Dried oregano

One US cup of dried oregano weighs between 41.2 and 48.5 grams (1.5 to 1.7 ounces), depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. Use 48 grams (1.7 ounces) as USDA weighs a teaspoon of dried leaves. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.

Also called oregano, oregano leaves, dried oregano leaves, crushed oregano, Mediterranean oregano, Greek oregano.

Dried herbs compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.

A teaspoon of dried oregano weighs about 1 g, and a cup between 41 and 48.5 g (1.5 to 1.7 oz). USDA weighs a teaspoon of the leaves at 1.0 g and Chef's Resources a cup at 48.5 g; bulk sellers' cut and sifted oregano runs about 15% lighter. Ground oregano is heavier, 1.8 g a teaspoon.

Dried oregano is the crushed dried leaf of Origanum vulgare and its relatives, the Greek and Mediterranean oreganos sold in nearly every spice rack. It goes into tomato sauces, pizza, Greek salads and marinades, chili and Mexican dishes, and most Italian and Greek herb blends. Mexican oregano, sold under the same name in Latin American shops, is a different plant with a stronger, more citrusy flavour, and it is not covered here.

USDA's record for dried oregano gives two portions: a teaspoon of leaves at 1.0 g and a teaspoon of ground oregano at 1.8 g. A teaspoon of leaves is 48 g per cup. Chef's Resources, a foodservice table, gives oregano leaves at 1.71 oz per cup, 48.5 g. Herbco and Frontier Co-op, two bulk sellers, both count 11 cups of cut and sifted oregano to the pound, 41.2 g a cup, or 0.86 g a teaspoon. The two groups are 17.7% apart, past the 10% this site allows for spices, so the page shows the range and recommends USDA's 1 g teaspoon.

Two other figures are listed without a value. Tone's label gives a quarter teaspoon as 0.2 g, which rounding could put anywhere from 0.15 to 0.25 g, and Norway's food table gives a teaspoon as 1 g, a whole gram that could be half that or half again. Both agree with the published figure as far as they can show.

King Arthur Baking's chart has no oregano row.

The physical check: dried oregano is mostly air in the spoon. The crushed leaves are thin, curled flakes that cannot lie flat against each other, so most of a teaspoon is air. Grinding collapses those flakes into a fine powder that fills the spoon much better, which is why USDA's ground teaspoon, 1.8 g, weighs nearly twice the crushed one. The bulk-bag figure is lighter because cut and sifted oregano from a bulk seller is usually a coarser cut than the jarred, finely crushed kind, and larger flakes leave more air.

Practical guidance: use 1 g per teaspoon of dried oregano leaves, 3 g per tablespoon and 48 g per cup; use 1.8 g per teaspoon for ground oregano. Recipes rarely need more precision than that, but when a spice blend or sausage recipe gives oregano in grams, weigh it: a cup of coarse oregano from a bulk bag can be 7 g lighter than a cup of the jarred kind. The common swap of dried for fresh herbs, one part dried to three parts fresh by volume, is about flavour, not weight.