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Pairing

Oregano + Nutmeg

A proven pairing. Cooks put them together in 141 recipes, and they share 249 flavor molecules: the top 5% of all ingredient pairs.

Smell alikestrong
Cooked together141 recipes
Ranktop 5% of pairs
Try them in the pairing tool Oregano Nutmeg
77oregano only 249shared 52nutmeg only Oregano · 326 Nutmeg · 301
Circle size = number of flavor molecules on record. Overlap = molecules they share.

Do oregano and nutmeg go together?

Yes. 141 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 249 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 5% of every ingredient pair we score.

Why they work

Almost everything nutmeg carries, oregano has too: 249 of nutmeg's 301 flavor molecules also occur in oregano. Among the shared key aromas are estragole (anise, licorice) and beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

What each one brings

oregano

The woody side. Woody notes make up 6% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 3% for nutmeg. It carries 77 molecules nutmeg doesn't have.

nutmeg

Much the same character. It carries 52 molecules oregano doesn't have.

Add a third ingredient

  • Cumin: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with oregano, top 3% with nutmeg.
  • Marjoram: top 1% of pairs with oregano, top 1% with nutmeg.
  • Cinnamon: top 5% of pairs with oregano, top 1% with nutmeg.
  • Rosemary: top 1% of pairs with oregano, top 4% with nutmeg.

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

Recipes with oregano and nutmeg

Almost always mains: 44 of the 53 recipes with a course label are mains.

Aloo Dum AwadhiBlack Beans and PastaBoliche AsadoBrazilian StroganoffEthiopian Curried ButterGluten‑Free White Bread

See recipes with both →

Can you swap one for the other?

Fairly well, for flavor. Each carries most of the other's flavor molecules (76% of oregano's and 83% of nutmeg's are shared). This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

All 249 shared molecules

See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 77 only in oregano and the 52 only in nutmeg.

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Oregano and nutmeg questions

Do oregano and nutmeg go together?

A proven pairing. Cooks put them together in 141 recipes, and they share 249 flavor molecules: the top 5% of all ingredient pairs.

Why do oregano and nutmeg taste good together?

Almost everything nutmeg carries, oregano has too: 249 of nutmeg's 301 flavor molecules also occur in oregano. Among the shared key aromas are estragole (anise, licorice) and beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

What goes with oregano and nutmeg?

Cumin is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with oregano and top 3% with nutmeg. Marjoram and cinnamon also fit both.

What can you make with oregano and nutmeg?

Almost always mains: 44 of the 53 recipes with a course label are mains. Common dishes include Aloo Dum Awadhi, Black Beans and Pasta, Boliche Asado, Brazilian Stroganoff.

Can I use nutmeg instead of oregano?

Fairly well, for flavor. Each carries most of the other's flavor molecules (76% of oregano's and 83% of nutmeg's are shared). This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

Compare other ingredients

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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: Oregano vs Nutmeg. https://compkitchen.com/compare/oregano-vs-nutmeg. Accessed 2026-11-05.
BibTeX
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_oregano_vs_nutmeg_2026,
  title  = {Compound similarity analysis: Oregano vs Nutmeg},
  author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/oregano-vs-nutmeg},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-11-05}
}

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