Incredibly flavorful poultry seasoning adds so much taste, especially for your meat dishes. Spices are an integral part of this condiment that complements the herbs used.
Poultry seasoning mainly includes spices such as:
- Freshly grated or ground nutmeg
- Ground black pepper
In addition to these two spices, some recipes also include flavorings like:
- Ground ginger
- Garlic powder
- Celery seeds
- Ground cloves
- Celery salt
All these spices pair really well with the herbs used in the seasoning blend to give the ultimate flavor and aroma to a dish when added. So, let’s discover how these spices contribute to the poultry seasoning to make your recipes taste amazing!
What Spices Are In Poultry Seasoning?
As we said at the inception of this article, spices play a significant role in flavoring poultry seasoning. Most of the time, commercially made ones contain nutmeg and black pepper, whereas we can see the same in a lot of homemade recipes too.
However, we could also notice some poultry seasoning recipes consisting of garlic powder, ginger powder, celery salt, ground cloves, and celery seeds in addition to these spices.
Refer to this spice overview to learn how these flavorings come up with savoring your container of poultry seasoning.
01- Freshly Grated Or Ground Nutmeg
Warm, nutty, and slightly sweet nutmeg add uniqueness to the poultry seasoning. Its ability to combine well with the herbs in this mix is the main reason why it is being added to many recipes.
In many homemade recipes, fresh whole nutmegs are used by grating using a Microplane. However, commercially prepared brands use dried nutmeg powder, which can add a beautiful flavor but with slightly lesser intensity than the freshly grated nutmeg.
Apart from the distinctive flavor it gives to food, nutmeg is helpful in treating indigestion, detoxifying the body, and boosting skin health.
02- Ground Black Pepper
Widely recognized as the king of spices, black pepper is indeed a spice that could add the “perfect” warmth and zing to any dish. It has a warm, peppery, woody, and spicy bite which could combine well with the other spices and herbs used in the poultry seasoning.
In most instances, black pepper is used by freshly grinding the whole peppercorns, but some recipes use prepared black pepper powder too.
Black pepper usually gives a subtle spiciness and warmth to the poultry seasoning while coupling well with herbs, particularly oregano and marjoram. It complements nutmeg and gives spiciness to the mix without making it overwhelmingly hot.
While contributing to the flavor, black pepper also helps with numerous health benefits. It aids digestion, improves brain health, and also helps to lower harmful cholesterol levels.
Is Chicken Seasoning The Same As Poultry Seasoning?
Although chicken seasoning contains ingredients that are used in poultry seasoning, they are not actually the same in ingredients and flavor as well.
The reason why we say this is mainly because, in chicken seasoning, spicier flavorings or spices are usually used than in the poultry seasoning. And we typically see a lot of spices as the base, unlike the poultry seasoning, which contains a number of herbs and the key ingredient.
However, there isn’t much of a problem with substituting chicken seasoning with poultry seasoning. But you may have to add several other hot spices to get the flavor, and it goes the same way the other way round.
The common ingredients that are included in chicken seasoning are:
- Garlic powder/ granulated garlic
- Onion powder
- Black pepper
- Dried herbs (Parsley, oregano, thyme)
- Red pepper
- Paprika (regular/ sweet/ smoked paprika)
- Cayenne pepper
- Salt
Chicken seasoning can convert a bland chicken dish to a lavish treat. And, it is generally more hot and spicy and flavorful than the poultry seasoning thanks to the amount of paprika, cayenne, black pepper, and other spices used.
However, while most homemade recipes do not contain sugar or MSG, commercially made chicken seasoning might have more sodium, sugar, and MSG depending on the brand you use.
Since you learned everything about the spices in poultry seasoning, you might be interested in being enlightened about the poultry seasoning substitutes too. If so, click here for an exciting reveal.
Mccormick Poultry Seasoning Ingredients
Mccormick is a brand that produces many seasonings and is widely available in leading stores. So, if in case you intend to purchase a poultry seasoning from this brand, here are the ingredients that it contains according to their official website.
- Thyme
- Sage
- Marjoram
- Rosemary
- Black pepper
- Nutmeg
Summing Up
Poultry seasoning truly turns any meat dish instantly to go from flat to taste heavenly. And, in this process, spices play a significant role by adding flavor and helping with the texture of the seasoning blend.
We can see that, in many recipes, nutmeg and black pepper are used as essential spices. Both of these spices have the ability to help with alleviating digestion. And since the poultry seasoning is essentially added to meat, this is one of the leading reasons why nutmeg and black pepper are included in most blends.
