Kaffir (Makrut) Lime Leaf Substitutes, Ranked by the Job the Leaf Is Doing

Can’t find kaffir lime leaves? Look for frozen or dried ones first, now often sold under their Thai name, makrut. Nothing common in a Western kitchen tastes much like them, and lime zest is the fallback when you can’t get the leaf in any form. Go easy with it, though: one Thai cooking teacher’s guess is the zest of half a lime for 7 to 8 leaves, and more can turn the dish too “limey.”

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.

First choice: makrut leaves in another form

Hot Thai Kitchen, the site of Thai cooking teacher Pailin Chongchitnant, says frozen makrut leaves “work perfectly well” and are often in the freezer section of stores that carry Southeast Asian groceries.¹ Marion’s Kitchen says whole leaves keep in the freezer for up to a year.² Both sites treat dried leaves as a step down:

• Hot Thai Kitchen calls dried leaves fine but not ideal. They work in soups and curries, where they have time to rehydrate, but not in salads, where they stay crunchy.¹
• Marion’s Kitchen says dried leaves are less intense and bright than fresh.²

Ratio (Attributed, direction only): Hot Thai Kitchen says to add a few more dried leaves than the recipe calls for and simmer them a few minutes longer, and Marion’s Kitchen also says you may want more.¹² Neither gives a number. Hot Thai Kitchen also suggests grinding dried leaves to a powder in a coffee grinder before adding them.

If the leaf is infusing a soup or curry

Lime zest

Both Thai-cooking sources name lime zest as the fallback. Hot Thai Kitchen calls it the best substitute when you can’t find the leaf in any form, but says it doesn’t have the same aroma and only gives the same citrusy feel.¹ Marion’s Kitchen says nothing matches the intensity of makrut leaves, and you can either leave them out or add some regular lime zest.²

Ratio (Attributed): Asked how much lime zest replaces 7 to 8 leaves, Chongchitnant said her guess would be the zest of half a lime. She wouldn’t add much more, because the two don’t taste the same and the dish could turn too “limey.”¹ That’s one experienced cook’s estimate, not a measured equivalent.

Add the zest toward the end of cooking instead of simmering it from the start. Taste, and add more only if the dish needs it.

If the leaf is pounded into a curry paste

Lemongrass, garlic and makrut lime leaf are pounded together into the thick curry pastes of mainland Southeast Asia. If the leaf is missing, lime zest is still the closest citrus note, and a little extra lemongrass can carry some of the lost lemony aroma.

Lemongrass doesn’t bring the same compound, though. Both smell “lemony,” but lemongrass oil is led by citral and makrut leaf oil by citronellal.³⁴

Ratio (Method): Use the lime zest amount above, bump up the recipe’s lemongrass by up to about a quarter, and taste the paste before you fry it.

If the leaf is sliced raw

SBS Food reports that restaurateur Palisa Anderson slices makrut leaves finely through a warm salad and always adds them at the end, never during heating.⁵ Raw, the leaf’s aroma is front and center, and no substitute will hide the difference.

Ratio (Method): Grate lime zest very finely and add it a pinch at a time to the dressed salad, tasting as you go.

Other options

• Lemon myrtle. Gernot Katzer writes that Australian cooks tend to use lemon myrtle leaves in place of kaffir lime leaves in Southeast Asian recipes. Its oil is mostly citral,⁶ so it tastes lemony, not makrut-like. Start with a small pinch of the dried, ground leaf per two or three makrut leaves and taste.
• Lemon balm. The European Medicines Agency’s assessment describes lemon balm’s leaf oil as mainly citral, neral and citronellal.⁷ Tear in a few fresh leaves at the end.
• Lemon thyme. University of Florida Extension describes it as adding a citrus overtone to the usual thyme flavor.⁸ It also brings a thyme note the dish doesn’t otherwise have. Try a sprig in a simmered dish, and pull it out before serving.

What to skip

• Other citrus leaves. Hot Thai Kitchen says ordinary lime leaves and other citrus leaves won’t work because they aren’t aromatic.¹
• Lime juice. Hot Thai Kitchen says regular lime juice can stand in for other lime juices but not for makrut leaves.¹ Juice brings sourness, not the leaf’s aroma.
• Curry leaves. Nik Sharma describes their aroma as citrusy, grassy and burnt, sulfur-like.⁹ They’re a different flavor with their own uses. See curry leaves.

What isn’t known

• We didn’t find anyone who’s published how much dried leaf replaces fresh. Both sources just say “more.”

Related

• Kaffir lime leaves
• Lemongrass, lemongrass substitutes, cooking with lemongrass
• Lemon myrtle, lemon balm, lemon thyme
• Curry leaves, curry paste vs. curry powder