Thyme Uses: The Dishes and Blends That Depend on It

America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) calls thyme a hearty herb that goes in early,¹ and you’ll find it in the background of a lot of long-cooked food: the bouquet garni in Saveur’s coq au vin holds 12 sprigs. It leads the list in McCormick’s poultry seasoning, it’s the main herb in za’atar, and it turns up in Jamaican jerk and Louisiana jambalaya too. Below: the dishes and blends that rely on it, with named recipes and the amounts they use. For timing, sprigs versus leaves and fresh-to-dried conversion, head to cooking with thyme.

Thyme uses at a glance

Braises, stocks and soups

The classic bouquet garni is sprigs of parsley and thyme with a bay leaf, dropped into a soup, stew, sauce or poaching liquid for flavor. Saveur’s coq au vin bundles 12 thyme sprigs with 5 parsley sprigs and 3 bay leaves, marinates the chicken with the bundle, then puts it back in the pot for the braise.² Fresh thyme branches are especially typical of French cooking. More on the bundle at bouquet garni.

Soups lean on the same thyme-and-bay pairing:

• French onion soup. Bernard Laurance’s onion soup gratin adds thyme and a bay leaf, or a bouquet garni instead.³ See French onion soup spices.
• Clam chowder. Ryan Hardy’s New England clam chowder, in the James Beard Foundation archive, adds thyme and bay with cayenne, Worcestershire and Old Bay.⁴ See clam chowder spices.
• Pea soup. Sweden’s Thursday pea soup is cooked with onion, marjoram, thyme and ginger, according to the national inventory of living traditions.⁵ See split pea soup spices.
• Potato soup. University of Illinois Extension’s herb potato soup uses 1 teaspoon of crumbled dried thyme.¹²

You’ll often read that thyme is a primary seasoning in split pea and lentil soups in general. The Swedish soup is one named tradition that uses it, but we found no source that ranks it first in either soup.

Blends built on thyme

Herbes de Provence. France’s Label Rouge specification sets thyme at 19 percent of the blend, beside rosemary and savory at 26 to 27 percent each.⁶ Leah Kaplan of The Takeout suggests the blend for grilling fish, marinating meat or roasting vegetables.¹³ See herbes de Provence and herbes de Provence uses.

Za’atar. A University of California Cooperative Extension Master Food Preservers recipe describes basic za’atar as sumac, thyme, oregano and sesame seeds.¹⁴ ATK’s za’atar uses 2 tablespoons of dried thyme.⁷ See za’atar and za’atar uses.

Poultry seasoning. McCormick Culinary’s poultry seasoning lists thyme first, ahead of sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper and nutmeg.⁸ See poultry seasoning.

Sausage seasoning. Dried marjoram goes into commercial sausage spice mixes along with thyme.

Poultry, stuffing and gravy

Yankee Magazine describes New England bread stuffing as lightly seasoned, with sage and thyme out front.¹⁵ ATK’s make-ahead giblet turkey gravy simmers 4 sprigs of fresh thyme and says dried is fine instead.¹⁶ See good stuffing spices, turkey gravy spices and spices for turkey.

Jamaican, Haitian and Louisiana cooking

Jamaican jerk often contains thyme, and Creole cooking is known for using a lot of it. Saveur’s jerk chicken marinade uses 1 tablespoon of dried thyme.⁹ Boston Medical Center’s teaching-kitchen recipe for epis, a Haitian seasoning base, uses parsley, green onions and thyme.¹⁷ In Louisiana, ATK’s chicken and shrimp jambalaya uses 1/2 teaspoon of minced fresh thyme leaves,¹⁸ and the state tourism office lists thyme with paprika, filé, parsley and green onions in the Cajun pantry. See Creole seasoning and jambalaya spices.

Vegetables and seafood

Basil and thyme are the typical seasonings of ratatouille, and fresh thyme suits Mediterranean vegetables in general. Oregon State University Extension’s roasted beets suggest thyme or cumin as an add-in.¹¹ Chef Jean-Pierre’s lobster thermidor uses 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh tarragon or thyme.¹⁹ See roasted beet spices and eggplant spices.

Two popular uses don’t have a named recipe behind them that we could find, so take them as suggestions: thyme in tomato pasta and pizza sauces, where it sits easily with oregano and garlic, and a pinch of dried thyme in a white wine vinaigrette.

How much to use

The University of Delaware suggests 1 to 2 teaspoons for 6 servings for medium-strength herbs like thyme (it doesn’t say fresh or dried), and warns that herbs can taste objectionable when you overdo them.²⁰ The recipes above give you a sense of the range, from 1/2 teaspoon of fresh leaves in a pot of jambalaya to 2 tablespoons of dried thyme in a jar of za’atar. If a dish has gone too far, see too much thyme.

Related

• Thyme
• Cooking with thyme
• Fresh vs. dried thyme
• Thyme substitutes
• How to store thyme
• Oregano vs. thyme