What Are Cloves and How Can I Use Them?
Cloves is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store them, what to substitute, and 1,518 recipes to get you started.
What are cloves?
Cloves can be used in cooking either whole or in a ground form, but as they are extremely strong, they are used sparingly.
Dried cloves are also a key ingredient in Indian masala chai, spiced tea, a special variation of tea popular in some regions, notably Gujarat. In the US, it is often sold under the name of "chai" or "chai tea", as a way of differentiating it from other types of teas sold in the US.
Due to the Indonesian influence, the use of cloves is widespread in the Netherlands. Cloves are used in cheeses, often in combination with cumin. Cloves are an essential ingredient for making Dutch speculaas. Furthermore, cloves are used in traditional Dutch stews like hachee.
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 tbsp (6g)Where found
Cloves are usually found in the spices section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.
Food group
Cloves are a member of the Spices and Herbs US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.
How much do cloves weigh?
| Amount | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1 tbsp | 6 grams |
| 1 teaspoon | 2 grams |
Related
Spices and Herbs
| In Chinese: | 丁香 | |
| British (UK) term: | ||
| en français: | clous de girofle | |
| en español: | clavos |
Recipes using cloves
There are 1518 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Gloria's Best Gingerbread Cookies
Soft, warmly spiced gingerbread cookies made with molasses, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Roll and cut into festive shapes for Christmas decorating with simple icing.
Dave's Light Pumpkin Pie
Dave's light pumpkin pie uses artificial sweetener, skim milk, and nonfat evaporated milk for a holiday-classic flavor with significantly less fat and sugar. Thanksgiving dessert you can serve guilt-free.
Chocolate Raisin Poppyseed Cookies
Eastern European chocolate poppyseed cookies with milk-soaked poppy seeds, melted unsweetened chocolate, raisins, lemon zest, and warm cinnamon-clove spice. A tea-time treat unlike any other cookie.
Maple Acorn Squash No. 1
Sweet and buttery squash with a hint a maple and bacon; enjoyable and easy to make! A Christmas and Thanksgiving favourite.
Cherry Pie
Classic double-crust cherry pie with warm spices, buttery crust, and tart cherries. A timeless dessert that works equally well with fresh or canned fruit.
Opal Deneke's Fig Jam
Opal Deneke's fig jam with ripe figs, pineapple, lemon juice, and warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Old-Southern hand-me-down preserve perfect for biscuits, cheese boards, or holiday gifting.
Easy Ginger Spice Cookies
Easy ginger spice cookies with no sugar in the dough: cinnamon, ginger, and cloves rolled and cut into rounds, then tossed warm in a sugar-substitute cinnamon coating. A diabetic-friendly cookie.
Delicious Thanksging Pumpkin Pie
Classic Thanksgiving pumpkin pie with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves bound by evaporated milk and eggs in a flaky shell. The straightforward holiday standard, two pies from one batch.
Tom's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie
Old-fashioned pumpkin pie with molasses, evaporated milk, and the four classic spices: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. The grandmother-style holiday pie with a deep, dark filling.
Favourite Spiced Tea
Favourite spiced tea: a fragrant homemade chai blend of peppercorns, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger ground fresh, stirred into a pot of tea and served hot with milk and sugar.
Spicy, Tasty Chicken Tandoori
Chicken tandoori is basically a snack which can be eaten in the evening or at night. Chicken marinated in tandoori masala, grilled in the oven is a super tasty, mouthwatering dish. Try it now.
Rolled Baklava with Honey Syrup
Rolled baklava swaps the usual diamonds for crisp phyllo logs filled with spiced walnuts, baked golden then dipped in honey-lemon syrup. The cold-syrup dip keeps every flaky roll crisp, not soggy.
Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies
Grandma's oatmeal cookies plump raisins in baking-soda water, then fold them into a buttermilk-spiced oat dough with walnuts. Five-plus dozen warm-spiced cookies for the cookie jar.
Favorite Chewy Spice Cookies
Chewy spice cookies are low-fat molasses cookies sweetened with applesauce, scented with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice, then drizzled with lemon icing. Holiday spice cookies without butter or eggs.
Whole Grain Spice Pumpkin Muffins
Whole grain spice pumpkin muffins with whole wheat pastry flour, bran, honey, dates, and raisins. Naturally sweetened, fiber-rich fall muffins with warm spices and orange zest.
Simple Baklava Bites
Simple baklava bites: buttery phyllo cups twisted into little sachets around a honey-sweetened almond, walnut, and apricot filling. All the baklava flavor, none of the fuss.
Cakey Gingerbread Squares
Cakey gingerbread squares with molasses, fresh orange zest, and warm holiday spices. Tender old-fashioned gingerbread, dusted with powdered sugar for a snowy finish.
Rich Apple Butter
Slow cooker apple butter simmers unpeeled apples and cider for 10 hours, then adds sugar and warm spices for the last hour. Yields ten 6-ounce jars of deep, spiced spread for toast or biscuits.
Traditional Applesauce Cake
Old-fashioned applesauce cake with cinnamon, cloves, and a hint of cocoa, studded with raisins and baked in a 9x13 pan. Tender, moist, and ready to slice in 50 minutes.
Decorated Spice Cookies
Spice cookies with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and clove rolled and cut into festive shapes. The perfect Christmas cookie for decorating with royal icing.
Old Fashion Ginger Snaps
Crispy old fashioned ginger snaps made with whole wheat flour, molasses, cinnamon, and cloves. These spiced cookies bake up flat and crackled in just 8 minutes with a warm, snappy bite.
Kukul Mus Thakkali or Chicken & Tomato Curry
Kukul Mus Thakkali, a Sri Lankan chicken and tomato curry with coconut milk, lemongrass, curry leaves, fenugreek and cardamom. Marinated and simmered for rich, layered flavor.
