Homemade Old Bay Seasoning Recipe - Savory Simple (2024)

FAQs

What can I sub for Old Bay seasoning? ›

Some popular substitutions for Old Bay include crab boil, cajun seasoning, and celery salt mixed with paprika. When using a substitute, make sure to start with a small amount to begin with and taste as you go. Sometimes an alternative can change your dish's flavor profile slightly, so it is best to go slow.

Within that unique blend of 18 herbs and spices lies a collaboration of complex flavor elements, just waiting for a chef to let them shine. For example, celery seed is a key flavor in OLD BAY that gives it a subtle earthy note.

Old Bay is a type of seasoning made from 18 different herbs and spices, including mustard, celery salt, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne pepper, paprika, and bay leaves.

of ground beef for savory burgers. Sprinkle OLD BAY Seasoning generously on French fries, corn-on-the-cob, steamed vegetables and popcorn. OLD BAY® Seasoning has a shelf life of 540 days when tightly closed and stored in a cool, dry place, to protect against flavor loss and moisture.

According to the product label, some of the ingredients in Old Bay seasoning are celery salt, spices (including red pepper and black pepper) and paprika. Other potential spices may include bay leaf, cinnamon, mustard powder, nutmeg, clove and cardamom.

If you don't have whole or ground bay leaves, you can use dried Greek oregano or dried thyme in its place.

When you use too much it can make your food salty and/or spicy. It doesn't need to go in everything related to seafood. If you serve seafood and its in your tartar sauce, co*cktail sauce, all you breadings/batters and seasoning blends, you might be using too much.

In the Chesapeake Bay, a man named Gustav Brunn created Old Bay. It was 1939. He was a German immigrant, Jewish, and lived a typical bayside life. The original name was “Delicious Brand Shrimp and Crab Seasoning”, which doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, so he rethought that.

According to McCormick, Old Bay is a blend of 18 herbs and spices, making it versatile for use on fish, chicken, vegetables, and soup. The unique blend of spices includes (but is not limited to): celery seed, paprika, mustard, salt, red pepper, and black pepper.

Still, this section of their site confirms that Old Bay contains ginger, bay leaves, mustard, cinnamon, and coriander. It also reveals that Old Bay does not contain onion, garlic, cumin, sesame, turmeric, sugar, starch, yeast, malt extracts, MSG, oregano, gluten, citrus, dairy, soy, tomato, or cilantro.

What spices do not go bad? ›

Whole spices: These last for 4 years, and include spices like cloves, whole peppercorns, mustard seeds, caraway seeds, cumin seeds and cinnamon sticks. They have the longest lifespan, primarily because they have less surface area exposed to air, moisture and light.

As for storing, make sure to keep ground ginger in a cool and dry place away from sunlight, just like with most of your other spices. While ground ginger will last up to two years before losing potency, smell is also a good indicator of freshness.

Old Bay Seasoning can be used as a substitute for Creole seasoning in a pinch. However, it has a different flavor profile due to its higher concentration of celery salt and spices like allspice and cloves. To make it more similar to Creole seasoning, add some paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper.

The American Heart Association recommends aiming to keep your intake below 1,500 milligrams, and a quarter-teaspoon serving of Old Bay has only 160 milligrams—so go ahead and shake on a generous amount of seasoning.

Using plain salt is always a safe option, but if you're looking for something with a little more flavor, onion salt would be a better choice. Additionally, dill comes from the same family as celery and dried dill can be crushed and mixed with table salt in a 2:1 ratio to make a good celery salt substitute in a pinch.