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Thyme vs. Lemon Thyme: The Same Savory Base, Plus Citrus

By · Reviewed · 17 sources

thyme vs lemon thyme

Lemon thyme tastes like thyme with a citrus overtone, so here’s the easy rule: use common thyme as your all-purpose savory herb, and lemon thyme wherever a squeeze of lemon would also be welcome. Beyond that, things get more interesting. Botanists don’t agree on whether lemon thyme is a hybrid or its own species, and its oil varies so much from plant to plant that not every pot sold as lemon thyme smells equally of lemon.12 If yours runs out, a little lemon zest and common thyme will get you close.

Side by side

Thyme (common)Lemon thyme
NameThymus vulgaris, also called common or garden thymeThymus × citriodorus
StatusAccepted speciesA hybrid of T. pulegioides × T. vulgaris (Kew); a distinct species (NC State); see below34
FamilyLamiaceae (mint family)Lamiaceae
Native rangeSouthwestern Europe and southeastern Italy (Kew)Southwestern Europe (Kew)
PlantSmall evergreen subshrub, 10–30 cm, occasionally 50 cmEvergreen subshrub, mounding 6–12 inches high and about 1 foot wide
LeavesOpposite, linear to elliptical, 3–8 mm longSmall, ovate; some cultivars edged in cream, gold or silver
Key compoundsThymol and carvacrol, usually thymol-led56Variable: geraniol and citral in one study; terpinolene-led in another12
FlavorSavory, sharp, slightly medicinalThyme flavor with a citrus overtone (UF/IFAS); less bitter than common thyme (Tasting Table)78
Typical usesButter, cheese, fish, meat, sauces, soups, stews, stuffingsAny recipe calling for lemon juice, zest or flavoring (UF/IFAS); chicken marinades and fish butter (Penn State)79
CostNo dated, sourced price comparison foundNo dated, sourced price comparison found

Hybrid or species?

The sources disagree, and you’ll see the disagreement on plant labels.

SourcePosition
Kew, Plants of the World OnlineA hybrid, with the formula T. pulegioides × T. vulgaris; native range southwestern Europe3
NC State ExtensionOnce thought to be a hybrid, but “DNA testing has now determined it to be a distinct species”4

NC State doesn’t name the study it relies on, and we couldn’t open one. Kew’s checklist is the botanical reference we use across this site, so we write the name with the ”×”. Either way, the two plants are close relatives in the same genus.

The chemistry, sample by sample

Each row describes one oil from one study. Don’t compare them to each other as numbers. We could only get the lemon thyme studies as abstracts.

Herb and studyWhat it foundSource
Common thyme oil, 2023 study of eight thyme speciesThymol 42.44%, carvacrol 2.28%; six of eight oils thymol-typeDong et al.6
Common thyme, one chemotype reported by PROSEAThymol and carvacrol both under 5%PROSEA5
Lemon thyme, distilled for different lengths of timeA natural source of commercially important geraniol and citralJurevičiūtė et al. 20191
Lemon thyme grown in southeastern Turkey, three growth stagesMain compounds terpinolene, α-terpineol and linalool, among others; terpinolene up to 71% at floweringToncer et al. 20172

Two things follow from that. Common thyme’s savory bite comes from thymol and carvacrol, which PROSEA names as the oil’s characteristic compounds.5 Lemon thyme’s lemon note has been tied to geraniol and citral in one study, but a second study found a quite different oil,12 so not every plant sold as lemon thyme will smell equally of lemon. And common thyme can lean citrusy too: Penn State describes the common thyme cultivar ‘Provencial’ as having a strong citrus smell.10

The differences that change a dish

Where each one belongs

Common thyme is the default when a recipe just says “thyme.” English thyme is the one most commonly grown for cooking. Use it with butter, cheese, fish, meat, sauces, soups, stews and stuffings, and the classic bouquet garni is sprigs of parsley and thyme with a bay leaf. Thyme shows up in the Caribbean too: modern Jamaican jerk recipes may include it alongside Scotch bonnet peppers, scallions, garlic, ginger, pimento and cinnamon. It isn’t one of the French fines herbes, a mix that usually includes parsley, chives, tarragon and chervil.

Lemon thyme goes where lemon would also work: any recipe calling for lemon juice, lemon zest or lemon flavoring, or a marinade for chicken. The leaves and flowers can be eaten raw in salads or cooked. It’s good on fish, roast vegetables and potatoes as well.

Cooking

Thyme is one of the hearty herbs that go in early. Lemon thyme dries easily and keeps its flavor quite well. We found no source on how lemon thyme’s citrus note holds up in long cooking. Add it late to keep the lemon brighter.

Can one stand in for the other?

Mostly yes, though the dish will taste a bit different.

  • Common thyme in place of lemon thyme. Rebuild both halves of the flavor. Ratio (Method): For each teaspoon of fresh lemon thyme leaves, start with 3/4 teaspoon of fresh common thyme and 1/4 teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest, then taste. That’s the starting point on our lemon thyme substitutes page. Tasting Table notes that lemon thyme is less bitter than common thyme,8 which is why we cut the thyme back a little. For scale, NDSU Extension says one medium lemon gives 1 to 2 teaspoons of grated peel.11
  • Lemon thyme in place of common thyme. Start with the same amount. The citrus note will show in a delicate dish and fade into a braise or stuffing. See thyme substitutes.

What isn’t known

  • We only read the lemon thyme oil studies as abstracts, so we don’t have the citral and geraniol percentages.
  • Lemon thyme cultivars with purple-backed leaves come up a lot, but they aren’t among the ones NC State lists.4
  • We found no source documenting thyme in Haitian rice and beans (riz et pois).

Footnotes

  1. Jurevičiūtė et al., “Composition of essential oil of lemon thyme (Thymus × citriodorus) at different hydrodistillation times”, Natural Product Research, 2019. iris.unipa.it · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Toncer et al., “Essential Oil Composition of Thymus x citriodorus (Pers.) Schreb. at Different Harvest Stages”, Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca, 2017. acikerisim.dicle.edu.tr · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Thymus × citriodorus (Pers.) Schreb., Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. powo.science.kew.org · Reference work ↩ ↩2

  4. Thymus citriodorus (Lemon Thyme), North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, NC State University. plants.ces.ncsu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. S.H. Widodo, Thymus vulgaris, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Dong et al., “Chemical Compositions of Essential Oil Extracted from Eight Thyme Species and Potential Biological Functions”, Plants, 2023. mdpi.com · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩2

  7. Busbee, Andrews and Criss, “Lemon Thyme”, UF/IFAS Extension, 2024. sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩2

  8. Emery Pearson, “What To Know When Cooking With Lemon Thyme”, Tasting Table, 2024. tastingtable.com · Publication ↩ ↩2

  9. Smith and Marquesen, “Lemon-Scented Herbs in the Garden and the Kitchen”, Penn State Extension, 2025. extension.psu.edu · Reference work ↩

  10. Carol Kagan, “Herb Garden Plants: Thyme”, Penn State Extension, 2026. extension.psu.edu · Reference work ↩

  11. Julie Garden-Robinson, Ingredient Substitutions (FN198), NDSU Extension, 2018. ksre.ksu.edu · Reference work ↩

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