Bergamot Herb (Bee Balm) Substitutes, Ranked by the Job It Is Doing

Out of bergamot? Reach for thyme. Bee balm (Monarda didyma, also sold as Oswego tea), the herb we mean here, leans on the same savory compounds as thyme and oregano, thymol and carvacrol.¹ So thyme covers the savory side, oregano adds more bite, and lemon balm or lemon thyme brings the citrus. Just don’t confuse it with the bergamot orange, the Italian citrus whose oil flavors Earl Grey tea; the two only share a name.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship, such as converting fresh herbs to dried.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

If bergamot is a savory seasoning

In meat dishes, stuffings and beans, bergamot acts like a sharper thyme. What you’re after here is that savory, thyme-like bite more than the citrus.

1. Thyme

Thyme is the closest match, because its oil is built on the same two compounds that lead bergamot’s.² Forager and chef Alan Bergo makes the same link from the other side. Writing about wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), he says its thymol makes it a great substitute anywhere you’d use oregano or thyme. He notes that scarlet bee balm, M. didyma, has a thymol flavor too, mixed in its flowers with notes of ripe red fruit and berries.³

Ratio (Method): Start with the same amount of fresh thyme as the bergamot called for, taste, and add more if the dish wants it. Using dried thyme? Start with a third as much (see fresh and dried, below).

2. Oregano or Mexican oregano

Oregano leans on the same two compounds. Mexican oregano is a different plant, with a flavor that’s stronger, sharper and more pungent than regular oregano.⁴ Either one brings bergamot’s savory bite, just louder, and without the citrus and mint.

Ratio (Method): Start with less than the bergamot amount, about half for Mexican oregano, and build up to taste.

If bergamot is for tea

The USDA plant guide says dried leaves and flower heads make an aromatic tea,⁵ and Native Americans and colonists used the plant this way.⁶ No single herb gets you that cup.

1. Thyme with a little spearmint

Thyme brings the savory note. Spearmint covers the herb’s minty side (Smithsonian Gardens describes bergamot’s fragrance as spicy, citrusy, peppery and minty⁶), though by a different route: spearmint’s main flavor compound, carvone,⁷ isn’t among bergamot’s main compounds.¹

Ratio (Method): Start with about two parts thyme to one part spearmint, by volume of leaves, and use the same total amount of leaves as the bergamot called for.

2. Lemon balm

Lemon balm, Melissa officinalis, is another mint-family herb that’s often used for herbal tea. It covers bergamot’s citrus side, not the savory side. There’s none of bergamot’s thymol, so your cup will be lemony and soft, not peppery. Lemongrass, whose oil is led by citral,⁸ gets you to a similar lemony place.

Ratio (Method): Start with the same volume of leaves and steep to taste.

3. Earl Grey tea

Earl Grey is black tea flavored with bergamot orange oil. It shares a name with the herb and, by Smithsonian Gardens’ account, a bit of the scent: the herb’s fragrance is reminiscent of true bergamot.⁶ But it’s a different plant and a different drink, with none of the herb’s thyme-like flavor. Use it only if the name and the citrus note are what the recipe’s really after.

Ratio: No ratio applies. Brew it like any black tea.

If bergamot leaves are going into a salad

The USDA guide says fresh leaves and shoot tips are used to flavor salads.⁵ Raw, the citrus and peppery notes matter more than they do in cooking.

1. Lemon thyme

UF/IFAS Extension says lemon thyme adds a citrus overtone to the usual thyme flavor,⁹ which is a fair sketch of bergamot’s two sides. Lemon balm, which also goes into salads,¹⁰ is a softer option.

Ratio (Method): Thyme leaves are small and assertive, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.

If you are using the flowers

M. didyma flowers count as edible flowers.¹ Bergo says bee balm flowers lose some of their punch when dried, so he uses them fresh.³ We found nothing that matches both their color and their flavor.

Leave them out, or use a few thyme leaves for the flavor and another edible flower for the color.

