Italian Seasoning Substitute
Choosing the Best Italian Season Substitute
From a hearty lasagna to a mid-night pizza, Italian cuisine gave us some of the best comfort foods ever.
Yet, the key to perfecting Italian dishes is using the right spice blends.
What if you just ran out of Italian spice mixes?
By the end of this article, you’ll be able to choose the best Italian season substitute to complete that mouth-watering dish you’re working on!
Top Five Italian Season Substitute Blends
The Italian seasoning flavor profile comes down to equal parts basil, rosemary, marjoram, sage, thyme, and oregano.
Ideally, the best way to replace Italian seasoning in any recipe is to prepare your homemade blend using the same components, either as dried spices or fresh herbs.
However, since this can be time-consuming, you might want to resort to premixed blends. So, let’s take a look at some substitutes that could save you in a pinch:
- Provençal Herbs
Swapping Italian for French doesn’t sound right till you actually give it a shot.
If you go for this blend as your substitute, you get a very similar effect since rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram, thyme, and basil are all present in Herbes de Provence.
To get as close as possible to the original Italian blend, make sure you pick up a packet that doesn’t have lavender. It smells divine but doesn’t fit in the authentic flavor profile.
You can use celery salt to adjust to taste, even some peppers if you like it spicier.
- Zaatar Blends
Moving to Mediterranean cuisine, zaatar is a herbal blend with nutty richness and a hint of tangy kickback.
The main herb in zaatar is thyme. However, the components in the blend can change depending on the regional variation.
Most premixed packets in grocery stores have oregano and marjoram in common with the traditional Italian season blend.
Be careful, though. It can add traces of a citrus-like flavor to your dish.
- Greek Seasoning
Greek seasoning is yet another Mediterranean gem that radiates a wonderful earthy aroma with a sweet taste.
Since Greek and Italian blends have an oregano-heavy base, they can be used interchangeably. However, Greek seasoning saves you the trouble of adding garlic and onion spices to the mix.
This works very well if you want to marinate poultry or meat with the spice blend before cooking. It complements many hearty protein flavors.
- Pizza Seasoning
If you want to stay in the same cuisine and flavor profile, pizza seasoning might be the right Italian season substitute for you.
Pizza seasoning has onions, garlic, and fennel over the traditional Italian seasoning blends.
Sure, they’re not the same thing, but the similarity is close enough. Some people might even do the opposite, using the Italian season for pizza.
- Salad Dressing Packets
Salad dressing packets with dried herbs can work as a replacement for Italian seasoning blends.
You can just pop open one of those bad boys and sprinkle it on your dish till you’re satisfied with the flavor intensity.
It sounds weird and untraditional. However, it’s convenient enough when you have to eat on the go but still want that Italian kick.