Lavender Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Lavender Is Doing

Out of lavender? Rosemary is your best bet in savory dishes, and dried rose petals or citrus zest in sweets, but nothing covers it completely. In a roast, rosemary brings lavender’s piney edge without its floral top note. In a custard or a lemonade, you’re choosing between another flower and a brighter citrus note. Either way, start with less than you think and add as you go.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

• 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.

The Herb Society of America’s general advice for lavender goes for its substitutes too: use less than you think and add as you go.¹

If lavender is a savory herb

For savory cooking, the Herb Society suggests the lower-camphor lavandins ‘Provence’ and ‘Gros Bleu’, “especially when pairing with rosemary, sage, and thyme.”¹ Those herbs are the natural stand-ins.

1. Rosemary

What links rosemary and lavender in a roasting pan is lavender’s resinous side, not its floral one. Rosemary carries the cineole and camphor that the Herb Society ties to the harsher, more astringent lavenders.²¹

So rosemary gives a dish lavender’s piney edge without its sweet, floral top note. Rosemary is pungent and slightly bitter, so too much shows fast.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much rosemary as lavender, finely chopped or crumbled, then taste and add more. Dried rosemary suits slow cooking. In America’s Test Kitchen’s tests, dried rosemary, sage and thyme held up reasonably well in dishes cooked for more than 20 minutes with a good amount of liquid.³

2. Thyme or lemon thyme

Common thyme is sharper and more savory than lavender. Lemon thyme adds a citrus overtone to the usual thyme flavor,⁴ and that brightness covers a bit more of what lavender brings to a roast chicken. Use either one only in savory dishes.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much thyme as lavender, then taste.

3. Herbes de Provence, if the label lists lavender

People often assume lavender is part of herbes de Provence. The French Label Rouge specification for the blend lists thyme, rosemary, savory, oregano and basil, and no lavender.⁵ Outside that label, blends vary. The Spice House’s own recipe uses 1 teaspoon of dried lavender among about 7 teaspoons of dried herbs and fennel seed, plus a bay leaf.⁶ Even a blend with lavender in it is mostly thyme, savory and other herbs.

Ratio (Method): Use the same amount of blend as the lavender called for, taste, and expect a more thyme-forward result. Skip this one for sweets.

4. Ras el hanout, in North African dishes

Some ras el hanout blends contain lavender. World Spice Merchants lists it on its label alongside cardamom, cloves and red chile flake.⁷ The blend also brings warmth and heat, so it belongs in tagines and spice rubs, not lavender shortbread.

Ratio (Method): Start with half the lavender amount, since the blend’s other spices add up fast.

If lavender is the floral note in sweets and drinks

Lavender is sometimes used to flavor drinks and sweets, and the Herb Society’s ideas run from cookies, custards and ice cream to lemonade and iced tea.¹ Here lavender is the flavor you notice, and nothing in the spice cabinet copies it. You can pick another edible flower, or steer the flavor toward citrus or mint.

1. Dried rose petals

Rose is the other common culinary flower. Gernot Katzer describes its taste as flowery, perfume-like and sweet.⁸ It gives a cake, syrup or tea a floral character, but the result will taste like rose, not lavender. Buy petals sold for eating.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much dried rose as lavender, then taste.

2. Lemon or orange zest

The Herb Society suggests balancing lavender with something bright, like lemon or orange juice.¹ Citrus is a familiar partner, and zest brings the citrus aroma without extra liquid. Just know that zest won’t taste floral, so you’ll end up with a citrus dessert, not a lavender one.

Ratio (Method): Start with about the same volume of finely grated zest as lavender, then taste.

3. Mint

In cooking, “mint” usually means peppermint or spearmint. Mint tastes cool and fresh, not floral, so it works best where lavender would have gone with lemon, like lemonade or iced tea. Add fresh mint late. LSU AgCenter counts it among the delicate herbs and notes that long cooking costs flavor and aroma.⁹

Ratio (Method): Start with about the same volume of chopped fresh mint as dried lavender, then taste.

If you have a different form or a different lavender

Fresh flowers for dried buds (Attributed): The Herb Society says dried buds are three times more concentrated than fresh blooms.¹ By that figure, use 3 parts fresh flowers for 1 part dried buds. That’s their rule of thumb, and they don’t say how they measured it.

Garden lavandin for English lavender: The Herb Society describes most lavandins as high in cineole and camphor, with a strong, astringent aroma and bitter taste, but names ‘Provence’ and ‘Gros Bleu’ as lower in both and fine in savory dishes.¹ If garden lavender is all you’ve got, find out which kind it is, and use it in savory cooking, not a custard. And skip lavender grown for crafts or sprayed with garden chemicals.

What isn’t known

• Parfait Amour liqueur sometimes gets suggested as a lavender stand-in for desserts. Marie Brizard describes its Parfait Amour as made from distilled sweet oranges, orange blossom and an infusion of vanilla, and doesn’t mention lavender.¹⁰ We couldn’t find a source for a version made with lavender.
• Coriander seed oil is mostly linalool,¹¹ and linalool is one of lavender’s two main compounds.¹² We couldn’t find a source that tests coriander as a lavender substitute, so it isn’t ranked here.
• We couldn’t trace the claim that lavender holds its flavor through long cooking better than other herbs.

Related

• Lavender, cooking with lavender, how to dry lavender and how to store lavender
• Rosemary vs. lavender, sage vs. lavender and hyssop vs. lavender
• Rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme, mint, rose petals and coriander
• Herbes de Provence, herbes de Provence substitutes and ras el hanout
• Rosemary substitutes and hyssop substitutes