Sassafras Substitutes: For Filé, for Gumbo Texture and for Root Beer Flavor

Sassafras is really two ingredients, so start by working out which one your recipe means. The dried, ground leaves are filé, which seasons and thickens Louisiana gumbo. Okra, roux or a last-minute cornstarch slurry can take over the thickening, and lemon balm or a pinch of thyme can cover the flavor. The root and root bark once flavored root beer and sassafras tea, but their oil is about 80 percent safrole, and US rules have barred safrole and oil of sassafras from food since an order of December 3, 1960.¹ For that sassafras, look for a safrole-free extract.

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.

Leaf and root are not the same ingredient

Gernot Katzer gives the leaves about 0.4 percent essential oil, with safrole about 45 percent of it. The root bark holds about 8 percent oil, around 80 percent of it safrole. He describes the leaves’ smell as weak but fresh and lemony, and the root as rich in oil but very bitter.²

The law treats them differently too. US rules list sassafras leaves as a natural flavoring only if safrole-free,³ and allow a safrole-free extract of the root bark as a flavoring.⁴ Food with added safrole or oil of sassafras counts as adulterated, and so does a food whose main purpose is to carry them; the regulation’s example is sassafras tea.¹ The National Toxicology Program lists safrole as reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen, based on liver tumors in rodents.⁵

If filé is thickening a gumbo

Filé is one of the three common gumbo thickeners, along with okra and roux. It goes in at the end. Robert Caldwell, writing for 64 Parishes, says it’s added after the heat comes down, and most often sprinkled on as a finishing garnish. Cook it in too early and the liquid turns viscous and stringy, like ropes when you pour it.⁶ Most of its substitutes run on a different schedule.

1. Okra

Okra is the other traditional thickener. Its mucilage makes it handy for thickening broths and soups.⁷ Tasting Table notes that okra brings its own distinct taste and can be slimy.⁸ You won’t get any of filé’s herbal notes from it.

Ratio (Method): Add sliced okra early with the other vegetables and let it cook down, then judge the thickness before serving.

2. Roux

Most gumbos start with a roux, according to 64 Parishes;⁹ Tasting Table describes it as flour cooked with oil.⁸ If yours already has one, it may not need anything else.

Ratio (Method): For a thin pot, make a little extra roux in a separate pan, whisk it in a spoonful at a time, and simmer a few minutes before you judge. Roux adds a toasted flavor, nothing like filé’s.

3. Cornstarch slurry

Cornstarch isn’t traditional, but like filé it goes in near the very end.

Ratio (Attributed): Tasting Table’s Wendy Leigh says to mix equal parts cornstarch and cold water or broth, start with about a teaspoon, and stir it into the hot gumbo, adding more until it’s as thick as you like. She also says to go easy on any thickening powder in a gumbo that already has a roux.⁸

If filé is there for flavor

Caldwell describes filé’s flavor as sweet, earthy, peppery and thyme-like, and says leaves dried in the dark taste of lemon and coriander. Store-bought filé is sometimes blended with bay leaf, oregano, thyme or basil.⁶ With the leaf’s low oil content, the smell is subtle.²

1. Lemon balm

Katzer notes you can’t get sassafras leaves in Europe and says lemon balm makes a good substitute, though it’s the more aromatic of the two, so use less.² They share citral, a compound behind the lemony note.²¹⁰ Expect a brighter, more purely lemony result than filé gives. Use lemon balm dried and crumbled fine, stirred in at the end.

Ratio (Method): Start with about half as much dried lemon balm as the filé your recipe calls for, and taste. Lemon balm won’t thicken.

2. A pinch of dried thyme

Ratio (Method): Caldwell calls filé thyme-like, and some filé blends contain thyme,⁶ so a small pinch of dried thyme stirred in near the end can stand in for the herbal note. It won’t thicken. Taste before you add more.

3. Your own dried sassafras leaves

Filé is just sassafras leaves that have been harvested, dried and pounded. If you can pick from a tree you’ve identified with certainty, drying and grinding the leaves gets you actual filé, not a substitute. Katzer considers leaves and filé generally harmless in cooking amounts,² though US rules list the leaves as a flavoring only when safrole-free,³ and we found no regulator that sets a safrole limit for filé. See gumbo filé powder.

If sassafras is flavoring root beer, tea or candy

This is the sassafras of old recipes: the root and root bark. Sassafras root once flavored root beer alongside sarsaparilla, juniper and vanilla, until the FDA banned sassafras oil and safrole as food additives in 1960.¹¹¹ Katzer notes that today’s root beer is made from sugar, aromatic plants and carbonated water, and that the sassafras root oil used in it in the US has the safrole taken out.²

1. Safrole-free sassafras extract

US rules allow a safrole-free water extract of sassafras root bark as a flavoring. It’s made by extracting the bark, concentrating it and discarding the oily layer.⁴ A product made to this rule gives you sassafras root flavor without the safrole.

Ratio (Method): Follow the maker’s directions and taste.

2. Root beer or root beer concentrate

Ratio (Method): For a glaze, a braise or a dessert that wants a root beer note, reduce root beer to a syrup, or use a root beer flavoring sparingly. Root beer brings a lot of sugar, so cut the recipe’s sweetener to match. It does nothing for a gumbo.

Not a substitute: the root, bark or oil itself

Don’t make tea or flavorings from sassafras root, root bark or sassafras oil. FDA treats food with added safrole or oil of sassafras as adulterated,¹ and Katzer, who calls the leaves generally harmless in cooking amounts, strongly discourages cooking with the root.²

What isn’t known

• You’ll sometimes read that some gumbo recipes use anise in place of sassafras. We found no source for this.
• We found no measured safrole content for retail filé powder.

Related

• Sassafras and gumbo filé powder
• Gumbo filé substitutes and saffron vs. sassafras
• Lemon balm and thyme
• Okra spices, Cajun seasoning and Creole seasoning

Footnotes

1. 21 CFR 189.180, Safrole, eCFR. ecfr.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Gernot Katzer, “Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)”, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. 21 CFR 172.510, Natural flavoring substances, eCFR. ecfr.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²

4. 21 CFR 172.580, Safrole-free extract of sassafras, eCFR. ecfr.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²

5. “Safrole”, Report on Carcinogens, Fifteenth Edition, National Toxicology Program. ntp.niehs.nih.gov · Regulator ↩

6. Robert Caldwell, “Filé”, 64 Parishes, 2025. 64parishes.org · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. “Okra”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩

8. Wendy Leigh, “The 2 Best Substitutes To Use In Gumbo When You Don’t Have Filé On Hand”, Tasting Table, 2025. tastingtable.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Ryan Brasseaux, “Gumbo”, 64 Parishes, 2023. 64parishes.org · Reference work ↩

10. Assessment report on Melissa officinalis L., folium, European Medicines Agency. ema.europa.eu · Regulator ↩

11. Kari Traylor, “Sassafras: From Scent to Science in American Medicine”, JSTOR Daily, 2026. daily.jstor.org · Publication ↩