I like to use seasonal ingredients in my cooking, but there are essentials that I always keep in my kitchen. These are the ingredients that enhance dishes, serve as emergency meals and snacks, and are just all around super useful.
- Lemons: A squeeze a lemon adds needed acidity to almost every dish, both savory and sweet. It helps berries pop in a pie and completes a pasta primavera. Or, add a bit to some water in the morning to start the day off right.
- Good quality olive oil: The flavor difference between cheap and good quality olive oil is enough to make or break a dish, so olive oil is definitely worth the splurge. Use it for homemade salad dressings, to coat roasted vegetables, or simply drizzled over a dish to some healthy fats.
- Vegetable broth: A bit of broth is used in a ton of recipes, and not just soups and stews. Using it to cook grains adds a depth of flavor or in a sauce helps to create a good consistency. Plus, it’s nice having it around to use a base for soup if you have vegetables that need to be used up.
- Dry grains: Pasta, rice, barley, farro, quinoa, or whatever your favorites are should always be kept in the pantry. You never know when you’ll need an easy side or a way to bulk up a meal or even a backup for a recipe gone wrong.
- Frozen fruit: Sometimes my mornings are crazy busy, so I like to have frozen fruit on hand that’s ready for a quick smoothie. Also a great snack or last minute dessert.
- Rolled oats: An easy breakfast or as a healthy way to bulk up lentil loaves or bean burgers.
- Garlic: I’ve forgotten to stock up on pantry ingredients, but garlic is always in my kitchen. It’s the easiest way to take a dish from boring to delicious, especially if I only have a few other ingredients to work with.
- Onions: Like garlic, a chopped onion in a pan makes your kitchen smell delicious and makes any savory dish more flavorful.
- Nuts and seeds: Grab them for a snack, throw them in a salad, use them to create crunch in a dish, or grind them up for nut butters and milk, nuts and seeds are always a good idea to have on hand.
- Fresh parsley and basil: Most herbs taste better fresh, but if I had to choose just two to always have on hand, it would be parsley and basil. These both work in so many different dishes, that I don’t have to worry about not using them all up. Great is salads, over pasta, mixed into vegetables, or as the secret ingredient in burgers.
- Vinegar: The type of vinegars will depend on what dishes you make often, vinegars include balsamic, apple cider, rice, red wine, white, etc. Like lemon juice, they elevate a dish to the next level and are all around useful.
- Maple syrup (the real stuff!): Real maple syrup tastes so much better than the corn syrup stuff, plus it’s healthier. I use it as a natural way to sweeten a baked good or sauce, but it’s also great to have around for waffles and pancakes.
- Canned beans: I don’t always have time to make beans from scratch, so canned beans are essential. Use them as a base for a dip or mix into a dish for extra protein.
- Wine: Even if you don’t drink it, a splash of wine to a recipe like risotto or pasta sauce makes all the difference. The alcohol cooks off and the flavor is enhanced.
- Flour: I like whole wheat pastry flour as my “all purpose” flour because it works for most of my recipes, but you should always have your favorite flours on hand.
- Worcestershire Sauce: The regular kind has anchovies, but they do have a vegan version in health food stores. This stuff is the secret ingredient in soups, stews, bean burgers, lentil loaves, and sauces.
- Dijon mustard: A good quality Dijon mustard is the essential ingredient in my salad dressings, but it’s also great to throw into a dish for an interesting pop of flavor.
- Chia seeds: Chia seeds are awesome. Use them to make pudding, overnight oats, vegan eggs, or as a healthy thickener.
- Frozen bread: Bread freezes and thaws really well, so having some in the freezer ensures that you always have bread on hand.
- Hot sauce: Sometimes a dish just needs a kick that only hot sauce can give.
- Canned tomatoes: Always having tomatoes on hand means always being able to make tomato sauce, salsa, soups, and stews. Super useful.
- Soy sauce: Soy sauce is another ingredient that can boost a drab dish, but it’s also nice to add to rice or kept around for sushi night.
- Baking powder and soda: Have baking powder and baking soda around for those days you just need cookies or pancakes.
- Coconut oil: Coconut oil is not only awesome for sauteing or roasting, it’s a really great substitute for butter because it can act as a solid fat in pastry recipes.
- Sea salt and peppercorns: The obvious but most essential ingredients for your kitchen are salt and pepper. But specifically sea salt and peppercorns because sea salt has a more pleasant salty flavor and freshly ground pepper is the bees knees.
