12 Unexpected Ways To Use Old Bay Seasoning

You probably have plenty of single-ingredient seasonings in your pantry, ready to be combined with other flavors when you're cooking meals from scratch. But sometimes, you just need an easy way to infuse your meals with more flavor, and that's when seasoning mixes come into play. One of our all-time favorite seasoning mixes is Old Bay, the iconic seafood seasoning that can transform everything from a plain piece of cod to a complex seafood boil. But although the product is marketed toward seafood dishes, that's not all it can be used for. In reality, Old Bay can enhance a wide variety of dishes — you just have to get creative.

We've compiled this list of some of the best (and most unexpected) ways to use Old Bay seasoning. Whether you have some in the pantry that you need to use up despite the fact that you don't often make seafood or you're simply searching for a way to infuse your favorite dishes with even more flavor, we've got you covered. Once you try some of these combos, you may never look at Old Bay the same way again.

You may think of Old Bay as a seasoning that should go directly on the protein you're cooking, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the case. Instead of using it as a part of the main course, why not use it to add more flavor to your favorite condiments? This is exactly why we love combining Old Bay with mayonnaise. It's a great way to work that Old Bay flavor you love into a dish in a more subtle, less obvious way. You'll still get that salty, savory flavor profile — just not concentrated in every single bite.

It's easy to make your own Old Bay-flavored mayonnaise at home. You just need to either grab a jar of store-bought mayo out of your fridge or make some homemade mayonnaise from scratch. Place it in a bowl, then start to shake some Old Bay into the dish. Stir and taste as you go to make sure you're not making the mayonnaise too salty. Ideally, you'll use enough Old Bay that the color of the mayo starts to change but not so much that you can't appreciate the subtle notes of the mayonnaise itself. Once you've stirred it all together, you can dip whatever you want into the mixture. Whether that's french fries, seafood, or something else entirely is completely up to you.

Popcorn is one of the easiest — and most cost-effective — snacks you can make at home. If you want to make things as easy as possible for your next movie night, just make some microwave popcorn. If you have some more time on your hands and want to keep things less expensive, pop your own popcorn from scratch. Either way, you'll probably want to add some flavor to your popcorn to really make it shine. Butter and salt are always an option when you want to keep things simple, but what if you want to pack more flavor into every bite?

That's exactly where Old Bay seasoning can come into play. Sprinkling a bit of it on your popcorn will give your snack a bold, salty flavor that makes every bite that much more delicious. The best part about using Old Bay is the fact that since it contains so many different spices, you won't have to use any other ingredients to make your popcorn more flavorful. For the best results, you'll want to make sure you're using some sort of fat in your popcorn. This way, that Old Bay seasoning will better stick to the popcorn, ensuring that it doesn't just all fall to the bottom of the bowl. Plain, salted popcorn just can't compete with the deliciousness that is Old Bay popcorn.

Yes, Old Bay is advertised as a seasoning for seafood specifically, but that fact shouldn't hold you back from trying it out with different types of food. Although it may not be an obvious choice, Old Bay can actually add a ton of flavor to a steak. Think about it: Ultimately, Old Bay is just a mixture of a few different seasonings, including paprika, red and black pepper, and celery salt. So why wouldn't it taste good on just about any cut of meat? Covering your steak in some Old Bay seasoning before placing it on the grill or in a pan can infuse the meat with those savory flavors you love and can create a nice seasoning crust that gives the steak a more interesting texture.

Just use the Old Bay seasoning as you would normally use salt and pepper on your steak. Use a generous amount of the seasoning to cover the steak in flavor, and rub it in a bit to ensure that it's not just sitting on the surface of the meat. Then, cook your steak as you normally would, then serve. You might just find that you like Old Bay on steak even more than you enjoy it on seafood.

