What to use instead of shiso
Quick answer
The closest option is Basil with Mint, rated situational. Both are mint-family relatives and between them they cover part of shiso’s range — basil supplies the sweet clove-adjacent note, mint the coolness. What neither supplies is perillaldehyde, which is the compound that makes shiso unlike anything else, and the citric-cumin edge that comes with it. The result is a pleasant herb mixture that nobody would mistake for shiso.
It will not do for: Under sashimi, where shiso is doing a specific palate-resetting job; Tempura, where the leaf itself is the dish; Anything where the leaf is used whole as a wrapper.
All recorded options
Ranked by suitability. Ratios are given only where they are defensible, and always with their basis — by weight or by volume — because spice densities differ.
Use: 1× by volume — Roughly two parts basil to one part mint, at the same volume as the shiso replaced.
Both are mint-family relatives and between them they cover part of shiso’s range — basil supplies the sweet clove-adjacent note, mint the coolness. What neither supplies is perillaldehyde, which is the compound that makes shiso unlike anything else, and the citric-cumin edge that comes with it. The result is a pleasant herb mixture that nobody would mistake for shiso.
| Flavour | Aroma | Colour | Heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| partial | partial | close | n/a |
Works for
- Salads and cold dishes
- Vietnamese-style herb plates, where several herbs are used together anyway
Does not work for
- Under sashimi, where shiso is doing a specific palate-resetting job
- Tempura, where the leaf itself is the dish
- Anything where the leaf is used whole as a wrapper
Shiso has no real substitute. It is also easy to grow from seed and self-sows, which for anyone who wants it regularly is a better answer than any swap.
Shiso
PoorRecorded because people ask and the answer is unusual: there is no dried shiso worth using. The preserved products that exist — salted red shiso, and yukari, the dried salted powder scattered on rice — are made by pickling rather than drying and are ingredients in their own right with a sharp plum-pickle acidity that fresh shiso does not have. Yukari on rice is excellent; yukari under sashimi is not shiso.
| Flavour | Aroma | Colour | Heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| partial | different | partial | n/a |
Works for
- Seasoning rice, where yukari is the right ingredient in its own right
Does not work for
- Under or beside sashimi
- Tempura, where the leaf is the dish
- Any use of the fresh leaf as a wrapper
No ratio, because there is no equivalence. This is a record of a non-substitution rather than a substitution.
Where shiso stands in for something else
The reverse view of the same graph.
- Instead of Shiso — poor