Fresh and dried

Bergo says you can use dried bee balm leaves anywhere you’d use dried oregano or thyme.³ Flip that around: if a recipe calls for dried bergamot, the same amount of dried thyme or oregano is a reasonable start.

Swapping fresh for dried? The standard conversion applies:

Fresh to dried (Computed): The sources agree on roughly one part dried to three parts fresh. In ATK’s testing, 1 part dried to 3 parts fresh came closest to equal flavor strength, and dried thyme held up reasonably well in dishes cooked more than 20 minutes with plenty of liquid.¹⁵ Penn State gives about a quarter to a third.¹² It works best for the hardy herbs that stand in for bergamot. ATK’s Danielle Lapierre counts hardier herbs like oregano and thyme among the ones that work dried, and says to use one-third the amount when substituting.¹⁶

Dried to ground (Disputed): NDSU puts 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs at 1/2 teaspoon ground, and Penn State at 1/4 teaspoon powdered. That’s a twofold difference.¹¹¹² If ground thyme is all you’ve got, start at the lower figure and taste.

What isn’t known

• Bergamot’s oil varies from plant to plant. Composition differs markedly by chemotype,¹ so one plant may lean on carvacrol and another on thymol. No substitute will match every plant.
• Some substitute lists call bergamot “horsemint.” The USDA plant guide’s common names for M. didyma are scarlet beebalm, Oswego tea, bergamot and crimson beebalm,⁵ and we found no source using “horsemint” for this species.
• Lavender sometimes gets suggested. We found no source that backs it as a bergamot substitute.
• Bergamot orange extract gets suggested too, along with health claims made for the citrus. We found no cooking guidance for using it in place of the herb, and we’re not getting into the health claims.

Related

• Bergamot herb
• Thyme, lemon thyme, fresh vs. dried thyme and thyme substitutes
• Oregano, Mexican oregano and oregano vs. thyme
• Lemon balm, lemon balm vs. lemongrass and lemongrass
• Spearmint, spearmint vs. peppermint and mint
• Dried vs. fresh herbs

Footnotes

1. Fraternale et al., “Chemical composition, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of Monarda didyma L. essential oil”, PeerJ, 2022. peerj.com · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. S.H. Widodo, Thymus vulgaris, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

3. Alan Bergo, “Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa)”, Forager Chef, 2018, updated 2024. foragerchef.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. H.C. Ong and M. Brink, Lippia graveolens, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

5. Randall K. Lester and John Vandevender, Plant Guide for scarlet beebalm (Monarda didyma), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2015. plants.sc.egov.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Erin Clark, “A Tempest in a Teapot: Alternative Plants to Traditional Tea”, Smithsonian Gardens, 2021. gardens.si.edu · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. “Spearmint”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩

8. L.P.A. Oyen, Cymbopogon citratus, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

9. Busbee, Andrews and Criss, “Lemon Thyme”, UF/IFAS Extension Santa Rosa County, 2024. sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu · Reference work ↩

10. Melissa Petruzzello, “Lemon balm”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩

11. Julie Garden-Robinson, Ingredient Substitutions (FN198), NDSU Extension, 2018. ksre.ksu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩²

12. Stacy Reed, “Preserving Herbs by Drying”, Penn State Extension, 2024. extension.psu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³

13. “Using Herbs and Spices”, University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, 2025. udel.edu · Reference work ↩

14. “Flavorful Herbs”, LSU AgCenter. lsuagcenter.com · Reference work ↩

15. “Science: Substituting Dried Herbs for Fresh”, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩²

16. Danielle Lapierre, “When You Should Actually Use Dried Herbs (and Which Ones to Avoid)”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2022. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩

Also drawn on

• A Recent Insight Regarding the Phytochemistry and Bioactivity of Origanum vulgare L. Essential Oil (Lombrea et al., Int J Mol Sci 21(24):9653, 2020), International Journal of Molecular Sciences (MDPI). mdpi.com