SPICEographyMaster your spice rack
Menu

Blog · Uses

Star Anise Uses: Braises, Pho, Five-Spice, Chili Oil and Mulled Drinks

By · Reviewed · 17 sources

Star anise uses

Star anise is the licorice note in Chinese red braises and five-spice, Vietnamese pho, mulled wine and liqueurs like sambuca. Despite the name, it’s unrelated to anise seed, though America’s Test Kitchen says the two get their licorice character from the same compound.1 A little goes far: 2 stars season a pot of red braised pork belly or a whole bottle of mulled wine. Before you shop, know that star anise has a toxic look-alike, so buy it as a food spice. For amounts, timing and whole versus ground, see cooking with star anise.

At a glance

UseFormExampleSource
Chinese red braisingWholeRed braised pork belly, 2 starsKatzer, The Woks of Life23
Pork and chicken dishesWholeGeneral use in ChinaKew4
Five-spice powderGround4 stars as one part of the blendThe Woks of Life5
Chili oilWhole, infused5 stars in one batchThe Woks of Life6
Pho and beef soupsWholeBroth spiceKatzer, NPR27
Garam masala and rice dishesWhole or groundKerala garam masala; local versions of the Mughal rice dishKatzer2
Mulled wineWhole2 stars per 750 ml bottleOnce Upon a Chef8
Liqueurs and spiritsOil, extractGalliano, sambuca, pastisKew4
Thai iced teaGroundBlack tea flavored with star aniseKatzer2
Baked goods and sweetsGroundApple pie spice; cremasThe Spice House, Table Magazine910

Chinese cooking

In China, star anise generally goes into pork and chicken dishes. It’s indispensable for red braising, a technique linked with Shanghai-style cooking. The Woks of Life’s red braised pork belly uses 2 stars.3

Five-spice powder. The usual components of Chinese five-spice powder are fennel seeds, cassia, cloves, star anise and Sichuan pepper, with many variations. You’ll often read that star anise is the main spice in the blend. In The Woks of Life’s recipe it’s one part (4 stars) to fennel’s two,5 so the licorice comes from two spices, not one.

Chili oil. The Woks of Life’s Sichuan-style chili oil infuses 5 star anise in the oil.6

You’ll also read that star anise is especially used with duck. The sources back up Kew’s pork and chicken pairing, but we found no reference that singles out duck.

Vietnamese pho and beef soups

Star anise is popular for beef soups in northern Vietnam. NPR’s one-day pho recipe adds whole star anise to the broth with cinnamon, cloves and peppercorns.7 We couldn’t trace the claim that star anise is pho’s dominant flavor to a source. The NPR recipe treats it as one of several broth spices.

South Asian dishes

Garam masala. Katzer notes star anise in Kerala’s garam masala, and as star-shaped fragments in local versions of the Mughal rice dish.2 It’s far from universal, though. Gulf News food writer Karishma Nandkeolyar notes that star anise isn’t part of the garam masala used in Hyderabad.11 See garam masala uses.

Chai. You’ll often see star anise described as the most prominent spice in masala chai. The Culinary Institute of America says chai masala mixes may include cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and peppercorns,12 and none of the three chai recipes compared on our chai spices page uses star anise.

Drinks

  • Mulled wine. Katzer says that in the West, star anise is mostly a cheaper stand-in for anise in mulled wine, desserts and liqueurs.2 Jennifer Segal’s mulled wine on Once Upon a Chef uses 2 whole stars to a 750 ml bottle of red wine, with cinnamon sticks and cloves.8 European Union law defines Glühwein and Nordic vinglögg as flavored mainly with cinnamon and/or cloves,13 so star anise is a popular addition, not a defining one.
  • Liqueurs and spirits. Star anise is among the flavorings of Galliano, sambuca, pastis and some absinthes.
  • Thai iced tea. Black tea flavored with star anise powder.
  • Haitian cremas. Claudy Pierre’s recipe in Table Magazine uses 2 teaspoons of star anise extract.10

Baking and sweets

Baked goods, puddings and gelatins are among the foods flavored with star anise fruit and oil. The Spice House’s apple pie spice includes star anise with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cloves.9 You’ll see gingerbread or pumpkin pie suggested, but we didn’t find a named recipe that uses star anise in either.

Safety: buy food-grade star anise

Japanese star anise (Illicium anisatum) is a toxic relative, and PROSEA warns that star anise is sometimes adulterated with similar-looking fruits.14 In 2003, the FDA linked teas brewed from star anise to illnesses in about 40 people, including about 15 infants, and said Japanese star anise has long been recognized as toxic in many countries.15 Buy star anise sold as a food spice from a reputable supplier, and never cook with stars sold for decoration or potpourri. More on the star anise profile.

Not yet measured

  • A typical amount of star anise per serving. The amounts on cooking with star anise come from named recipes only.
  • How often star anise shows up in regional garam masalas outside Kerala.

Footnotes

  1. Andrew Janjigian, “Why Anise Seed, Fennel Seed, and Star Anise aren’t Interchangeable”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2020. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩

  2. Gernot Katzer, “Star Anise”, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Judy Leung, “Chairman Mao’s Red Braised Pork Belly”, The Woks of Life, 2018. thewoksoflife.com · Publication ↩ ↩2

  4. Illicium verum Hook.f., Plants of the World Online and Kew Species Profiles, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. powo.science.kew.org · Reference work ↩ ↩2

  5. Kaitlin, “How to Make Five Spice Powder”, The Woks of Life, 2020. thewoksoflife.com · Publication ↩ ↩2

  6. Kaitlin, “How to Make Chili Oil”, The Woks of Life, 2020. thewoksoflife.com · Publication ↩ ↩2

  7. T. Susan Chang, “One-Day Pho”, NPR, 2012. npr.org · Publication ↩ ↩2

  8. Jennifer Segal, “Mulled Wine”, Once Upon a Chef. onceuponachef.com · Publication ↩ ↩2

  9. Apple Pie Spice product page, The Spice House. thespicehouse.com · Merchant ↩ ↩2

  10. Emma Riva, “Haitian Cremas, a Drink for Special Occasions” (recipe by Claudy Pierre), Table Magazine, 2025. tablemagazine.com · Publication ↩ ↩2

  11. Karishma H. Nandkeolyar, “How Hyderabadi biryani taught me not all of India’s garam masalas are the same”, Gulf News. gulfnews.com · Publication ↩

  12. “Masala Chai”, CIA Foodies, The Culinary Institute of America, 2021. ciafoodies.com · Publication ↩

  13. Regulation (EU) No 251/2014, Annex II, European Union. eur-lex.europa.eu · Regulator ↩

  14. Vu Ngoc Lô, Illicium verum, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

  15. “Teas Made from Star Anise Were Associated With Illnesses Including Seizures”, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2003. fda.gov · Regulator ↩

Also drawn on

  • Anise (Britannica Editors, revised by Urnesha Bhattacherjee, updated 14 Aug 2026), Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com
  • Five-spice powder (Tony Hill), Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com