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Herb vs. Spice: The Kitchen, Reference and Legal Definitions

By · Reviewed · 13 sources

Herb Vs. Spice

Is a bay leaf an herb or a spice? In the kitchen, herbs are leaves and spices are everything else: seeds, bark, roots, buds, berries. But there’s no single dividing line, and the answer depends on who’s drawing it. US labeling law ignores the leaf rule entirely: the FDA counts basil, thyme and bay leaves as spices, and leaves garlic and onions out.1 And some plants, coriander most famously, give you both.

Three definitions side by side

Kitchen usageBritannicaUS labeling law (21 CFR 101.22)
What countsHerbs: leaves. Spices: other plant partsSpices and herbs together: rhizomes, bulbs, barks, flower buds, stigmas, fruits, seeds and leaves2A “spice” is any aromatic vegetable substance, whole, broken or ground, whose significant function in food is seasoning rather than nutrition1
How it divides themLeaf or notCommonly into spices, spice seeds and herbs2Doesn’t separate herbs: basil, bay leaves, marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon and thyme are all listed as spices1
Edge casesCoriander, dill and fennel give bothNot addressed in the passage we readOnions, garlic and celery are excluded, because they have traditionally been regarded as foods1
StatusCommon usage, not a ruleReference definitionFederal regulation, for ingredient labels

Nobody we found sets the kitchen definition in the first column as a rule. It’s just how cooks talk, and it’s the one this site follows in its list of herbs and spices.

Herbs and spices in kitchen terms

HerbsSpices
Plant partLeaves (sometimes with tender stems)Seeds, fruits, bark, roots and rhizomes, flower buds, stigmas
Typical formFresh or driedDried; whole, broken or ground (the forms the FDA definition names)
ExamplesBasil, parsley, cilantro, thyme, oregano, rosemary, bayCumin, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, ginger, saffron, allspice
On a US ingredient labelCan be declared as “spice”1Can be declared as “spice”1
When to addDelicate herbs at the end; hardy herbs earlierOften early, bloomed in fat

The examples are just illustrations, not a classification from a source.

How the difference plays out in cooking

Herbs split into delicate and hardy. LSU AgCenter groups basil, chives, cilantro, dill leaves, parsley and mint as delicate herbs, best added in the last minute or two, and treats oregano, rosemary and thyme as less delicate.3 America’s Test Kitchen says the flavors of hardy herbs like oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary and marjoram hold up at high temperatures.4 So the “herbs go in late” rule really applies to the soft, leafy ones.

Fresh herbs usually win, but not always. When America’s Test Kitchen cooked its way through 24 recipes, tasters preferred fresh herbs to dried in all but one. The exception was chili, where dried oregano came out on top.5 Details and conversions are on dried herbs vs. fresh.

Spices are often bloomed in fat. Blooming means cooking spices briefly in oil or butter to draw out their flavor. America’s Test Kitchen warns that ground spices burn fairly quickly when bloomed and leave a scorched flavor.6

Strength isn’t a category trait. You’ll often hear that spices are stronger than herbs, so use less. But the University of Delaware’s extension service groups bay leaf, rosemary and sage with cardamom, ginger, pepper and mustard as strong or dominant flavors,7 so strength cuts across the line. LSU AgCenter’s starting point is the same for both: about ¼ teaspoon of most ground spices or ground dried herbs.3

Plants that give both an herb and a spice

Coriander is the classic example: a plant whose leaves are used as an herb and whose seeds are used as a spice. The two parts don’t taste alike, and the chemistry shows why. PROSEA says the main component of the seed oil is always linalool, and that the aldehydes in the plant’s oil disappear as the fruit ripens.8 See coriander vs. cilantro.

Dill and fennel get used both ways too, leaf as herb and seed as spice. See dill seed vs. dill weed and fennel seed.

Bay leaves are leaves, so in the kitchen they’re an herb, and the FDA lists them among spices like everything else.1 You use them dried and simmered like a spice, which is probably why they’re often called the exception. A widely repeated tip says ground bay leaf can replace allspice and vice versa. We couldn’t find a source for it.

Garlic sits outside both groups on a US label. The FDA excludes garlic, onions and celery from “spice” because they have traditionally been regarded as foods.1 In the kitchen, garlic powder behaves like a spice, but that’s how it’s used, not how it’s defined. See garlic powder vs. garlic.

Where they come from

Several familiar spices come from the Americas. Capsicum annuum, a chile pepper species, is native from the southern United States to Brazil and the Caribbean; allspice from southern Mexico to Central America and the Caribbean; and annatto from Mexico to tropical South America. You’ll also read that only a few spices come from the Western Hemisphere and that herbs grow everywhere. We didn’t find a source that counts either.

Can you swap an herb for a spice?

Rarely. They do different jobs, so most swaps happen within a group: herb for herb, spice for spice. Even when the same plant gives both, the leaf and seed aren’t interchangeable; see coriander vs. cilantro. For specific swaps, each ingredient’s substitutes page lists options by the job the herb or spice is doing.

What isn’t known

  • No authority sets the leaf-versus-other-parts rule. It’s just how cooks use the words.
  • None of the sources we found count how many spices come from each hemisphere.
  • We couldn’t trace the claims that green coriander seeds are “both herb and spice” or that ground bay can stand in for allspice.
  • The Britannica passage we reviewed defines spices and herbs together and doesn’t give its own test for telling them apart.

Footnotes

  1. 21 CFR 101.22, Foods; labeling of spices, flavorings, colorings and chemical preservatives, US Food and Drug Administration. ecfr.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. Spice and herb, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩ ↩2

  3. Flavorful Herbs, LSU AgCenter. lsuagcenter.com · Reference work ↩ ↩2

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

  5. Science: Substituting Dried Herbs for Fresh, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩

  6. How to Bloom Spices, America’s Test Kitchen, 2023. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩

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

  8. Coriandrum sativum, PROSEA, via Pl@ntUse. uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

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