Cooking With Bay Leaves: When to Add Them, How Many, and Why They Come Out

Does that one bay leaf in the pot really do anything? J. Kenji López-Alt calls the flavor very subtle next to most herbs and spices, says bay brings out the meaty flavors of beef and chicken, and admits it’s optional in most dishes, though things are better with it.¹ The rules are simple: add it early, give it time, and take it out before you serve. The leaves aren’t poisonous, just sharp enough that surgeons have written them up. For the plant and its chemistry, see the bay leaves profile.

At a glance

Which bay leaf

That jar labeled bay leaves usually holds Turkish bay, the leaf of the bay laurel. America’s Test Kitchen calls it the most common kind and its preferred variety. California bay comes from a different tree, an evergreen native to coastal California and Oregon.² López-Alt says it has a much stronger menthol flavor than the milder, sweeter Turkish leaf. Using California bay in a recipe written for Turkish? Ratio (Attributed): He suggests starting with a quarter to half the amount.¹ California bay also contains a compound that can induce headaches.⁹

Several other leaves sold as “bay” are different plants with different flavors, including the Indian bay leaf. If a South Asian recipe calls for bay leaf, check which one it means. See bay leaves and curry leaves vs. bay leaves.

Fresh or dried

Most herbs lose flavor when dried, but bay holds up. In herbs from hot, dry climates, bay included, the aromatic molecules are less volatile, so the flavor survives drying. America’s Test Kitchen calls properly stored dried bay leaves an excellent choice, and doesn’t recommend swapping a fresh California leaf in for a dried Turkish one.²

Fresh bay laurel is stronger. Milk Street cooked plain rice with fresh bay laurel, dried Turkish bay and dried Indian bay, and the fresh leaf was easily the most prominent, with a striking eucalyptus-like flavor. Ratio (Attributed): When you swap fresh for dried, Milk Street says to use half as much, or smaller leaves, because too much fresh bay can easily overpower a dish.³

You’ll often read that fresh and dried bay leaves usually come from two different trees. ATK’s comparison of dried Turkish with fresh California bay shows the two can differ,² but Milk Street’s fresh leaf was bay laurel,³ and we couldn’t find a source on which tree supplies most of the fresh bay sold.

When to add, and when to take out

Bay goes in with the liquid, not at the end. PROSEA says to add it early because the taste gradually builds as it cooks.⁴ Sources disagree on how long to leave it in:

Milk Street doesn’t say why it pulls them midway. You’ll also hear that bay turns a dish bitter if it cooks too long, but we found no source that tests it. (If a pot already tastes medicinal, see too much bay leaf.) The safe course: add bay early, taste partway through a long cook, and fish the leaves out once the flavor is where you want it.

Bay belongs in dishes with liquid and time: stocks, soups, stews, braises, sauces, beans and rice. The classic French bouquet garni ties a bay leaf with sprigs of parsley and thyme for a soup, stew, sauce or poaching liquid, and comes out before serving. In Indian rice pilafs, whole spices hit the fat first. Erin Alexander’s pilaf on Food52 sautés 2 bay leaves with cardamom, cinnamon and cloves in ghee for 2 to 3 minutes to release their oils before the rice goes in.¹⁰ Bay works outside liquid too: Milk Street’s Matt Card uses bay leaves by the handful in roasted vegetables.³

How many

Most recipes call for one or two leaves. ATK found bay most noticeable, and most needed, in recipes with fewer ingredients, where a single leaf can bring out the brightness of tomato and the savory side of chicken broth. In busier dishes, ATK still likes to include it but says skipping a leaf or two won’t make or break them.² So bay matters most when little else is competing with it. That’s the reverse of the widely repeated idea that it should be paired with assertive spices like cumin.

Ratio (Attributed): The University of Delaware puts bay leaf among the herbs to use with care because their flavors stand out, at roughly 1 teaspoon for six servings.¹¹ That’s a general figure for the whole group, and bay is usually counted in leaves anyway.

Whole, crushed or ground

A whole leaf is the easy one to get back out of the pot. Crushed and ground bay are another story, and sources disagree about whether breaking the leaf matters:

If you use crushed bay, tie it in cheesecloth or strain the liquid. Saveur’s choucroute garnie, for example, bundles juniper, cloves, garlic and bay leaf in cheesecloth.⁶

Ratio (Attributed): To convert, NMSU Extension gives 1/4 teaspoon crushed bay for 1 whole leaf,¹³ and The Spice House gives about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground.¹² See crushed vs. whole bay leaves.

Take them out before serving

Bay leaves aren’t poisonous. Atlas Obscura calls that belief a misconception.⁹ The reason to take them out is physical. López-Alt says dried leaves are so tough that eating one is like eating a fish bone.¹ PROSEA notes their sharp edges can cause internal injuries.⁴ Doctors have reported bay leaves lodged in the esophagus⁸ and a 2 cm piece of bay leaf piercing the bowel wall; the surgeons describe the leaves as rigid, with sharp points and margins.⁷ Those are case reports, so they show the hazard is real but not how often it happens. Count the leaves in and count them out, and if one goes missing, tell the people you’re feeding.

Storage

López-Alt keeps dried bay leaves in the freezer, where he says they last indefinitely.¹ The Daily Meal notes that the longer bay leaves sit in storage, the less flavor they add.⁵ No regulator or standards body we found gives a shelf life for bay leaves kept in a cupboard. Crush one: if it smells faint, it’s faded.

Related

• Bay leaves, the full profile
• Bay leaf substitutes
• Crushed vs. whole bay leaves
• Too much bay leaf
• Bouquet garni and pickling spice
• Bay leaves vs. basil and curry leaves vs. bay leaves