Jerk Seasoning Substitutes: Rebuilding Allspice, Thyme and Heat

Out of jerk seasoning? Build your own around allspice, thyme and a hot pepper. Those three do most of the work, so a homemade blend beats swapping in a different ready-made mix. Smithsonian Magazine, quoting scholar Carolyn Cooper, names pimento (allspice) berries and Scotch bonnet pepper as the essential ingredients,¹ and thyme turns up in every version we checked. If you’re missing only one piece, cloves can stand in for the allspice, and a habanero for the Scotch bonnet.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• 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.

What has to be there

Allspice brings the warm, clove-like note. Thyme adds a herbal edge. Scotch bonnet brings the heat.

There’s one part of jerk no seasoning can give you. Smithsonian reports that for jerk to count as authentic, the meat has to be smoked over pimento wood.¹

If jerk seasoning is a wet marinade or paste

Walkerswood builds its seasoning on fresh Jamaican Scotch bonnets, escallion, pimento and thyme.⁴ A paste like this clings to chicken or pork and seasons it before it hits the grill.

1. Make a fresh paste

Amounts (Method): Blend fresh Scotch bonnet or habanero, scallions, fresh thyme, garlic and ground allspice with a little oil, salt and sugar. For about 2 pounds of chicken, a cautious start is 1 to 2 chiles, 4 scallions, 1 tablespoon thyme leaves and 1 tablespoon ground allspice. Taste and adjust from there. Smithsonian lists ginger and cinnamon among the ingredients modern recipes may add.¹

Whole to ground allspice (Computed): McCormick’s conversion is 5 whole berries to 1 teaspoon ground allspice.⁵ That’s a volume figure, not a measure of strength.

Fresh to dried thyme (Computed): LSU AgCenter’s general rule is that 1 tablespoon of finely cut fresh herbs equals 1 teaspoon of crumbled dried herbs.⁶ It’s a rule for herbs in general, not a thyme measurement.

2. Bajan seasoning plus allspice

Bajan seasoning, from Barbados, is jerk’s nearest ready-made relative: a wet paste of hot pepper, thyme, marjoram, garlic and green onion. Ann Marie Whittaker’s recipe, published by Dave DeWitt, seasons it with ground cloves and spreads it under the skin of chicken pieces,⁷ while Ainsley Harriott’s uses ground allspice berries and Scotch bonnet.⁸

Ratio (Method): Use it as a marinade in place of jerk paste, and add ground allspice if your jar doesn’t list it. Bajan seasoning can be salty (DeWitt’s recipe uses 3 tablespoons of salt), so taste before adding more.

If jerk seasoning is a dry rub

McCormick suggests its dry jerk blend for chicken, ribs or seafood.³ The USDA describes proper jerk seasoning as a brown powder with red and white specks and pieces of green leaf,² and that’s pretty much what you can mix from a spice rack.

1. Mix your own dry blend

PepperScale also puts a homemade blend first. Failing that, it says to pull together what you have and get as close as you can.⁹

Amounts (Method): Start with equal parts ground allspice and dried thyme, then add cayenne or another hot chile powder to taste, plus onion powder, salt and a little sugar, the other items on the USDA list. McCormick’s version also has garlic powder.

2. Baharat, plus thyme

Gernot Katzer describes a simpler eastern Mediterranean baharat made mainly of black pepper and allspice.¹⁰ Ottolenghi’s baharat label includes allspice along with pepper, cumin, coriander, clove, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, paprika, chilli and cayenne.¹¹ Not every baharat has allspice, so check the label. None of these has thyme.

Ratio (Method): Start with about half the jerk amount, add dried thyme and cayenne, and taste.

3. Ras el hanout, if it lists allspice

Versions of ras el hanout differ a lot. Saveur’s 2012 recipe is built on allspice, black peppercorns, coriander, cloves, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and cayenne,¹² which lands close to jerk’s warm-and-hot profile. The Oxford Companion’s standard list of cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, cardamom and nutmeg has no allspice at all.¹³

Ratio (Method): Only use a blend that lists allspice. Start with about half the jerk amount, add thyme, and taste for heat.

Not recommended: rogan josh seasoning

Rogan josh is a red lamb stew. Penzeys lists paprika, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, pepper, cayenne, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and saffron in its blend.¹⁴ The cloves give you some of allspice’s eugenol note, but there’s no allspice or thyme, and the cumin and coriander pull it toward curry. Use it only if nothing above is on hand.

Not recommended: Creole or Cajun seasoning

PepperScale lists Creole and Cajun seasonings as a last resort and warns that they won’t fully replicate jerk’s taste.⁹ If you use one, check the label for allspice and thyme, the core of jerk, and add ground allspice and dried thyme to taste. For what goes into those blends, see Cajun vs. Creole seasoning.

If only one ingredient is missing

No allspice: cloves

Cloves share allspice’s main aroma compound, eugenol.¹⁵¹⁶ Cloves are much stronger, though, with several times more essential oil than allspice.¹⁷¹⁸

Ratio (Method): Start with about a quarter as much ground clove as the allspice called for, and taste.

Formula (Attributed): For a rounder match, The Spice House mixes 2 parts cinnamon, 1 part nutmeg and 1 part ground cloves and uses it 1:1 for ground allspice.¹⁹ Allspice got its name from tasting like a combination of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

No Scotch bonnet: habanero

Ratio (Method): The closest we found is a related swap. In Whittaker’s Bajan seasoning recipe, DeWitt gives habaneros as the substitute for the local bonney peppers, pepper for pepper.⁷ Start 1:1 and taste, since heat varies from pod to pod.

What isn’t known

• The clove-for-allspice starting point comes from essential-oil content, which isn’t the same thing as flavor strength.
• Pimento-wood smoke is part of traditional jerk.¹ No seasoning replaces it.

Related

• Jerk seasoning and Jamaican spices
• Allspice, allspice substitutes, allspice vs. cloves and cloves
• Thyme, thyme substitutes and fresh vs. dried thyme
• Bajan seasoning, habanero powder, baharat, ras el hanout and rogan josh seasoning
• Jamaican curry powder