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Pairing

Gin + Thyme

An everyday combination rather than a standout: 14 recipes use both, and they rank in the top 28% of all ingredient pairs.

Smell alikemoderate
Cooked together14 recipes
Ranktop 28% of pairs
Try them in the pairing tool Gin Thyme
13gin only 43shared 260thyme only Gin · 56 Thyme · 303
Circle size = number of flavor molecules on record. Overlap = molecules they share.

Do gin and thyme go together?

They can. 14 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 43 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 28% of every ingredient pair we score.

What they have in common

More than half of gin's flavor molecules (43 of 56) also occur in thyme. Among the shared key aromas are alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine) and myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

What each one brings

gin

The tartness. Sour notes make up 20% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 16% for thyme. It carries 13 molecules thyme doesn't have.

thyme

The fruit. Fruity notes make up 14% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 7% for gin. It carries 260 molecules gin doesn't have.

Add a third ingredient

  • Rosemary: the best fit for both, top 21% of pairs with gin, top 1% with thyme.
  • Lime: top 16% of pairs with gin, top 1% with thyme.
  • Lemon: top 23% of pairs with gin, top 1% with thyme.
  • Laurel: top 29% of pairs with gin, top 1% with thyme.

Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.

Recipes with gin and thyme

We have no browsable recipe that lists both gin and thyme.

Can you swap one for the other?

Only partly. Most of gin's flavor molecules (43 of 56) are also found in thyme, but thyme has 260 that gin lacks. Gin gives you part of thyme's character without most of its fruit. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

All 43 shared molecules

See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 13 only in gin and the 260 only in thyme.

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Gin and thyme questions

Do gin and thyme go together?

An everyday combination rather than a standout: 14 recipes use both, and they rank in the top 28% of all ingredient pairs.

What do gin and thyme have in common?

More than half of gin's flavor molecules (43 of 56) also occur in thyme. Among the shared key aromas are alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine) and myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

What goes with gin and thyme?

Rosemary is the best third ingredient: top 21% of pairs with gin and top 1% with thyme. Lime and lemon also fit both.

Can I use thyme instead of gin?

Only partly. Most of gin's flavor molecules (43 of 56) are also found in thyme, but thyme has 260 that gin lacks. Gin gives you part of thyme's character without most of its fruit. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

Compare other ingredients

1
2

Two ingredients gives the full side-by-side breakdown; add a third to see a similarity matrix across all of them (up to 6).

Ranks compare this pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. Molecule counts are what the studies and databases we aggregate have reported for each ingredient: a measure of coverage, not a full census. How we score pairs

Cite this analysis
Plain text
Compound Kitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Gin vs Thyme. https://compkitchen.com/compare/gin-vs-thyme. Accessed 2026-11-04.
BibTeX
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_gin_vs_thyme_2026,
  title  = {Compound similarity analysis: Gin vs Thyme},
  author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/gin-vs-thyme},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}

Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.