Homemade Italian Seasoning Recipe
One of the quickest and easiest way to zhuzh up a dish is with a spice mix. While you can buy pre-mixed spice blends at the store, they’re incredibly easy to mix up at home. By making your own, you can customize it to suit your tastes and ensure that the spices are fresh and flavorful.
What’s in Italian Seasoning?
The ingredient list can vary, but almost all Italian seasoning blends contain dried oregano, basil, rosemary, and thyme. Many also include marjoram and/or sage, as our’s does. Store-bought seasoning will sometimes include garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and/or salt.
This blend sticks to dried herbs, but you can customize it and add other spices to make it your own.
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How to Choose and Store Spices
To make the best-tasting blend, it’s important to use quality, fresh dried spices. Buy your spices from a reputable source that rotates their stock frequently. Store spices in a cool, dark, dry place, away from heat. In optimal conditions, dried herbs will maintain their flavor for up to 6 months.
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How to Use Italian Seasoning
Use Italian seasoning whenever you want to add tasty herbal flavor to a dish. It pairs well with red wine vinegar, balsamic, lemon, olive oil, mild cheeses like ricotta and mozzarella, and so much more.
It’s incredibly versatile, pairing well with meats of all kinds, soups, and roasted, grilled, or sautéed vegetables. Add it to a vinegar-based dressing or sauce, or sprinkle some in olive oil for an easy but tasty dip for bread. Sprinkle it on pizza, into pasta, or onto your next Italian sub.
Here are more ways to use Italian Seasoning:
Easy Variations
- Spicy: Add a little kick by adding up to 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes.
- Garlic: Add 2 tablespoons garlic powder. Be sure to give it a good mix before using, since the granules can sink to the bottom.
- Other herbs: You can adjust the herbs depending on your tastes or what you have on hand. The marjoram can be omitted or replaced by more oregano, and the sage is optional but adds a nice earthy flavor.
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