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Chervil Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Chervil Is Doing

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Chervil Substitute

Missing the chervil? Mix equal parts flat-leaf parsley and tarragon: parsley gives you chervil’s mild green, tarragon its soft anise note. Go easy, though, because tarragon is assertive. Start with about half as much of the mix as the chervil called for and make up the rest with parsley. For a raw garnish, parsley with a few fennel fronds does the job, and dill, a common suggestion, misses the anise entirely.

Quick answer

What chervil is doingBest substituteStarting amount, per 1 part chervilTreatment
Soft anise note in sauces, eggs, fish or chickenEqual parts flat-leaf parsley and tarragon, mixed1/2 part of the mix, then add parsley to tasteAttributed mix; amount Method
Same job, tarragon onlyFresh tarragon1/4 part, then tasteMethod
Raw garnish or salad herbFlat-leaf parsley, with a few fennel fronds1 part parsleyMethod
One of the four fines herbesMore of the other threeMake up the volume with parsleyMethod

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 chervil is a soft anise note in a cooked or sauced dish

Chervil goes into fish, soups, eggs, meat dishes and stuffings for poultry and fish, and especially omelets. It has a delicate smell and a light, parsley-like taste reminiscent of anise. In these dishes it adds a faint sweetness and anise lift, not a big flavor.

1. Parsley and tarragon, mixed

Tasting Table’s Sylvia Tomczak describes chervil as faintly like both parsley and tarragon, and says the usual way to approximate it is equal amounts of the two. Tarragon’s oil is mostly estragole,1 one of the main compounds in chervil’s oil too,2 and parsley brings the mild green body. Tomczak also notes that chervil is the more delicate of the two herbs,3 and the parsley keeps the mix from tasting of tarragon alone.

Ratio (Attributed blend, amount): Tasting Table gives equal parts parsley and tarragon for the blend.3 It doesn’t say how much of the blend to use in place of chervil. Tarragon is assertive, so start with about half as much of the mix as the chervil called for, taste, and make up the rest with parsley if the dish needs more green.

Use French tarragon. Illinois Extension notes that the tarragon sold as seed is Russian tarragon, which lacks the smell and flavor of French tarragon.4

2. Tarragon alone

Tarragon’s scent is sweet and anise-like, with an odd bittersweet flavor. On its own, it brings the anise note without chervil’s softness.

Ratio (Method): Start with about a quarter of the chervil amount, chopped fine, taste, and add more a little at a time.

If chervil is a raw garnish or salad herb

Chervil also goes into salads. Raw, its lacy look and mild flavor matter as much as its anise note.

1. Flat-leaf parsley

Parsley is chervil’s relative and the closest match in role, a mildly aromatic herb that’s popular with fish, meats, soups, sauces and salads. It’s not as gentle as chervil, though. PROSEA describes parsley herb oil as warm but slightly burning and bitter, and notes that flat-leaved parsley tastes stronger than curly.5 Like chervil, it belongs at the end. LSU AgCenter lists parsley among the delicate herbs to add in the last minute or two of cooking.6

Ratio (Method): Start with the same amount of parsley as chervil. For the anise note, add a few chopped fennel fronds or a small pinch of tarragon.

2. Fennel fronds

Both kinds of fennel have an anise or licorice flavor, and herb fennel goes into fish dishes, soups and stews. Alan Bergo notes that young, purple bronze-fennel fronds taste of licorice, while the fronds turn green and vegetal later in the season.7 Fronds are coarser than chervil, so chop them fine.

Ratio (Method): Use them as an accent with parsley, not on their own: start with about a quarter of the chervil amount.

3. Sweet cicely

Sweet cicely is sometimes called Spanish or sweet chervil, and Katzer says you can use its leaves in place of chervil. It isn’t milder. Katzer describes a strong fragrance reminiscent of licorice or anise and a sweet taste.8 The Herb Society says its natural sweetness has been used to cut sugar when stewing tart fruit, and the leaves can go into soups, stews and omelets too.9

Ratio (Method): It’s sweeter and stronger, so start with about half the chervil amount.

