Nigella Seed (Kalonji) Substitutes, Ranked by the Job the Seeds Are Doing

Nigella seeds (kalonji, sold in the US as charnushka) barely smell whole. Grind or chew them and they pick up a vaguely oregano-like scent and a slightly bitter taste, with piney, menthol notes. Out of them? Pick your swap by what the seeds are doing: black sesame if they’re there to look right on bread, dried thyme or oregano for aroma, whole cumin if they’re crackling in hot oil. Nothing matches nigella exactly, and it isn’t closely related to any of the seeds it gets mixed up with, either.¹

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 you’re trying to replace

None of the substitutes below is built on nigella’s main aroma compound. Each swap matches how nigella is described: oregano-like and a little bitter,² somewhere between cumin and thyme.³

If nigella is decorating bread

On naan, Turkish breads, Jewish rye and crackers, how nigella looks matters as much as how it tastes. Turkish bread often shows the seeds’ telltale black grains,² and ATK says nigella seeds go into breads and baked goods to give them a savory boost.¹ The Spice House names Jewish rye and flatbreads as typical uses.

Black sesame seeds

Katzer notes that people sometimes confuse nigella with black sesame,² and that’s exactly why it works here: from a distance, they look close. Sesame generally has a slight bitterness, but its flavor is mild and nutty, nothing like nigella’s.

Ratio (Method): Use the same amount by volume, since the job is mostly visual. If you want a bit of nigella’s herbal edge too, add a pinch of dried thyme to the topping.

If nigella is giving aroma to a dish

In northern India, especially Punjab and Bengal, nigella mostly goes into vegetable dishes, eggplant and pumpkin among them.² Here you want an aroma that fits the same descriptions: oregano, thyme, slightly bitter.

1. Dried thyme or oregano

Katzer calls ground nigella oregano-like² and The Spice House mentions “hints of thyme,”³ so these are the closest aroma matches we can point to. They’re leaves, not seeds, so you lose the little black seeds and their crunch.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much crumbled dried herb as the recipe’s nigella, add it with the other spices, and taste. Dried thyme is the gentler of the two; oregano can take over a dish fast.

If nigella is crackling in hot oil

In Bengali panch phoran, Katzer writes, whole nigella, fenugreek, cumin, black mustard seed and fennel go in in equal parts,² and plenty of dishes start by frying whole nigella in oil. You need a seed that can handle the heat.

1. Whole cumin seeds

The Spice House’s “between cumin and thyme”³ puts cumin on the list, and cumin is already one of panch phoran’s five seeds. It tastes like itself, though.

Ratio (Method): Cumin is more assertive than nigella, so start with half as much and taste.

2. Panch phoran without the nigella

If the nigella is part of a panch phoran, the easiest fix is to make the blend with the other four seeds in equal parts. Ratio (Method): Leave the nigella out instead of adding extra of another seed. Taste at the end, and add a little more cumin only if the dish seems flat.

If nigella is a savory seed in a rub or pickle

Celery seed

Katzer describes celery seed’s aroma as like the leaves and root but much stronger, and the seeds as slightly bitter,⁴ and McCormick says its pungent, somewhat bitter flavor goes a long way.⁵ It shares nigella’s bitterness, not its aroma.

Ratio (Method): Start with a quarter as much celery seed as nigella and taste. It will taste of celery.

What doesn’t work

• “Black cumin” and “black caraway.” Katzer notes that “black cumin” already names a different spice from Central Asia and northern India.² ATK lists black cumin, black caraway, onion seed and black sesame as names or seeds nigella gets confused with, and says it isn’t closely related to any of them.¹ Check the botanical name before you buy a jar as a stand-in.
• “Onion seed.” Nigella sometimes goes by onion seed, but it’s not related to onion.

What isn’t known

• Popular claims that nigella and celery seed are similarly pungent, or that oregano is the closest flavor match, couldn’t be traced to a source.

Related

• Nigella seeds, panch phoran and panch phoran substitutes
• Black sesame seeds, black vs. white sesame seeds and sesame seeds
• Thyme, oregano and oregano vs. thyme
• Cumin, cumin seeds vs. ground cumin and cumin substitutes
• Celery seeds and celery seed uses

Footnotes

1. How to Use Nigella Seeds, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Gernot Katzer, Nigella, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. Charnushka Seeds, The Spice House. thespicehouse.com · Merchant ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Gernot Katzer, Celery, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩

5. McCormick Whole Celery Seed product page, McCormick. mccormick.com · Merchant ↩

Also drawn on

• Sesamum orientale (PROSEA), E.A. Weiss and Q.D. de la Cruz, Plant Resources of South-East Asia, via Pl@ntUse. uses.plantnet-project.org