles under the chicken and then pour the sauce over everything, it is delicious. If you like the sauce, you may want to make extra next time.
crushed rosemary is delicious on garlic bread, sprinked (not too much) on before you toast it.
Also: CUMIN, pepper sauce, pepper flakes, curry powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, paprika… Smell them and add one to try. You’ll like the ones that smell great to you.
I LOVE THESE HERBS AND SPICES. UNFORTUNATELY FOR ME, I’M ALLERGIC TO SWEET AND HOT PEPPERS OF ALL TYPES. I CAN, FORTUNATELY, USE THE CINNAMON AND NUTMEG.
Mint is my all time favorite and I boil it with new potatoes or fresh peas. With roast lamb or venison I make mint sauce. Take about 5 or 6 sprigs of mint and pull the leaves off the plant and chop finely. When it is half chopped sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over the leaves and the chopping will be easier as it must be very finely chopped. Scrape the mint into a small jug and add more sugar if desired. Mix in a teaspoonful of boiling water into the mixture to melt the sugar. Add about 1/2 cup of malt vinegar. If you can’t find malt vinegar use either wine or apple cider vinegar. Malt is best if you can find it. Exact measurements are not critical, I like mine thick with mint. Pour over slices of roast meat and enjoy. This is a favorite in the UK and Grandma may also be familiar with it.
Thanks for the mint sauce recipe, Veronica. I remember having it, next day. on thin bread and butter. I think it’s even better if it stands for a few hours.
Herbs are so much fun to work with. Love them.
Creepy creepy Bea. I was upstairs writing you a letter and decided I had better give the comments a quick check and here you are commenting. Hope you are having a great day off. Must run back upstairs and finish my letter. : )
SO happy to hear that. Sometimes I think the Holy Spirit has a sense of humor. I’m at the library now and doing some research. I will be going grocery shopping and also stopping by the Farmers Market. It’s nice to be off and it’s a nice day. Small blessings are so nice. I will be sending you a recipe for Zucchini Applesauce and White Gingerbread that I found that you might like.
Any thought on herbs for home made sausages
We have 3 different recipes for sausage in Dining on a Dime – Polish, Breakfast and Italian. Some of the herbs we use is marjoram, paprika, garlic and nutmeg for the Polish, sage, marjoram, thyme for the breakfast and basil, garlic, oregano, paprika, thyme, cayenne pepper, and fennel seeds for the Italian.
A wonderful secret ingredient in salads is ground ginger! But you have to taste it while you put it in. Gives food a total freshnes!
And there is cinnamon and fish are good friends
Greetings from Vienna
Vienna! I don’t think we have had anyone from there before write a comment. Really good tips. Never heard of cinnamon and fish I bet that would be really good and you don’t often hear of ginger in salads either. Great ideas thanks.
Please don’t forget parsley sauce with fish and ham /,gammon or boiled bacon. It’s also very good with broad beans.
Hi when I do a roast chicken I rub paprika into the skin. It’s makes the flavours of the chicken jump out
Love your site.
Parsley sauce with gammon, and with fish, is wonderful.
What Herbs blend well together?
Here is one of many charts that may help you
I’ve been using oregano (dried) on my steamed chicken. This with salt and pepper — amazingly delicious. Well… i guess i got the oregano part as it is in the list above. :)
I’ve also been trying to cook “Pad Kra Pao” — a Thai chicken basil recipe.
On this one, fresh basil leaves are used. And it taste amazingly delicious too!
So Im wondering why basil is not paired with chicken on the above list.
-Nancy-
This list is just a general idea Nancy. We also tried to stick with basic beginner cooking with general American foods when doing this. If we tried to do lists of spice combinations from all over the world there is no way one list could cover it all – it would take volumes. Also when this was written most had not heard of or ever tasted Thai food – it wasn’t as popular as it is now. That is another reason we don’t mention it because even though the latest trend in foods is great, delicious and fun most new cooks need to get basics down and then they can experiment with different tastes.
I understand.
Thanks Jill.
-Nancy-
Interesting spice selection. I’m going to have to try them. What I see you don’t have is a basic rice combination. I live in Japan and their staple is rice. I’m not a fan of plain rice. Do you have any recommendation?
Nick I am afraid we don’t have any but it is something we maybe should look into
Cilantro rice is yummy
Another great and delicious way to use dill is to put it in an omelet!
im experimenting with herbs can anyone help me on what goes with what please
Love these suggestions, simple and easy. Thanks
Can’t afford the cookbooks being on a limited budget but love ❤️ your list of herbs. Especially telling everyone which ones to use with each dish. Thank you.
Thank you Susan for letting us know. I know I had a hard time figuring out and remembering what to use with what so thought others might have the same problem. We tried to cover everything in the books and on the website for those who didn’t have the books.