This homemade herb salt recipe is one of the easiest ways to preserve the flavor of your favorite herbs. Made with simple pantry ingredients, it’s a versatile seasoning that enhances roasted vegetables, grilled meats, seafood, potatoes, eggs, and countless everyday recipes with fresh, garden-inspired flavor. If you enjoy homemade spice blends, you’ll also love my Homemade Poultry Seasoning Mix and Easy BBQ Rub Recipe.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Ready in just 5 minutes
• A delicious way to preserve garden herbs
• Perfect for roasted vegetables, chicken, fish, potatoes, and popcorn
• Easy to customize with your favorite herbs
• Makes a thoughtful homemade gift
• Better than store-bought herb blends
• Made with simple pantry ingredients

What is Homemade Herb Salt? 

While the herb salt blend sits in your cupboard, the magic happens. As the herb salt rests, the salt gradually absorbs the natural oils and aromatic compounds from the dried herbs, creating a deeper, more flavorful seasoning.

Depending on your tastes, you can start with this basic recipe and then adjust it. You might become a master blender of herb-infused salt recipes once you get started.  

Ingredients to Gather

• Sea Salt – Provides a crisp, mineral-rich base for herb salt, enhancing the flavors of fresh herbs while preserving their aromatic oils for a balanced and flavorful seasoning.
• Dried Parsley – Adds a mild, earthy freshness to herb salt, balancing the intensity of stronger herbs while enhancing the blend’s color and visual appeal.
• Dried Basil – Brings a warm, slightly sweet, and peppery depth to herb salt, complementing other herbs and adding a hint of Mediterranean flavor.
• Dried Oregano – Infuses herb salt with a bold, slightly bitter and earthy flavor, adding a touch of depth to the blend.
• Paprika – Adds a subtle sweetness and mild smokiness to herb salt, enhancing its flavor complexity and warm, vibrant color.
• Dried Thyme – Imparts a delicate, earthy warmth to herb salt.

Herbs You Can Use

Almost any culinary herb can be used to make homemade herb salt. Mix and match your favorites to create seasoning blends for chicken, seafood, vegetables, potatoes, breads, and grilled meats.

• Basil
• Bay Leaf
• Cilantro
• Lavender
• Lemon Balm
• Marjoram
• Mint
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Savory
• Tarragon
• Thai Basil
• Thyme

Whether you use store-bought herbs or herbs you dried from your garden, the result will be the same – flavorful dishes in the future. Infused salt flavors will change depending on the combinations you use.  

Think about how much fun it will be to experiment with preserving your herbs in salt.  

How to Make It

Note: The recipe card below contains the full list of ingredients, exact measurements, and complete step-by-step instructions.

Step 1. Combine the sea salt, parsley, basil, oregano, paprika, and thyme in a mortar and pestle. Grind the mixture until the herbs are well blended but slightly coarse. (If you’re using home-dried herbs, be sure to remove any tough stems first.)

For a finer texture, you can use a food processor or spice grinder. I prefer using a mortar and pestle because it gives the herb salt a more rustic look and texture.

Step 2. Transfer the herb salt to a clean, airtight glass jar and store it in a cool, dark pantry. For the best flavor, let the mixture sit for a few hours before using so the herbs have time to infuse the salt.

Pro Tips

• Keep your herb salt stored in an airtight jar at room temperature. Dried herbs have a shelf life of 1-3 years, after which they will lose their flavor.
• You can also make herb salt with fresh herbs, but they should be completely dried before mixing with the salt. Just dry them out ahead of time before mixing them with the kosher salt.
• Once you make this basic recipe, you can use other ingredients to create your own homemade spice blend. Lemon zest, lime zest, sage leaves, fresh rosemary, red pepper flakes, and garlic cloves are other ingredients to try for your herb mixture.
• More Pantry Staple Recipes: Summer Herb Butter Recipe, Best Taco Seasoning Mix, Homemade Cajun Seasoning Mix, Easy Creole Seasoning Mix, Homemade Fajita Seasoning, DIY Seasoning Mixes, and more!

Storage

Homemade herb salt will keep for up to one year when stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark pantry. While it remains safe beyond that, the herbs gradually lose their aroma and flavor. For the freshest taste, make a new batch each gardening season.

Can You Use Fresh Herbs?

Fresh herbs contain moisture, which can shorten the shelf life of herb salt. For best results, dry the herbs completely before blending them with the salt. If you want to use fresh herbs, allow the finished mixture to dry thoroughly before storing.

How to Use Herb Salt

• Season Roasted Vegetables: Toss your favorite veggies in olive oil and this infused salt before roasting.
• Sprinkle on Avocado Toast: Add a dash to enhance the flavor of your avocado toast.
• Flavor Scrambled Eggs: Mix herb salt into scrambled eggs for a savory breakfast.
• Grill Marinade: Use in marinades for meats like chicken, pork, or steak.
• Season Popcorn: Sprinkle over freshly popped popcorn for a gourmet snack.
• Flavor Butter: Mix into softened butter for a delicious spread on bread or rolls.
• Season Potatoes: Toss with roasted, mashed, or baked potatoes.
• Enhance Soups and Stews: Add a pinch to soups and stews during cooking.
• Grill Fish: Sprinkle herb salt over fish before grilling for a flavorful crust.
• Season Grilled Corn: Spread butter on grilled corn and sprinkle with herb salt.
• Garnish Sliced Tomatoes: Top fresh tomato slices with the herbal salt for a simple snack.
• Flavor Roasted Nuts: Toss roasted nuts with infused salt for a savory snack.
• Season Burgers: Mix into ground beef or sprinkle on top before grilling.
• Enhance Roasted Chickpeas: Toss roasted chickpeas for a crunchy, flavorful snack.

Herbal Salt Gifts

Herbal salt blends make great gifts. You can put the salt in pretty jars or Mason jars. Pair the jar of herb salt with a gardening book, cookbook, or potted herb. It’s a fun gift to give your friends and family members if they love herbs as much as you do.

Tools Used

• Herb Drying Rack – I recently read an idea for air drying fresh herbs in a gardening magazine: using a sweater drying rack. You can find one here on Amazon. A drying rack is smart because you place herbs on it, and air circulates around them.  
• Dehydrator – If you live in an area with moisture in the air, consider buying a dehydrator. It’s beneficial if you have many herbs to dry. I love the one I bought – I did tons of research on which one was the best to buy. This is the one I own.
• Sea Salt – One of my favorite salts is Real Salt – Ancient sea salt. This salt still has trace minerals and no additives. You can find Real Salt – Ancient Sea Salt here on Amazon. You can also use Kosher salt to make this finishing salt.
• Dried Parsley – If you’re not using herbs from your garden, you’ll want to get a larger container of dried parsley because the recipe calls for 1/4 cup. You can find Organic Parsley Leaf here. I’m guessing you have the rest of the ingredients in your cupboard. You won’t be using very much of those.  
• Cute Jars – If you plan on making flavored sea salt, you will need some cute jars to put the recipe in.  This airtight container makes the perfect gift when you tie on a recipe card for instructions to create their own savory salt. Here’s a 3-ounce Airtight Glass Jar with a Hinged Lid – it comes in a 12-pack for a reasonable price.
• Food in Jars Kitchen – I just found this cookbook on Amazon. It’s always fun to peek inside new cookbooks that hit the bookshelves. Food in Jars Kitchen: 140 Ways to Cook, Bake, Plate, and Share Your Homemade Pantry.

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Thanks for stopping by!  I’m so happy you found us.

• Wild Ramp Salt Recipe (with Foraging Tips) – from Learning and Yearning

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