Shiso Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Shiso Is Doing

Nothing tastes quite like shiso, so every swap is a compromise. Just One Cookbook’s Namiko Hirasawa Chen describes the flavor as “vibrant, herbaceous, and citrusy with a mildly astringent taste and bitter finish,” and says flat out that there’s nothing like the taste and texture of shiso.¹ For a raw herb, mint and basil together come closest. For wrapping, Korean perilla leaves come from the same species, though Chen advises against the swap. And red shiso’s job of coloring pickles has no real stand-in.

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.

Why nothing matches exactly

Shiso’s smell rests on perillaldehyde.² The usual substitutes are built on other compounds. A substitute can match shiso’s job, its freshness and its place on the plate, but not its signature smell. Food52’s Lindsay-Jean Hard describes shiso as similar to mint “with a gingery edge” and suggests using it anywhere you’d use basil or mint.³ Flip that around and you’ve got the logic behind the first swaps below.

If shiso is a raw aromatic herb

This is shiso torn over rice, shredded onto cold noodles, tucked next to sashimi or tossed into a salad. Perilla leaves garnish sashimi, and Hard lists salads, dressings and rice dishes among its uses.⁴³

1. Mint and basil together

Mint brings shiso’s cool, bright side and basil its sweet, slightly spicy side. Neither covers both on its own. In cooking, “mint” usually means peppermint or spearmint.⁵ Spearmint is the gentler pick here. Peppermint’s menthol can taste cooling and medicinal in savory food.

Ratio (Method): Replace the shiso with an equal volume of mint and basil leaves, half of each, and taste before adding more.

2. Mint alone

Mint is the easiest substitute to find. It’ll taste more minty and less citrusy and astringent than shiso.

Ratio (Method): Start with about half the amount of shiso called for, chopped, and add more to taste.

3. Sweet basil alone

Basil gives sweetness and a mild anise note but not much of shiso’s sharpness. Use it where shiso is one herb among several.

Ratio (Method): Start with an equal amount and taste.

If shiso is flavoring a drink or dessert

Chen suggests using shiso leaves in recipes that call for mint, like mojitos, cocktails, ice cream and sorbets.¹ Going the other way, mint is the obvious stand-in for shiso in a drink, syrup or sorbet. Hard also pairs shiso with lemonade and fruit cocktails.³

Two handling tips. LSU AgCenter counts mint among the delicate herbs whose flavor fades with long heating, so steep it off the heat or add it late.⁶ And in a cocktail, press the leaves gently. Tasting Table’s Sylvia Tomczak warns that hard muddling brings out mint’s vegetal, bitter side.⁷

Ratio (Method): Start with half the shiso amount of mint and adjust after tasting. Mint can take over a drink fast.

If shiso is an herb in stir-fries and Southeast Asian dishes

In a hot dish, the herb usually gets stirred in at the end and wilted. Thai basil suits this job. It adds a bright, licorice-tinged lift, with anise, lime-like and fresh notes,⁸ not shiso’s smell. Andy Ricker notes that Thai basil has purple stems,⁹ which gives you a little of the color of red or bicolor shiso, though the leaves themselves are green.

Ratio (Method): Thai basil’s anise note is strong, so start with about half the shiso amount and add more to taste.

If shiso is a leaf for wrapping

Big shiso leaves sometimes get wrapped around rice, fish or grilled meat. Here the leaf’s size and texture matter as much as its smell.

1. Korean perilla leaves (kkaennip)

These come from the same species. Katzer notes that kkaennip (“sesame leaf”) is a common Korean name for perilla, and that Korean cooking uses the leaves much like Japanese shiso.⁴ They’re bigger, and you’ll find them in Korean groceries.

Not everyone’s on board with the swap. Chen writes that “Japanese shiso has different characteristics and culinary uses, so it’s not advised to substitute.”¹ Use kkaennip where the leaf’s job is to wrap, and expect a different, earthier taste.

Ratio (Method): Use one leaf for each shiso leaf, trimming big ones to size if needed.

2. Lettuce or grape leaves

For raw wraps, small lettuce leaves give you the same shape with almost no flavor, so tuck a few mint or basil leaves inside for aroma. For cooked rolls, brined grape leaves are sturdy and large, but they bring a salty, sour taste of their own, so rinse them first.

Ratio (Method): Use one leaf for each shiso leaf.

If red shiso is coloring a pickle

Red shiso is mostly there for color. Katzer says Japan prefers red-leaved cultivars for pickling, and that red perilla goes into umeboshi, whose liquid in turn colors the ginger pickle beni shoga.⁴ Chen describes red shiso as used mainly for coloring foods.¹

Ratio (Method): We found no published substitute for red shiso’s color in pickling. If you don’t have any, make the pickle without it and live with a paler result. Chen notes that dried, ground shiso can also be sprinkled on rice and noodle dishes as a seasoning,¹ so a jar of dried red shiso is worth keeping around if you cook Japanese food often.

Dried shiso in place of fresh

We found no published conversion between fresh and dried shiso. America’s Test Kitchen lists basil and mint among the herbs it recommends using fresh, not dried.¹⁰ Shiso isn’t on its list, but it’s a thin, tender leaf from the same family. Dried shiso works as a seasoning sprinkled over rice, not as a stand-in for the fresh leaf.

Substitutes that work less well

What isn’t known

• We found no fresh-to-dried conversion for shiso.
• No source we found gives a substitute for red shiso’s color in umeboshi.
• You’ll sometimes see shiso called “Chinese basil” or “purple mint.” We couldn’t trace either name to a source we could open.

Related

• Shiso
• Mint, spearmint, peppermint, types of mint
• Basil, Thai basil, basil vs. mint, basil vs. cilantro
• Mint substitutes, Thai basil substitutes
• Dried herbs vs. fresh, the master list of herbs and spices

Footnotes

1. Namiko Hirasawa Chen, “Shiso (Perilla)”, Just One Cookbook, 2024. justonecookbook.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Hou et al., “Perilla frutescens: A Rich Source of Pharmacological Active Compounds”, Molecules, 2022. mdpi.com · Peer-reviewed ↩

3. Lindsay-Jean Hard, “Shiso: Basil’s Asian Cousin”, Food52. vercel.food52.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. “Perilla (Perilla frutescens)”, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

5. “Mint (plant)”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩

6. “Flavorful Herbs”, LSU AgCenter. lsuagcenter.com · Reference work ↩

7. Sylvia Tomczak, “Why You Should Think Twice Before Muddling Mint In Your Next Mojito”, Tasting Table, 2024. tastingtable.com · Publication ↩

8. Tangpao, Chung and Sommano, “Aromatic Profiles of Essential Oils from Five Commonly Used Thai Basils”, Foods, 2018. mdpi.com · Peer-reviewed ↩

9. Andy Ricker with J.J. Goode, “Stir-fried chicken with hot basil (kai kaphrao)”, from Pok Pok, via The Splendid Table. splendidtable.org · Publication ↩

10. Danielle Lapierre, “When You Should Actually Use Dried Herbs (and Which Ones to Avoid)”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2022. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩²

11. Eriksson et al., “A genetic variant near olfactory receptor genes influences cilantro preference”, Flavour, 2012. link.springer.com · Peer-reviewed ↩

12. Nice, Johnson and Shelton, “Beefsteak Plant (Perilla Mint)”, Purdue Extension WS-43-W, 2010. extension.purdue.edu · Reference work ↩