Must-have Spices to Have in Your Kitchen

If you want to make home cooked meals without much planning, you have to have the basics on hand. Here is a quick list of the most important basic spices to have in-stock in your kitchen. While some of these spices are important across multiple cuisines, I did not list a spice more than once for the sake of easily checking it off.

Core spices for savory dishes:

*These first 5 are absolute essentials to have in my kitchen. I use them in just about every meal across many different cuisines.

• Salt (Salt the absolute number one most important! It goes in everything. Savory and sweet.)

• Black pepper (we prefer to buy whole peppercorns and grind them fresh, but preground is fine.)

• Garlic powder

• Onion powder

• Paprika (and/or smoked paprika)

• Rosemary

• Thyme

Sweets:

• Pure vanilla extract

• Cinnamon

• Nutmeg

• Clove

• Allspice

• Ginger powder

• Cacao powder

Italian:

• Oregano

• Basil

• Minced garlic (refrigerated)

• Fennel seed

• Sage (ground)

Latin cuisine:

• Chili powder

• Cayenne powder

• Cumin powder

• Achiote powder (a.k.a. annatto)

• Lime juice (not a spice, but equally important for flavor.)

  
  

Powders that aren't spices:

• baking soda

• baking powder

• arrowroot powder (used instead of cornstarch)