Make Your Own Italian Seasoning Blend
Homemade spice blends are one of the quickest and easiest things you can make. Plus it’s always a good strategy to know how to mix up the variety of spices in your pantry to make new and useful spice blends anytime you need them. Italian seasoning blends pop up in many recipes, and it’s so simple to stir this familiar blend together and just make your own!
Homemade Italian Seasoning – 5 Spices To Use
I recently reformulated my Italian Seasoning recipe. I used to use the powdery ground versions for a couple of the ingredients mixed with the chunkier crushed versions for a couple of the others. But this difference in textures often left me with a blend that didn’t stay mixed together very well.
But not anymore. Now I make sure I use only the dried “leafier” options for these spices and now my homemade Italian blend comes out much better. The five spices I use are Oregano, Basil, Marjoram, Thyme, and Rosemary.
And here’s another change I made. Not only is this recipe a bit larger than my old version, it now uses only one measuring tool. This is one of my favorite (almost lazy) things to do. All five spices are measured out using my teaspoon to keep things easy. I just dip this one tool into the jar for each of the five ingredients as many times as needed and – BOOM! I’m done in a minute! 🙂
This recipe for DIY Italian Seasoning makes about 14 teaspoons total and fits nicely into a recycled spice bottle.
And if you prefer to keep a larger batch of Italian Seasoning on hand, you can easily adapt this recipe too. Just use a tablespoon (instead of a teaspoon) for your measuring tool and you’ll have a triple size batch you can store in one of those larger, value-sized spice bottles that you can recycle.
All of the spices used in this blend are usually reasonably priced too. So if you’re a fan of Italian Seasoning blend and use it often in your recipes, this recipe can certainly be a handy and frugal way to always be able to quickly mix up another batch whenever you need it.
You can give your Italian Seasoning blend a try in this homemade pizza sauce recipe. Super easy and tasty too!
And if you like the “teaspoons only” measuring of this spice blend recipe, try my Homemade Everything But The Bagel Spice Blend that uses the same strategy!
This post was originally published in March 2013 and updated in September 2024.
Homemade Italian Seasoning Spice Blend
Ingredients:
- 4 tsp Dried Oregano
- 3 tsp Dried Basil
- 3 tsp Dried Marjoram
- 2 tsp Dried Thyme
- 2 tsp Dried Crushed Rosemary
Instructions:
- Combine all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
- Transfer to a small jar with a lid. Use in any recipe calling for Italian Seasoning.
Notes:
I realize this is an old post but I’m hoping to still get an answer. When you say “sage” what form do you use? I have read several Italian seasoning recipes and no one specifies. When I was in the store wanting to buy some “sage” I found several types and didn’t know which to buy. I can’t find an answer anywhere. Is it “ground”, “dried”, “rubbed”? Some of them said “sage leaves” others just said “sage”. Any advice on what to buy would be appreciated! Thanks!
The two types of sage I keep in my spice rack are the ground sage and the rubbed sage. The ground sage is very powdery while the rubbed sage is a little coarser with larger pieces of the herb still visible.
If I’m using sage in a spice blend I usually use the ground sage because I think the finer, more powdery texture blends in a little better. Ground sage is what I used in this homemade Italian spice blend. The main thing I use the rubbed sage for is in one of my flavored rice recipes. I’m still trying to decide if the ground sage is just a little bit stronger than the rubbed sage. Sometimes I use just a little bit less than is called for in a recipe if I’m using the ground sage.
So my experience has been that it doesn’t make too much of a difference which type of sage you use. The textures are a little different but they’ll both deliver the flavor of sage to a recipe.