The Chef's Gardener

Oregano recipes

Oregano is very easy to grow at home (and will grow very quickly)

Adds lovely flavour to all kind of meat & pasta dishes.

Below you will find some example oregano recipes –  and more info on how to use oregano in cooking lower down the page.

I will be adding more recipes over time. For the latest recipes visit my Instagram page

5 Oregano recipe questions

Below you will find the 5 most often asked questions.

  1. How do I use oregano in cooking?
  2. What are the best Fresh or hot & spicy oregano recipes?
  3. Can I freeze fresh oregano for later use?
  4. When is the best time to add oregano to recipes?
  5. Can you get fresh oregano?

Taking them in turn:

1. How do I use oregano in cooking?

It is very easy to use in oregano recipes – whether you use fresh or dried oregano.

1a – To use fresh oregano:

  • All you do is remove the leaves from the stems, then you
  • Chop them into small bits when used in sauces or meal recipes.

1b – Do I use Fresh or Dried Oregano?

Oregano is one of the ‘super’ herbs with a long list of health benefits. For example the webmd site mentions its anti-inflammatory & antioxidant, properties. Oregano tea is used to help with headaches, cough, flu, backpain, etc, etc.

However it is very important to realise that many benefits (& flavour) are reduced during the drying process, which is why growing fresh oregano is such a good idea.

Yes, dried oregano is easy but in addition the fresh type adds lovely extra flavour to meals.

oregano hot and spicy

2. What are the best Fresh or hot & spicy oregano recipes?

Plain fresh oregano is the type you will find in some shops (not many have fresh available). But the hot & spicy oregano type is well worth growing at home as it adds a different dimension to recipes.

2a – Easy recipes with fresh oregano

A key ingredient in many recipes oregano has a floral, strongly aromatic flavour.

And used often in Greek, Italian and Turkish recipes.

Above you will find typical oregano recipe examples – for example you might have used it in pasta dishes, etc. But it’s also lovely in items like the pictured oregano tea.

Oregano tea

2b – Hot and spicy oregano recipes

The hot and spicy oregano variety has the oregano flavour with the heat of a mild chili pepper.

Great for Mexican recipes – or if you want to spice up Italian meals

For example it’s great if you want to spice up chorizo sauce pasta

chorizo sauce pasta

Very easy to grow at home

It is not often available in shops but not very difficult to grow the different types of oregano at home – even indoors (in your kitchen, spare bedroom, garage, etc.

The picture shows oregano which was grown in my kitchen, and simply moved outdoors into the garden.

oregano hot and spicy

3. Can I freeze fresh oregano for later use?

Yes you can.

There are 2 options:

  1. You can freeze them as ‘ice cubes’
  2. Or you can blanch them

The picture on the right shows basil cubes – but the process for oregano is exactly the same.

More details in the how to make sweet basil cubes article

how to make sweet basil cubes

4. When is the best time to add oregano to recipes?

Dried oregano is best added at the beginning.

But fresh is best added at the end of the cooking – for example in the video below (for a non dairy creamy mushroom recipe) it is added near the end:

5. Can you get fresh oregano?

Many supermarket sell both dried and fresh oregano.

But the fresh oregano is often just a bag of leaves – great for 1 oregano recipe but it often won’t last very long in the fridge.

But why not grow your own?

Oregano is easy to grow and will grow very fast. And you will be able to use it in your recipes on a regular basis. More details

oregano

More information

Where to get oregano