Winter Savory Uses: Beans, Game, Stuffing and More

Winter savory is summer savory’s sharper cousin. Britannica says you can cook with it the same way, but it’s harsher and more bitter,¹ and Gernot Katzer calls it more pungent.² Use it where you’d use summer savory, just with a lighter hand: beans, game, organ meats and stuffing. In a long-simmered bean pot, the difference between the two mostly cooks away. For technique, the cooking with summer savory page works for both herbs, with the adjustments below.

Winter savory uses at a glance

Use	Named source	Note
Bean dishes	Monticello; Duden; Katzer³⁴²	The classic savory use
Organ meats and wild game	Monticello³	Hearty, strongly flavored meats
Bread stuffing	Illinois Extension: 2 teaspoons⁵	Interchangeable with poultry seasoning in that recipe
Bouquet garni for a bean pot	Katzer²	Not part of the French classic⁶

Beans and lentils

Monticello’s notes on the herb suggest its leaves for hearty foods like bean dishes.³ The German word for savory, Bohnenkraut, which Duden defines as an herb used especially to season bean dishes, covers both species.⁴ Savory very often goes with legumes, especially dishes of dried lentils or beans.

In long-simmered beans, winter savory’s extra bite matters less than you’d think. Katzer says boiling drastically cuts savory’s pungency, to the point that the two kinds become equivalent.² In a quick dish, like sautéed green beans, you’ll notice the difference, so use less winter savory than a summer savory recipe calls for.

You’ll often read that winter savory prevents gas from beans. We found no source that supports it.

Game and organ meats

Monticello suggests winter savory for organ meats and wild game.³ Think venison, liver and kidneys. Lamb often gets added to the list, but we found no source that names it.

Stuffing

Savory seasons poultry and stuffings in particular, and winter savory can be used the same way. University of Illinois Extension’s savory bread stuffing calls for 2 teaspoons of winter savory, or the same amount of poultry seasoning.⁵ See good stuffing spices.

Bouquet garni

The classic bouquet garni is parsley, thyme and a bay leaf, no savory. Katzer notes that savory often goes into German versions of the bundle.² Tying a sprig of winter savory in with the other herbs is an easy way to flavor a bean pot, and you can pull the woody stems out afterward. See bouquet garni.

Uses we could not confirm

These show up on plenty of lists, but no source we opened supports them:

Winter savory tea for digestion. We found no evidence that it treats flatulence, indigestion or diarrhea, and we’re not claiming it does.
Winter savory vinegar. Colorado State University Extension’s list of fresh herbs for flavored vinegar doesn’t include savory.⁷ You can steep it in vinegar, but we found no tested recipe.
Oily fish like eel and mackerel, tomato sauce and vinaigrettes: no source found.
Introduction to northern Europe by the Romans: no source found.

How much to use

The University of Delaware puts savory in its medium-strength group, for which it suggests 1 to 2 teaspoons for 6 servings (it doesn’t separate the two savories).⁸ Illinois Extension’s 2 teaspoons in a bread stuffing is the one named winter savory amount we found.⁵ Britannica and Katzer both describe winter savory as the sharper of the two,¹² so start at the low end.

“Savory”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩ ↩²
Gernot Katzer, “Savory”, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
“Winter Savory”, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Monticello. monticello.org · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
“Bohnenkraut”, Duden. duden.de · Reference work ↩ ↩²
“Savory Bread Stuffing”, University of Illinois Extension. extension.illinois.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
“Bouquet garni”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩
Grubb, Shackelton and Bunning, “Making Flavored Vinegar” (9.340), Colorado State University Extension, 2021. foodsmartcolorado.colostate.edu · Reference work ↩
Diane Oliver (rev.), “Using Herbs and Spices”, University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, 2025. udel.edu · Reference work ↩

Also drawn on

Cooking with Savory (unbylined), America's Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com

Winter Savory Uses: Beans, Game, Organ Meats and Stuffing