Spices enhance the palatability of the food. Plant-derived natural spices are preferred over artificial ones by both commercial and consumer sectors. Despite its wide use in traditional cuisine and medicament, Alpinia nigra lacks a well-deserved platform in the global spice market. The current study aimed a comparative investigation between rhizomes of A. nigra (AR) and ginger (GR) through physicochemical characteristics, sensory attributes, oleochemical profiling and in silico α-amylase inhibitory activity. AR exhibited lesser moisture content (87.81 ± 0.35%), water activity (0.56 ± 0.01 a_w), rehydration capacity (3.00 ± 0.19) and comparable organoleptic attributes against ginger. Both the rhizome powders showed a color difference value of 12.02 ± 0.04 due to the significant differences in the color parameters (L*, a*, b*). The FTIR spectra displayed corresponding banding patterns for O–H, C–H and C=C bond stretching at 3200–3400 cm⁻¹, 2921–2924 cm⁻¹ and 1634 cm⁻¹, respectively. The SEM micrographs showed a similar fibrous structure of varying sizes, 40–100 µm. Hydro-distillation of AR yielded 0.02% of essential oil which showed the presence of Bornyl acetate (24.29%), Borneol (17.6%) and β-Caryophyllene (12.59%) as the major oleochemicals when subjected to GC–MS. The descriptive sensory analysis of AR essential oil identified camphoraceous as the key aroma attributes with spicy, pine and woody notes. Molecular docking revealed the potential of β-Guaiene (binding energy − 7.5 kcal/mol) to develop a possible dietary supplement against diabetes. The study is an initial attempt to unravel the fundamental potential of A. nigra as an alternative spice and dietary supplement.

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