The 12 Essential Spices Every Kitchen Should Have

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No idea where to start in the spice aisle? Here are the basic building blocks of any pantry's spice rack.

Margaret Eby is currently the Deputy Food Director at The Philadelphia Inquirer, and has previously held a position as Senior Editor at MyRecipes, Food & Wine and Food52. Her work has also appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine and The New York Review of Books, and she has written two books.

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No matter how or what you cook, spices are one of the most crucial elements of your pantry. They're a quick way to add a lot of flavor to whatever else you have on hand, from canned beans to roasted vegetables to chicken breasts. But whether you're starting a spice cabinet from scratch or looking to expand your collection beyond salt, pepper, and onion powder, it's fair to be overwhelmed by the options — both of all the spices you can buy and the places you can buy them from.

For best flavor, look beyond the supermarket. There are a lot of great independent spice purveyors out there with fresher, more potent, more flavorful, and more cost-effective choices. Four of our favorites for high-quality whole spices and ground spice mixes are Spice Islands, Spicewalla, Burlap & Barrel, and Diaspora Co.

This list is just a starting point, of course, and the kinds of food you like to cook will inform your spice collection. Once you've stocked your pantry with the essentials, consider exploring spice blends. Food & Wine editor Kelsey Youngman says, "reaching for a good spice mix is another easy way in, to add flavor without even thinking about it." She recommends berbere, chili powder, garam masala, or za'atar, but you can also go for Old Bay, cajun seasoning, jerk seasoning, or anything else that strikes your fancy. If you're looking for the best place to start, read on for our list of the 12 essential spices every cook needs in their kitchen.

If you cook at home, you'll find yourself using black pepper a lot. Alongside salt, it's the spice; almost all savory dishes taste flat without it. But resist the urge to buy pre-ground pepper; the second the peppercorn is broken open, its fragrant oils begin to break down and dissipate.

Buying peppercorns whole and grinding them fresh as needed with a pepper grinder keeps the flavor preserved longer. There are other colors and types of pepper — green and white peppercorns come from the same plant as black, while pink, Sansho and Szechuan pepper are entirely different species — but you'll get the most wide use out of regular black peppercorns. It's versatile enough for a comforting classic like cacio e pepe or something a little more unusual, like sour cherry and black pepper pie.

You know that earthy, aromatic, slightly nutty note you get in a pot of chili? That often comes from cumin, a spice popular in countless world cuisines. "It's naturally rich in oils, and you don't need a lot of it to get that rich, earthiness," says Julie Gould, the marketing director of Spice Islands. As with most spices, it's a good ideal to buy cumin whole and grind it up as needed to preserve aromatic oils.

Cumin is essential in many spice blends, like curry powder or taco seasoning. For an even deeper flavor, toast whole cumin seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat for a few minutes until they smell roasty and fragrant. This wakes up the flavor and yields more robust cumin notes in the finished dish. It's the star of our spicy cumin lamb meatballs, and it's also great sprinkled over plain cauliflower.

If you like a bit of heat in your meals, having chile flakes on hand is the way to go. Red pepper flakes are a mixture of crushed dried peppers, most commonly cayenne — it's the spice you see in shakers at pizza places next to the grated Parmesan.

A little bit of heat is useful for many dishes, like classic pasta aglio e olio or almost any kind of meat or vegetables. Chile flakes are an integral ingredient in sauces, marinades, and spice mixes from curry pastes to barbecue rubs. You can find them at almost any grocery store, but we like this blend from Occo, which strikes a balance between heat and fruity flavors.

"Turmeric is a real essential. It's so versatile," Gould says. You might know the striking yellow-orange spice because of its use in Indian and Thai cooking, but you can use it for a lot more. Turmeric is a close relative of ginger and has a bright, floral, mild taste. Good-quality turmeric is a home kitchen game-changer, whether you're adding it to chicken and rice or ginger and turmeric noodle soup.

One of the staples of French cooking, bay leaves often come off as mysterious. What's the deal with these whole dried leaves you have to fish out of the food before eating it? (Bay leaves aren't dangerous to eat, but the tough leaves and pointy stems are unpleasant to chew.)

"Bay is one of those spices that has a flavor that's hard to put your finger on, but you know it when it's missing," Youngman says. "It's a workhorse in the kitchen." Add it to a pot of potatoes, panna cotta, any soup or stock you're making, or a long braise of any meat to see it shine. If you're not sure whether your bay leaves are fresh enough to make a difference, here's a tip from Gould: snap one in half and smell it. You should get pleasant spicy, floral notes. If you don't smell anything, it's time for a new package of bay leaves.

