How To Use Dry Herbs and When To Use Fresh Herbs: The Ultimate No 1 Guide

One question every home cook asks themselves at some point is how to use dry herbs.

Are dry herbs just as good as fresh herbs? Are they a waste of money? When should I use fresh herbs, and when should I use dried? And many more similar questions. In short, it all boils down to how to use dry herbs.

I used to believe that fresh herbs were indispensable for any competent chef — whether they’re cooking at home or in the professional kitchen.

I thought that dried herbs were just the cheapskate option and would never be as good as their fresh herb counterpart.

But I was wrong.

Often, dry herbs can be just as good as fresh herbs, and they cost just a fraction of the price.

Dry herbs vs. fresh herbs: not all herbs are born equal

To understand this, we first we need to understand the difference between the two categories of herbs.

On the one hand, there’s delicate herbs: such as coriander, parsley and basil.

These are the soft sort of herbs that you’d use in salads or as a garnish on a finished dish.

Here’s a rule of thumb: if you can comfortably eat the herb raw, then it’s probably a delicate herb.

On the other hand, there’s hard herbs: such as rosemary, thyme and sage.

These are the herbs that you’ve got to cook if you want to use them. You can’t eat them raw.

Neither of these herbs stay fresh for very long after being picked. After a matter of days, or at most a week or two, they will begin to rot.

To make herbs last longer, someone came up with the idea of drying them out — and it works.

Dry herbs can last for about a year, unlike their fresh herb counterparts, which typically last only a matter of weeks.

But here’s the thing: not all herbs dry the same way.

How herbs retain their flavour

Delicate herbs generally grow in wet, humid conditions. They’re used to being moist.

In simple terms, that means that a lot of their flavour is “locked up” inside the water stored within the herbs cellls.

When the herb is dried, the water is removed. And when that water is removed, most of their flavour is lost too.

That means that dry delicate herbs taste inferior compared to the fresh versions.

But hard herbs are used to dry conditions.

Hard herbs generally grow in arid conditions where they don’t get (or need) much water. Most of their flavour isn’t locked up in the water.

When hard herbs are dried, they shed the water content while retaining their flavour within their cells. In short, hard herbs don’t lose much flavour when dried.

The dried versions of hard herbs are just as flavourful as the fresh counterparts. (Yes, they do lose some flavour, but for the average home cook, it’s undetectable).

How to use dry herbs

Now we can start to answer the question, how to use dried herbs? It all depends whether they’re dry delicate herbs, or whether they’re dry hard herbs.

Based on that question, here’s my advice:

• Dried delicate herbs are useless: toss them
• Hard herbs are just as good dried as they are fresh

And since dry herbs are cheaper and last longer, you can stop using fresh hard herbs entirely. But then you might wonder, how to use dry herbs?

It’s easy, as long as you follow a few basic rules:

1. Make sure you cook them for at least 20 minutes so that they can rehydrate.
2. Store them in a cool, dry, and dark place for up to a year. If you keep them any longer than a year, they’re going to lose the flavour and you might as well throw them away.
3. Make sure your conversions are right — 1 tsp dried herbs for every 1 tbsp of fresh. If a recipe calls for, say, 1 tbsp of fresh rosemary, use 1 tsp of dried rosemary.

Follow these rules and you’ll never have to use fresh hard herbs again. You’ll save loads of money, and you’ll have less waste too. It’s rare that I actually use a full pack of fresh herbs before they go bad, and I bet it’s the same story for you too.

And not that anyone asked, but my favourite way to use dry herbs is to infuse my cooking oil with the flavour. (This process is known as “tempering” the spices).

To do this, I heat my oil on medium-high heat, and once it’s hot, I’ll throw in whatever herbs I’m using. In this case, just a bit of rosemary. And then, I’ll cook it for about a minute to release the flavour. And from there, I’ll just continue the recipe as usual.

By doing this, you’re both rehydrating the herbs and adding the flavour to the oil, which will be spread throughout the dish, creating a nice consistent flavour.