Creamy liquids like milk, cream or coconut milk may be used to prevent this in some cases. Too much stock or water can also make the consistency of some dishes thin and unappetizing. To correct this, you would have to cook the dish down again and this would only re-concentrate the thyme flavor. In soups and stews, you may be able to dilute excessive thyme flavors by adding only stock or water however, note that you also run the risk of diluting other flavors if you add too much. With this method, the thyme flavor is thinned out to where it loses its bitterness and pungency. You can dilute the flavor of thyme or any other herb by adding more of the other ingredients. One of the first fixes to try when any flavor is too concentrated in a dish is to dilute it. Do your best to get as much of the herb out of the dish as possible once you realize that you have added too much. If the other components of the dish are in large pieces, consider removing them from the pot and washing the herb from their surfaces.

With a soup, you can try using a strainer to skim leaves from the surface. If the thyme in your dish is in sprig form by itself or is a part of a bouquet garni, removal is straightforward if you used thyme leaves, it may be more difficult.

If there is too much of it in your food, longer cooking is likely to make things worse. Thyme is one of those herbs that can stand up to long cooking times, so you are not likely to cook its flavors out of the dish. As with many other spices, you have several tricks at your disposal that you can use to correct overuse.

Its pungency can quickly make food unpalatable if you use it in excess. Thyme is a delightful herb that can bring both depth and brightness to a dish, but only when you use it correctly.

Thyme seasoning