Jan’s Old Bay Seasoning Substitute

  4.3 – 20 reviews  

This chicken curry is one of our favorite meals, and my Chinese husband and I both love it. My late father-in-law’s former employer, a Chinese chef, declared that my preparation was superior to his. An Asian market will have yellow curry paste. Depending on how much curry paste you like, you might need to add a bit more or less. I used a more reasonable quantity in this recipe. I advise serving this with steamed jasmine rice. Because it contains a slight heat, it is usually best to avoid serving it to young children. Enjoy.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 10 mins
Servings: 15

Ingredients

  1. 2 tablespoons celery salt
  2. ¼ teaspoon paprika
  3. ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
  4. ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  5. 1 pinch dry mustard
  6. 1 pinch ground nutmeg
  7. 1 pinch ground cinnamon
  8. 1 pinch ground cardamom
  9. 1 pinch ground allspice
  10. 1 pinch ground cloves
  11. 1 pinch ground ginger

Instructions

  1. Whisk together celery salt, paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, mustard, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, cloves, and ginger in a bowl.
  2. Store spice mixture in an airtight container at room temperature.

Reviews

Anthony Mcdonald
Excellent!
Daniel Love
This recipe is wrong! The proportion of salt is way too much, ruined a kilo of prawns with this. Too late, I googled other versions and can only conclude that the 2 tablespoons of celery salt is an error. Three tablespoons of this, along with 2 teaspooons of salt in the prawn recipe actually gave 8 teaspoons of salt in the entire dish! If only I had worked that out beforehand. Sorry, but steer clear.
Kelly Olson
Substitute ingredients: •Dry Mustard – Crushed Red Pepper •Ground Cardamom – Equal Parts Nutmeg & Cinnamon •Ground Allspice – Equal Parts Nutmeg, Cinnamon & Mace •Ground Cloves – Mace •Ground Ginger – Cinnamon And Double the entire recipe.
Lance Gray
Perfect. I doubled up all the ingredients except the celery salt, as I wasn’t going to dig all those things out of my cupboard just to make a teeny bit lol. It is a perfect money saving substitute. Thank you Jan!
Roberto Collier
This is a great mixture. I used it in a seafood chowder. It was fantastic.
Mary Hawkins
I have made this before just guessing at it, but didn’t use some of the ingredients. I am allergic to mustard so just eliminate that, didn’t use cardamom because I didn’t have any, way less celery salt. All these people that complain about the salty taste should just use their heads and use less instead of complaining about it. I think it is a very good recipe. Thank you!
Kristen Collins
I’m not sure what Old Bay is supposed to taste like, but I enjoyed this in Connie’s Zuchini “Crab” Cakes recipe on this site. I’ve made this spice substitute twice now. Added a bay leaf and crushed the spices in my pestle and mortar.
Teresa Harris
I don’t know real Old Bay seasoning to compare this to, BUT my recipe called for it and I used this as a sub. My recipe turned out great, so much so I will keep making scratch old bay seasoning. Its nice knowing exactly whats in my seasoning too.
Katherine Richardson
I’ve never tried real Old Bay, but I thought this was good on shrimp. I liked it and will try it on fish next time. Instead of all celery salt, I used half celery seed that I put through a grinder.
Katrina Smith
I really liked the mix of flavor in this recipe. I used one tbsp of celery salt and one tbsp of celery seed then passed it through my mortar. Thank you for the recipe.
Bobby Nelson
I have never had Old Bay Seasoning before so cannot vouch for its authenticity, however, it worked well in the chili recipe I was making. I did only use just under 2 tsp. of celery salt due to the reviews. I also subbed in a pinch of ground coriander for the cardamom, just because I didn’t feel like grinding it up just for the sake of such a small amount. Thanks for posting!
Amanda Cox
I liked this, but Robert didn’t seem to.
Miss Jennifer Stanley
Great substitute and worked well instead of spending money on actual “Old Bay” seasoning. Used to make Connie’s Zucchini Crab Cakes (from this site) and reduced the amount of celery salt to 2 tsp. I think 2 tbsp. would be too much…and too salty. Left the other seasoning amounts the same and this spice blend was perfect for what I was making…with 1 tsp left to use. Thanks for sharing the recipe! I’ll be using it again!
Melissa Salinas
I loved this! I substituted celery seed for celery salt. It was perfect and no salty taste.
Gabrielle Whitehead
This was way too salty. Too much celery salt compared to the other ingredients. Won’t make it again.
Vanessa Olsen
You might say I grew up with Old Bay Seasoning, being born and raised in Baltimore since 1940. I gotta say this recipe ain’t even close. Not for steaming crabs, or shrimp, or as a spice used in crab cakes and other sea foods. I stick with the original.
Ashley Meyer
My family and I found this recipe to be salty as is. We preferred it using only 1-3/4 tsp. of celery salt and about 1/8 tsp. for all the spices for which were instructed a “pinch.”
Diane Guerrero
Made this up for the broiled tilapia, worked great and will use it again. Thanks
Douglas Ramirez
We have an allium allergy in our house (garlic/onion) so have to avoid store-bought spice mixes. Learned the hard way with Old Bay in particular! I was smart and saved the container…keep refilling it with this and we are very happy with it! I love mixing it with mayo/sour cream and lemon juice for a dip. Also delicious sprinkled on fries. Thanks for the copy!
Dr. Christian Scott
I think the other ingredients besides the celery salt could be upped a little, but otherwise worked out well for a recipe.

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top