There's nothing like good seafood pasta, whether you're eating those noodles with clams, mussels, and scallops or just keeping it simple with some shrimp. But what makes some seafood pasta taste so good in the first place? In a lot of cases, it's actually Old Bay. That flavorful, savory seasoning adds a punch of flavor to every bite, infusing not just the seafood with flavor but also the pasta itself.

So, why couldn't you use Old Bay in basically any pasta dish you decide to cook? Of course, it's delicious when you're making a seafood pasta dish specifically, but it doesn't have to be limited to seafood pasta only. Try making it with other pasta dishes that don't include any seafood in the mix, and you'll see that it still works beautifully. In fact, even if you want to keep things really simple, you can shake some Old Bay into your plain buttered noodles for an unexpected burst of flavor, or use it in conjunction with store-bought Alfredo sauce to give the dish a more interesting flavor profile. Get creative with Old Bay seasoning in your pasta dishes, and you'll see just how versatile the seasoning mix can really be.

When you think of Old Bay seasoning, your mind probably doesn't go directly to dessert. After all, with its salty flavor profile, it seems like an ingredient destined for savory dishes only — not for sprinkling onto a fresh pan of brownies straight out of the oven, for example. But you may not realize that Old Bay seasoning actually can be used in some sweet dishes, and pumpkin pie is one of them. Pumpkin is one of those ingredients that can skew savory or sweet depending on how you prepare it, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that it provides a solid canvas for a saltier ingredient even when it's in its sweetest form.

This combination works because savory and sweet flavors often pair beautifully with one another. Sprinkling some sea salt on a chocolate chip cookie, for instance, really heightens its flavor and makes every bite that much more delicious. The same can be said for pumpkin pie and Old Bay. It adds a subtly salty and spicy pop of flavor to your pie when you sprinkle a small amount of it on top of your slice, and far from detracting from the sweetness, it actually enhances those sugary notes beautifully. With the warm notes of paprika and pepper, it complements the similarly warm notes of other ingredients you'll find in pumpkin pie, like cinnamon and nutmeg. Sure, it may be unconventional, but it's a combo you absolutely have to try if you love savory and sweet flavor combinations.

But Old Bay doesn't just work with sweet flavors when you sprinkle it onto a pumpkin pie. You can also incorporate it into sweet dishes in other ways, like creating an Old Bay caramel sauce that you can use in a wide variety of dessert recipes. It's the same idea here: Those salty and savory flavors pair well together, and the warming spices in Old Bay will give your caramel sauce an added earthy note. Already love salted caramel? Using Old Bay instead of plain salt just adds a new dimension of flavor to your dessert.

Although we fully endorse eating your caramel sauce straight out of a jar with a spoon, you're probably curious about what else you can use the sauce for. Well, there are seemingly endless possibilities. When you want to keep things simple, just drizzle some Old Bay caramel over some good-quality store-bought vanilla ice cream. You can also use it on brownies, pies, or even cakes to give your desserts an even more pronounced pop of flavor.

Whether you're having a party and you're making appetizers that can feed a crowd or you simply want an excuse to eat tons of boiled eggs in one sitting, deviled eggs are the perfect snack. But why settle for plain old deviled eggs when you can give them more of that savory flavor you love in every bite? That's where Old Bay comes into play. The seasoning mix makes for a tasty accompaniment to standard deviled eggs, and it's an especially easy way to add more flavor to the dish.

There are a few different ways you can incorporate Old Bay into your deviled egg recipe. The first — and easiest — is to simply sprinkle some on top of your deviled eggs right before you serve them. If you want that flavor to be more infused into the recipe, though, you can stir some Old Bay into the yolk mixture. Either way, you're guaranteed to give your deviled eggs the flavor boost they need to really shine on the appetizer table.

If you visit a Maryland ice cream shop, you might just find a seemingly strange flavor on the menu: Old Bay. It's certainly not the most common ice cream flavor you've likely come across, but that doesn't mean that the savory–sweet flavor combo doesn't work. Outside of the Maryland area, you're probably not going to find Old Bay ice cream on many menus, but no worries — you can make it yourself if you happen to have an ice cream maker at home.

