Swap Fresh and Dried Herbs Without Ruining the Recipe
Convert between fresh and dried herbs so your flavour comes out right.
This tool was built by Serge, MSc., a plant biologist and environmental scientist with a BSc in Plant Biology and an MSc in Environmental Biology and Biogeochemistry. My research focused on how climate warming affects soil carbon cycling in boreal forest ecosystems. These tools are for educational purposes and give practical guidance, not professional advice.
Dried herbs are more concentrated than fresh ones, because drying removes the water and leaves the flavour behind in a smaller volume. Swap them one for one and a recipe comes out either bland or overpowering. The reliable rule is one part dried to three parts fresh. Enter an amount, say whether it is fresh or dried, and this tool gives you the equivalent the other way.
Please enter an amount above zero.
How this works
The tool uses the standard kitchen ratio of one part dried herb to three parts fresh. Converting fresh to dried, it divides your amount by three; converting dried to fresh, it multiplies by three. So a tablespoon of fresh chopped herb becomes about a teaspoon dried, and a teaspoon of dried becomes about a tablespoon fresh. Where the result lands neatly on a common spoon measure, the tool shows that too.
When to adjust
The one-to-three rule is a starting point, not a law. Finely ground dried herbs and very pungent ones such as dried oregano or rosemary are stronger still, so start a little under and taste. Dried herbs also give their flavour best when added early in cooking, while delicate fresh herbs such as basil, parsley and coriander are better stirred in near the end. Season towards the result and adjust to taste rather than treating the number as final.
Important note
This converter is for culinary cooking measures by volume, not for medicinal dosing. The strength of a dried herb depends on how old it is and how it was stored, so a tired jar at the back of the cupboard will be weaker than the ratio assumes. If you are measuring herbs for anything beyond flavour, identify each one correctly and check it against a reputable source first.
Scientific basis
The one-to-three fresh-to-dried conversion is the standard culinary ratio used in cooking references, reflecting the loss of water and concentration of flavour during drying. Adjust for the age, cut and potency of the specific herb.
Explore my other free tools
Build a tea with the Herbal Tea Blend Ratio Calculator, dilute aromatic oils with the Essential Oil Dilution Calculator, and make a balm with the Salve & Balm Ratio Calculator.
Disclaimer: This calculator gives general educational guidance on culinary herb measures only and is not intended for medicinal dosing.
