Here's everything worth knowing about kaffir lime leaves and how to pick them, what they are, how to store them, and what to use instead, plus 64 recipes to cook tonight.

What are kaffir lime leaves?

Kaffir lime leaves are the glossy, dark-green leaves of the kaffir lime tree, and they are one of the defining aromas of Thai and wider Southeast Asian cooking. Each leaf has an unmistakable figure-eight shape, two lobes joined end to end, as if two leaves grew nose to tail.

The fragrance is the point. Crush a leaf and you get an intense floral-citrus perfume, cleaner and more piney than lime juice, with none of the sourness. It is what gives a Thai curry or a bowl of tom yum that signature lift.

You will also see them sold as makrut lime leaves, a name many cooks and stores now prefer.

How to Use Kaffir Lime Leaves

How you prep the leaf depends on whether you want to eat it. For a soup or a braise, drop whole leaves in to steep their aroma into the broth, the way Tom Yum Gong Soup and Tom Kha Gai (Chicken Coconut Soup) do.

Then fish them out before serving, the same as a bay leaf.

If the leaves stay in the dish, slice them. Stack a few, roll them tight, and shave them into hair-thin threads with a sharp knife so they melt into the food.

Indonesian Beef Rendang relies on that fine sliver, so the leaf perfumes every bite without anyone chewing a leathery piece.

Bruise whole leaves before they go in. Tearing or scrunching them cracks the oil glands and releases far more aroma than dropping them in flat.

Add them early for a braise so the flavor has time to infuse, and Thai Green Chicken Curry simmers them right in the coconut sauce. For soups, a few minutes of steeping is enough.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Kaffir lime leaves run with coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, chile, fish sauce, and ginger. That cluster is the backbone of Thai curries and soups, and the leaf is the high floral note over the rest.

The most common mistake is leaving whole leaves in the bowl. They never soften enough to eat, and biting one is like chewing a bay leaf, so pull them out or slice them paper-thin from the start.

The second mistake is treating them as a stand-in for lime juice. They bring aroma, not acid, so they cannot make a dish taste sour. A curry usually wants both: leaves for fragrance, and a squeeze of lime juice at the end for the tang.

The tough central stem is fibrous and bitter. Fold each leaf and strip it out before slicing.

Substitutes

There is no clean swap, since the aroma is specific. The closest is a strip of lime zest plus a little lime leaf if you have any, or zest with a small piece of lemongrass to chase that floral note.

In a pinch, the grated zest of one regular lime stands in for about two leaves, contributing fragrance if not the exact pine-citrus character. Bay leaves are sometimes suggested, but they taste nothing alike and only mimic the steep-and-remove method.

If a recipe leans hard on the leaves, it is worth tracking down the real thing at an Asian grocery rather than approximating.

Buying and Storing

Fresh leaves are best, found in the produce or refrigerated section of Asian markets, often in small bags. Look for firm, deep-green, glossy leaves and skip any that are yellowing or dry at the edges.

Fresh leaves keep about a week in the fridge wrapped loosely in the crisper. For the long haul, freeze them: sealed in a bag they hold their fragrance for six months or more, going straight from the freezer into the pot.

Dried leaves are sold too and store for a year, but they lose much of the volatile oil and the punch along with it.

Use roughly double the number of dried leaves to stand in for fresh, and add them a little earlier so they have time to release what aroma remains.

Quick facts

Where to find kaffir lime leaves: Kaffir lime leaves are usually found in the produce section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

In Chinese

青柠叶

British (UK) term

Kaffir lime leaves

en français

feuilles de lime kaffir

en español

hojas de lima kaffir

Recipes using kaffir lime leaves

There are 64 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 64 recipes

More kaffir lime leaf recipes

• Basil-Coconut Curry Sauce
• Gai Tom Kha (Thai Chicken & Coconut Milk Soup)
• Thai Green Chicken Curry
• Thai Green Curry Chicken with Basil
• Thai Red Prawn & Squash Curry