What Is Herb vinegar and How Can I Use It?
If herb vinegar has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 3 recipes to try it in.
Key Points
- Any vinegar steeped with fresh herbs; usually wine or cider vinegar, tarragon being classic.
- Carries herb flavor into a vinaigrette without chopping anything fresh into the dish.
- Make it by steeping clean herbs in warmed white wine vinegar one to two weeks.
- Keep herbs fully submerged and jars clean; a strained bottle keeps several months.
What is herb vinegar?
Herb vinegar is any vinegar that has been steeped with fresh herbs until it takes on their flavor. The base is usually a mild wine vinegar or cider vinegar.
The herb can be tarragon, dill, basil, thyme, rosemary, chives or a mix. Tarragon vinegar is the classic, but the idea is the same whatever goes in the jar.
The point is a dressing that tastes of the herb without your having to chop anything. A splash carries thyme or tarragon straight into a vinaigrette.
That is why it lifts a Wild Green Salad, a warm Robert's Red Potato & Green Bean Salad, or a sharp dressing like Rose's Tomato/Onion Dressing.
To make it, pack clean, dry herbs into a clean jar, cover them completely with warmed white wine vinegar, and steep one to two weeks in a cool, dark spot before straining. Warming the vinegar speeds the infusion; boiling it just blows off the aroma you are trying to capture.
The one real caution is fresh aromatics with low acidity, like raw garlic or chiles. They can harbor botulism spores in a low-acid oil, but a true vinegar infusion stays safely acidic. Keep everything submerged and use clean jars.
No herb vinegar on hand? Reach for plain wine vinegar and add the fresh or dried herb directly.
A strained, sealed bottle keeps for several months in a cool cupboard; toss it if it clouds heavily or smells off.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- 香草醋
- British (UK) term
- Herb vinegar
- en français
- herbes vinaigre
- en español
- vinagre de hierbas
Recipes using herb vinegar
There are 3 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Robert's Red Potato & Green Bean Salad
Delicious and everyone who tried it absolutely loved the flavor and the texture of this salad. A winning dish.
Wild Green Salad
Wild green salad tossing bittersweet escarole, lemony sorrel, and fresh mint with toasted sunflower seeds in a light herb vinegar dressing. A bright, garden-fresh bowl ready in minutes.
Rose's Tomato/Onion Dressing
Fat-free tomato onion dressing blended with sauteed sweet onion, herb vinegar, basil, poppy seeds, celery seeds, and dill. A light, tangy salad dressing with no oil.