Making your own Old Bay ice cream is simpler than you may suspect. Just start off the recipe by making standard vanilla ice cream, and then add some Old Bay seasoning as you go. You might want to taste your ice cream a few times during the process to ensure that you can actually pick up on that Old Bay flavor without making the dish too salty. You can also add other ingredients to the mix, like caramel, if you want an even more dynamic flavor. Is Old Bay ice cream for everyone? Maybe not. But for those who love a salty and sweet dessert, it's absolutely worth a try.

Butter is beautiful in all its forms, from the simple, plain variety to those that are studded with sea salt. But who said you had to stop with salt when it comes to seasoning your butter? By making a compound butter, you can stir in all of your favorite flavors to create a fatty, spreadable condiment that can be used for something as simple as a piece of toasted bread or a dish as complicated as a seafood boil. Old Bay seasoning just happens to be one of our favorite ingredients with which to make a compound butter.

The process of making your Old Bay compound butter is simple. Just let your butter (preferably salted, for the most savory flavor profile) sit out on the counter for several hours until it reaches a super soft consistency. Place it in a bowl, and sprinkle in your Old Bay seasoning. You can also add lemon zest and/or juice if you want a pop of brightness in the butter, along with some hot sauce or crushed red chili pepper flakes for a touch of heat. Then, stir all the ingredients together, making sure the seasoning is well incorporated into the butter. Shape the butter, place it in the fridge, and let it solidify, and you have an incredibly tasty, savory butter to use in all of your favorite recipes.

Plain old salted fries are delicious, of course, but there's no reason you shouldn't add even more flavor to your fries when you want a more flavor-packed experience. There are so many different ingredients with which you can season your fries, but if you want to keep things simple while still infusing them with a ton of flavor, you may want to turn to Old Bay seasoning. With a slew of savory spices, Old Bay can elevate a simple serving of fries into a special side dish. You can serve your Old Bay fries with seafood, of course, but also with anything else with which you'd normally eat fries.

Whether you're using frozen french fries or making your own from scratch, make sure they have a decent layer of fat on them to ensure that spices stick to the potatoes easily. Then, sprinkle on your Old Bay seasoning, tasting as you go to ensure you're not making them too salty. Once you taste Old Bay fries, you might just realize that plain salted fries just can't offer the same level of flavor as this super-spiced version of the classic side dish.

We love a sweet cocktail every once in a while, but they just can't compete with the appeal of a super salty, savory cocktail. That's exactly why we love bloody marys. By using tomato juice as their base, they offer a complex umami flavor that makes you feel like you're enjoying a whole meal in a single sip. And with a cocktail this savory, there are a lot of potential ingredients you can add to up the flavor ante, but Old Bay seasoning happens to be one of our favorites. It offers an extra dose of saltiness along with added complexity from all the other spices incorporated into the mix.

Your best bet is to add the Old Bay seasoning into the cocktail before you shake it all up to mix the ingredients together. That way, you can make sure you don't get too much of that salty flavor all in one sip. It's an easy way to take your homemade bloody mary up a notch, no matter what other ingredients you decide to include in the recipe.

Here's another idea for those who like the idea of incorporating Old Bay into sweet dishes. Adding a sprinkle of the seasoning mix to your Mexican hot chocolate can be a fun way of adding even more complexity — along with a serious dose of saltiness — to the drink. Mexican hot chocolate often contains cinnamon and chili peppers, which already gives it an earthiness and a heat that bridges the gap between salty and sweet flavors. Adding in some Old Bay just enhances that juxtaposition between flavors. The paprika and pepper add even more earthiness, while the salt plays nicely with the sugar already in the hot chocolate.

Sprinkle some Old Bay seasoning into your hot chocolate mix before pouring in the hot water, and you'll get a deeply delicious drink you can sip all winter long. It's a twist on a classic drink you never knew you needed before this moment — but one that you might just come back to time and time again.