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Spice Comparisons · Comparison

Summer Savory vs. Winter Savory: Annual and Perennial, Mild and Harsh

By · Reviewed · 12 sources

summer savory vs. winter savory

Summer savory is an annual and winter savory a woody perennial, but they do the same jobs in the kitchen, from the bean pot to the stuffing, and each is the other’s closest substitute. The difference is mostly strength. Britannica describes winter savory as harsher and more bitter,1 and America’s Test Kitchen calls summer savory slightly more delicate.2 In a long-cooked pot of beans the gap between them narrows. In a quick dish, go lighter with winter savory.

Side by side

Summer savoryWinter savory
Botanical nameSatureja hortensisSatureja montana
FamilyLamiaceae (mint family)Lamiaceae (mint family)
Life cycleAnnualPerennial subshrub
Native rangeSoutheastern Europe to Kazakhstan and northwestern Iran (Kew); Eurasia and North Africa (Britannica)31South-central and southern Europe to Lebanon
The leafLinear, gray-green, in opposite pairsNo description found in the sources reviewed
FlavorFragrant, slightly sharp and warmHarsher and more bitter than summer savory1
TextureSlightly more delicate2Coarser2
Main oil compoundsCarvacrol and γ-terpinene, with thymol and p-cymene; proportions vary widely4Carvacrol, p-cymene and γ-terpinene in one Croatian sample5
Typical usesPoultry and stuffings; beansBean dishes, organ meats and wild game
US food statusGRAS spice6GRAS spice6

How strong is the difference?

The sources agree on the direction but not on how much it matters.

SourceWhat it says
BritannicaWinter savory can be used much as summer savory is, but is considered harsher and more bitter.1
America’s Test KitchenThe two are quite similar; summer savory’s flavor is slightly more delicate and winter savory has a coarser texture.2
Gernot Katzer’s Spice PagesSays in one passage that winter savory is more pungent than summer savory, and in another that the two flavors are almost indistinguishable, with summer savory slightly more pungent.7 It also says boiling drastically reduces savory’s pungency, so that after cooking the two become equivalent.7

Katzer’s page isn’t consistent on which savory is more pungent, so we go with Britannica and ATK for the direction. The practical point from all three: in a quick sauté or a raw herb rub, winter savory will taste stronger, and in a long-simmered bean pot, much of the difference cooks away.

What’s in the oils

We found few analyses of winter savory, and they can’t be lined up against summer savory sample for sample. The table keeps each figure with its scope.

ScopeCarvacrolγ-Terpinenep-CymeneThymolSource
Summer savory: range across studies in a 2018 review11–67%15.30–39%3.5–19.6%0.3–28.2%Fierascu et al.4
Winter savory: one sample of flowering aerial parts, Croatia13.7%10.6%11.8%not given hereBezić et al.5

The summer savory row is a spread across many studies, which the review puts down to season, climate, growing practice and geography.4 The winter savory row is one sample from one place, which also had 9.5 percent limonene and 4.6 percent linalool.5 Carvacrol leads or nearly leads in both, and Katzer gives carvacrol as savory’s main component, with only minor amounts of thymol.7 Nothing here supports saying one savory has more carvacrol than the other.

Summer savory’s volatile oil runs up to 5 percent of the dry plant, according to the review,4 and Katzer says good-quality savory should contain 1 to 2 percent.7 Those are different measures from different sources, and neither is specific to winter savory.

How each is used

Beans. The German name for savory, Bohnenkraut, means “bean herb,” and Duden defines it as a seasoning used especially for bean dishes.8 Katzer says savory is very often used for legumes, especially dishes of dried lentils or beans.7 Monticello’s notes suggest winter savory for bean dishes, organ meats and wild game.9 The reason you’ll usually hear, that savory prevents gas, has no source behind it that we could find.

Poultry and stuffing. Summer savory’s leaves season food, particularly poultry and stuffings, and winter savory can be used the same way.

Herbes de Provence. Savory (sarriette) is one of the five herbs in the French Label Rouge specification, at 26 to 27 percent of the blend, alongside rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil.10 The specification text we reviewed names savory, not a particular species. See herbes de Provence.

Bulgaria. Katzer calls savory the most frequently used culinary herb in Bulgaria. Bulgarian table blends known as sharena sol, “colored salt,” may contain salt, paprika and dried herbs including savory, thyme, basil and lovage.7 Katzer doesn’t say which savory species Bulgarian cooks use.

Strength in the pot. The University of Delaware puts savory in its medium-strength herb group, with thyme, oregano and mint.11 Add either savory early to beans and braises, and go easier with winter savory in anything cooked briefly.

Can one stand in for the other?

Yes. They’re the closest substitutes for each other, and our substitute pages give a cautious starting point for both swaps:

SwapStarting amountTreatment
Winter savory in place of summer savoryAbout two thirds as much, then tasteMethod (summer savory substitutes)
Summer savory in place of winter savoryThe same amount, up to half again moreMethod (winter savory substitutes)

The reasoning comes from Britannica and ATK: winter savory is the harsher herb,12 so use less of it. Long cooking narrows the gap, per Katzer,7 so in a bean pot you can lean toward equal amounts. If you have neither, ATK’s tasters found summer savory closer to thyme and sage than to mint, and ATK’s rule is 2 parts fresh thyme to 1 part fresh sage in place of summer savory (Attributed).2

Safety

The FDA lists both summer savory and winter savory among spices generally recognized as safe.6 We make no claim that either savory treats or prevents gas or any other condition.

What isn’t known

  • We found no study that analyzes the two savories side by side. The oil figures come from different studies with very different scopes.
  • The sources we reviewed had no reliable description of winter savory’s leaf.
  • We couldn’t trace claims that there are about 30 kinds of savory, that a jar labeled simply “savory” is almost always summer savory, or that winter savory flavors liqueurs.

Footnotes

  1. “Savory”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026. britannica.com · Reference work ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. “Cooking with Savory”, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Satureja hortensis L., Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. powo.science.kew.org · Reference work ↩

  4. Fierascu et al., “Phytochemical Profile and Biological Activities of Satureja hortensis L.: A Review of the Last Decade”, Molecules, 2018. mdpi.com · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Bezić et al., “Essential Oil Composition and ITS Sequence Variability of Four South-Croatian Satureja Species”, Molecules, 2009. mdpi.com · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. 21 CFR 182.10, US Food and Drug Administration. ecfr.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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

  8. “Bohnenkraut”, Duden. duden.de · Reference work ↩

  9. “Winter Savory”, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Monticello. monticello.org · Reference work ↩

  10. Label Rouge LA 02/03 “Herbes de Provence” specification, INAO, 2014. extranet.inao.gouv.fr · Regulator ↩

  11. “Using Herbs and Spices”, University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, 2025. udel.edu · Reference work ↩

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