Cooking With Coriander: Dos and Don'ts

Here’s a spice you can use by the spoonful: curry powder can be up to 40% coriander.¹ Coriander seed is mild, sweet, warm and aromatic, so you use it generously, usually alongside other spices, and often toasted. Buy it whole and grind small batches, because crushed seed loses its oil quickly. In American usage, coriander means the dried seed of Coriandrum sativum, the plant whose leaves are sold as cilantro. For the plant and its chemistry, see the coriander profile. For the leaves, see cooking with cilantro.

Quick guide

Do	Source
Buy whole seed and grind as needed	PROSEA: whole dried fruits keep their oil for years; crushed fruits lose it quickly¹
Toast or bloom it, as most recipes do, but watch the heat	Tarla Dalal dry-roasts 1 to 2 minutes on medium; ATK warns ground spices scorch fast²³
Use it in quantity	Up to 40% of curry powder (PROSEA); 3 parts to 1 of cumin (Tarla Dalal)¹²
Keep it whole in pickles	NCHFP: ground spices can darken pickles⁴

Whole or ground

Whole seed keeps far better. PROSEA says dried coriander fruits stored dry hold onto their essential oil for several years without loss, but crushed fruits lose it quickly.¹ Oregon State Extension makes the same point more broadly: crushing or grinding herbs and seeds for storage speeds up the loss of aroma and flavor.⁵ So buy whole and grind small batches. If you do buy ground, buy only what you’ll use soon.

Converting. McCormick gives 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds as equal to 1 1/4 teaspoons of ground coriander.⁶

Toasting and blooming

Most recipes heat coriander before using it, one of two ways.

Dry toasting. Great British Chefs says the whole spices for garam masala are often toasted first to release their oils before grinding.⁷ Tarla Dalal’s coriander-cumin powder dry-roasts the coriander seeds on a medium flame for 1 to 2 minutes, then the cumin for about a minute, and warns that burnt seeds taste bitter.² Toast until fragrant and a shade darker, shaking the pan, then tip the seeds out to cool before grinding. You may read that Indian cooks toast coriander until very dark; we found no source for that.

Toasting isn’t universal. Madhur Jaffrey’s garam masala for Saveur grinds its whole spices untoasted.⁸ Both approaches are published, so go with the flavor you want.

Blooming in fat. In Indian tempering, whole or ground spices are heated in hot oil or ghee, and the flavored fat goes into or over the dish. America’s Test Kitchen warns that ground spices burn fairly quickly when bloomed and taste scorched,³ so give ground coriander only a brief turn in the fat, or add it after the onions have softened. Whole seeds can sizzle a little longer.

How much to use

This is a spice you can use by the spoonful. PROSEA notes that curry powder can be up to 40% coriander.¹

Amounts from recipes and blends:

Recipe or blend	Coriander share
Curry powder, per PROSEA¹	Up to 40%
Tarla Dalal’s dhana jeera (coriander-cumin powder)²	Prefers 3 parts coriander to 1 of cumin; notes many households use 2:1 or 1:1
The Spice House, corned beef⁹	5 parts pickling spice to 1 part whole coriander seed

Ratio (Method): In a spice rub or a pot of curry for four with no recipe to follow, start with 1 to 2 teaspoons of ground coriander; more is rarely a problem. If you do overshoot, see too much coriander.

Pairings and dishes

Cumin. Coriander and cumin are the classic pair. Tarla Dalal’s dhana jeera powder is just the two toasted and ground together, and it goes into most Indian vegetable dishes.² Cumin brings earthy warmth; coriander brings a lighter, citrusy sweetness. See coriander vs. cumin.

Blends. Beyond curry powder, coriander is a regular in garam masala recipes and in pickling spice. The Spice House even suggests adding extra whole coriander to its pickling blend for corned beef.⁹

Dishes. Stews, soups and salads, plus cookies, baked goods and casseroles, whole or ground. Arabic cooking uses both the leaves and the seeds in pickles, curries and chutneys.

Drinks. Belgian witbier is brewed with coriander, and Clemson Extension credits it with the beer’s orange and citrus aromas.¹⁰

Pickles: keep the seeds whole

Commercial pickling spice blends use whole coriander seed (see pickling spice), and there’s a good reason not to swap in ground. The National Center for Home Food Preservation lists ground spices as one cause of dark or discolored pickles, and advises tying whole spices loosely in a cheesecloth bag so you can remove them before canning. It also says cooking spices too long in the vinegar, or using too many, can make pickles taste strong and bitter.⁴ You’ll hear that whole seeds keep pickles crunchier; no source we found supports that.

Storage

Keep coriander airtight, dark and away from heat. UC Cooperative Extension says to store spices in a dark place away from sunlight.¹¹ How long it lasts is something named sources disagree on, and none of their figures were measured on coriander. The comparison table is on how to store coriander.

Coriandrum sativum, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Tarla Dalal, “How To Make Coriander Cumin Seeds Powder”, 2025. tarladalal.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
“How to Bloom Spices”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2023. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩²
“Causes and Possible Solutions for Problems with Pickled Foods”, National Center for Home Food Preservation. nchfp.uga.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩²
Nellie Oehler, “Drying herbs” (SP 50-921), Oregon State University Extension Service. extension.oregonstate.edu · Reference work ↩
“How to Grind Your Own Spices, Plus Spice Conversions for Your Favorite Seasonings”, McCormick, 2025. mccormick.com · Merchant ↩
“How to make garam masala”, Great British Chefs, 2025. greatbritishchefs.com · Publication ↩
Madhur Jaffrey, “Garam Masala”, Saveur, 2014. saveur.com · Publication ↩
Pickling Spices Blend, product page, The Spice House. thespicehouse.com · Merchant ↩ ↩²
Alex Ryan Thompson, “Beer Style Highlight: Belgian Witbier”, Clemson Cooperative Extension, 2025. hgic.clemson.edu · Reference work ↩
Anna Martin, “Add a Little Spice to Your Life! Part II”, University of California Cooperative Extension, 2002. ucanr.edu · Reference work ↩

Also drawn on

Essential Oil from Coriandrum sativum: A Review on Its Phytochemistry and Biological Activity (Al-Khayri et al., Molecules 28(2):696, 2023), MDPI Molecules. mdpi.com
Cilantro, by Susan Mahr (posted 6 Feb 2017), Wisconsin Master Gardener Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension. mastergardener.extension.wisc.edu
The Crackling Spices of Indian Tempering (Monica Bhide, 2011), NPR. npr.org

Cooking With Coriander Seed: Toasting, Grinding, Pairing and Pickling