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This Old Bay Seasoning Recipe is a zesty, magical spice blend that tastes great on anything it touches. Here’s how to mix up your own batch for that legendary flavor you know and love.
Spices can sit around on the grocery shelves forever, and then even longer once we bring them home. Over time, they fade into the depths of kitchen cupboards everywhere.
This is especially true if you don’t put your premium blend to use. Case in point: Many people, even a proper culinary enthusiast, might limit their Old Bay use to just seafood. It’s time to toss that blue and yellow tin in the bin, then mix up your own and try it on all kinds of new things, from popcorn to potatoes. It has an unmatched taste you won’t find anywhere else!
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Celery salt: You can make your own celery salt from oven-dried celery leaves (or keep it in the family with McCormick celery salt).
- Bay leaf: You want finely ground bay leaf (aka laurel leaf) for this blend. It’s pungent and entirely edible. If you’re grinding it yourself, make extra, then substitute ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon ground for every whole bay leaf in future recipes.
- Nutmeg: For the strongest flavor and the longest shelf life, buy the whole nutmeg seed and grate it freshly when needed.
- Cardamom: Purchase it in ground form or buy the small green pods and grind them yourself.
- Mace: Mace is the dried outer coating of the nutmeg pod. It has a warm and woody flavor, somewhere between pepper and cinnamon. If you forgot to find any, use an equal amount of nutmeg as a mace substitute.
Instructions
- In a small jar with a lid, add all ingredients and stir to combine. Store in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This Homemade Old Bay Seasoning recipe makes about 10 tablespoons (½ cup + 2 tbsp or 4 oz) seasoning.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months.
- Sheet pan clam bake: Flavor the butter for your next clam bake with Old Bay (I like 1 tbsp of our Old Bay seasoning per pound of butter). Crusty bread is an excellent accompaniment to any seafood boil.
- Old Bay omelet: Old Bay is amazing on eggs! Add poached shrimp and Old Bay seasoning to your next omelet.
- Michelada: Add to your next Clamato cocktail. Excellent in Bloody Marys, too!
- On anything: Sprinkle Old Bay over roasted potatoes, poultry dishes such as roasted chicken, burgers, grilled shrimp, or corn on the cob. It’s excellent on salads, stews, roasted veggies, and French fries, too. And of course, use it on your favorite seafood dish. I like 1 tablespoon of seasoning per lb of fish.
- All purpose blend: In Maryland, Old Bay is a fan favorite. In fact, at many restaurants, it’s placed on the tabletops right next to the salt and pepper. What a convenience! Some Marylanders will sprinkle it on anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Old Bay seasoning is made of celery seed, ground bay leaves, dried mustard, black pepper, white pepper, ground ginger, paprika, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, crushed red pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, and mace. If you don’t add any salt, this blend is naturally low in sodium, too. It does not contain dry mustard although some people think it tastes like that.
It’s made from a savory blend of herbs and spices (14 to be exact!), so it tastes like a lot of things! The most dominant flavors, though, are celery salt and bay leaves. PS: It has no added MSG.
There is no exact equivalent, but some good substitues are Crab Boil seasoning, pickling spice, Cajun seasoning, or seasoned salt.
Old Bay® Seasoning was created by Gustav Brunn who created the Baltimore Spice Company in Maryland USA in 1939, and in 1990 McCormick bought the rights to the blend and became the manufacturer. They kept the actual product packaging (tye yellow tin with the blue lid) the same.
More seafood recipes to try
Fish and Seafood Recipes
Grilled Swordfish
Fish and Seafood Recipes
Pan-Fried Tilapia
Fish and Seafood Recipes
Shrimp Creole
Soup and Stew Recipes
New England Clam Chowder
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Old Bay Seasoning Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons celery salt (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons ground bay leaves (see note 2)
- 1 tablespoon dried mustard
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika or smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (see note 3)
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (see note 4)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mace (see note 5)
Instructions
- In a small jar, add all ingredients and stir to combine. Store in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months.
Notes
- Celery salt: You can make your own celery salt from oven-dried celery leaves.
- Bay leaf: You want finely ground bay leaf (aka laurel leaf) for this blend. It’s pungent and entirely edible. If you’re grinding it yourself, make extra, then substitute ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon ground for every whole bay leaf in future recipes.
- Nutmeg: For the strongest flavor and the longest shelf life, buy the whole nutmeg seed and grate it freshly when needed.
- Cardamom: Purchase it in ground form or buy the small green pods and grind them yourself.
- Mace: Mace is the dried outer coating of the nutmeg pod. It has a warm and woody flavor, somewhere between pepper and cinnamon. If you forgot to find any, use an equal amount of nutmeg as a mace substitute.
- Yield: This recipes makes about 10 tablespoons (½ cup + 2 tbsp) Old Bay Seasoning.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