If chervil is one of the fines herbes

Fines herbes is a seasoning or garnish mix that commonly includes parsley, chives, tarragon and chervil, though the exact herbs vary. If chervil’s the one you’re missing, the other three already cover its ground: parsley for the green, tarragon for the anise.

Ratio (Method): Make up chervil’s share with extra parsley, and resist adding more tarragon, which can take over. See fines herbes substitutes for the blend as a whole.

Dill: a common suggestion that misses the anise

Dill shows up on a lot of chervil-substitute lists, usually because it supposedly tastes of anise. Its oil says otherwise: neither estragole nor anethole is among its main components,10 and its flavor is warm, slightly sharp and a bit like caraway. Use dill only where its own flavor suits the dish, as with eggs or fish.

Ratio (Method): If you use it, start with about half the chervil amount.

Dried chervil and the fresh-to-dried rule

Tasting Table’s Tomczak suggests fresh chervil for garnishes and final additions and says dried is better for cooking.3 For converting between the two, extension services give a general rule for herbs, not a chervil measurement:

SourceFresh herbsDried, crumbledGround
NDSU Extension1 tablespoon1 teaspoon1/2 teaspoon11
Penn State Extension1 tablespoon1 teaspoon1/4 teaspoon (powdered)12
NMSU Extension1 tablespoon1 teaspoonnot given13
LSU AgCenter1 tablespoon1 teaspoonnot given6
America’s Test Kitchen, tasting test3 parts1 partnot given14

Fresh to dried (Computed, with a caveat): The sources agree on roughly one part dried to three parts fresh. ATK’s testing found that 1 part dried to 3 parts fresh came closest to equal strength, but its testers preferred fresh herbs in all but one use. It also notes that the flavor compounds of delicate herbs like parsley, dill and tarragon tend to be more volatile.14 ATK’s Danielle Lapierre lists parsley among the herbs that are better fresh, saying they’re much weaker in flavor when dried.15 Neither ATK piece mentions chervil, so we didn’t find anyone who’s tested whether the 3:1 rule holds for dried chervil. If you’re using dried parsley in place of fresh chervil, NMSU’s conversion is the same: 1 teaspoon dried parsley for 3 teaspoons fresh.13

Dried to ground (Disputed): NDSU and Penn State differ by a factor of two on ground herbs (1/2 teaspoon against 1/4 teaspoon per tablespoon fresh).1112 Ground chervil is rarely sold, so this mostly matters if you’re swapping in a ground substitute. Start at the lower figure.

What isn’t known

  • Tarragon and chervil share estragole, which the EU Scientific Committee on Food judged genotoxic and carcinogenic in 2001, mainly based on studies of mice given it orally.1 The committee gave no figure for herbs used in cooking; see the tarragon and chervil profiles for details.

Footnotes

  1. Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food on Estragole, European Commission, 2001. food.ec.europa.eu · Regulator ↩ ↩2

  2. M.A. Nichols, Anthriscus cerefolium, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

  3. Sylvia Tomczak, “Chervil Is The Parsley Substitute You Should Try”, Tasting Table, 2023. tastingtable.com · Publication ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. “Tarragon: French”, University of Illinois Extension. extension.illinois.edu · Reference work ↩

  5. I.B. Ipor and L.P.A. Oyen, Petroselinum crispum, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

  6. “Flavorful Herbs”, LSU AgCenter. lsuagcenter.com · Reference work ↩ ↩2

  7. Alan Bergo, “Bronze Fennel”, Forager Chef, 2025. foragerchef.com · Publication ↩

  8. Gernot Katzer, “Cicely (Myrrhis odorata)”, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩

  9. Julia Russell, “All about Sweet Cicely”, The Herb Society, 2020. herbsociety.org.uk · Publication ↩

  10. Nguyen Thi Tâm, C.C. de Guzman and P.C.M. Jansen, Anethum graveolens, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · 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

  13. In a Pinch Ingredient Substitution (E-131), NMSU Cooperative Extension, 2016. pubs.nmsu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩2

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

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

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