Garlic is a critical building block in the kitchen. Fresh is great in most recipes, but sometimes you don't want the chunky bits or sharp bite, like in homemade ranch dressing. It's a great idea to have granulated or powdered garlic in addition to fresh to add a different layer of that zingy, spicy flavor. Youngman prefers granulated garlic to the powdered form, while Gould prefers the powdered version. Both are simply dried garlic; the difference is that powdered is ground more finely. Gould says this "has more surface area and that's what you want, to spread flavor."

For Youngman, granulated is the way. "While dried garlic flakes (sometimes called minced garlic) and garlic powder are made using similar processes, the powder is more pungent, since a teaspoon of it is filled with more garlic than larger bits of dried garlic flakes," Youngman says. "I tend to prefer the flakes, as they rehydrate while cooking and offer a bite of garlic, rather than the quickly dissolved, punchy, pungent flavor of the powder." There are no wrong answers; you can choose whatever garlic works best for you.

While cinnamon is a crucial element in baking, it's also useful for savory recipes and is an element in spice mixtures like North African ras el hanout and Indian garam masala. Cinnamon is dried bark that can come from a few related tree species, and Gould notes that the difference in origin matters for flavor. "Most Americans are used to Indonesian cinnamon, which has that gentle, woody flavor. If you're looking for spicy cinnamon — think about the taste of a Red Hot candy — you'll want to look for Vietnamese cinnamon," she says. Ceylon cinnamon, like this variety from Burlap and Barrel, is what's known as "true cinnamon," with has a deeper, woodier flavor than the sweeter varieties typically sold in grocery stores.

The zippy, hot flavor you get from a bottle of brown mustard? That comes from mustard seeds, another whole spice that's wonderful to have on hand. Mustard seeds share some chemical compounds with horseradish, and in large quantities, they can have the same sinus-clearing effect that horseradish is known for.

Yellow mustard seeds are particularly lovely in vinegary slaws and pickles, like this mustard seed chowchow. They're also delicious toasted, ground, and paired with cheese, like in classic macaroni and cheese, or added into a vegetable dish for extra pop.

Paprika is technically a chile powder, but unlike cayenne pepper and other chile powders that bring the heat, paprika is often made from sweet varieties, including red bell peppers. (There are also paprikas that combine sweet, vegetal peppers with spicier ones, but these would be specifically called hot paprika.)

Most paprika comes from Hungary and Spain. The majority of Hungarian paprika is sweet and mild, with an extremely strong aroma. Spanish paprika can be sweet or spicy, and is sometimes smoked to make the famed Pimentón de La Vera. There are hundreds of types of paprika, each with its own distinct pepper blend and flavor profile suited for different dishes, like classic Hungarian chicken Paprikash or a Spanish paella.

Though they taste nothing alike, coriander is actually the seed of the cilantro plant. These little brown spheres pack a major flavor that is bright, floral, and a bit citrusy. Coriander is often paired with cumin in curry powders or dukkah — they're both earthy spices, and coriander's brightness balances cumin's warmth.

You'll find coriander on the ingredients list of many spice blends and mixtures, like pickle brine, barbecue rubs, pastrami seasoning, and more. Like all spices, it's best to buy it whole and grind as needed, and similar to cumin, coriander benefits from a quick toast in a hot pan to really bring out its flavors.

Ground ginger is more potent than fresh and doesn't add any moisture or chunks to a dish. This is ideal for smooth sauces or baked goods where you don't want added liquid or fibrous bits.

Like cinnamon, ground ginger is a warming spice often used in sweet recipes but can also add a robust flavor to savory dishes. It's integral in pumpkin pie spice but also adds some heat to stir-fries and meat dishes.

Sage is synonymous with autumnal flavors. It's the herb most often paired with butternut squash, and it's also the shining star of Thanksgiving stuffing and poultry seasoning mixes. You'll detect sage in sausages and barbecue rubs, too, as it pairs exceptionally well with pork.

Fresh sage is delicious in many recipes, but it packs quite a punch. The leaves have a piney, resinous character that can be overpowering if they're not chopped very finely. That's where dried sage comes in — it mellows out the flavor and integrates easily into gravy or a spice blend for homemade breakfast sausage. It comes in ground or rubbed form; both are powdered, but rubbed sage is a little fluffier in texture.

Cinnamon is the most popular warming spice, and it'll get you far, but once you have that covered, consider stocking nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and mace.

Beyond making killer pumpkin pie, allspice is the key ingredient in jerk seasoning and is the perfect pairing with sage for that classic breakfast sausage flavor. Cloves can add dimension to savory dishes, especially those with lots of onion, garlic, and other alliums, while a few grates of fresh nutmeg bring a nutty undertone to béchamels and other cream sauces. Mace is the outer casing of the nutmeg seed and has a similar flavor, but with sharper spiciness and less nutty sweetness. It pairs well with other warming spices in baked goods but is especially delicious paired with fatty pork products like ham and bacon.

Fresh herbs almost always have a higher flavor payoff than dried, but some recipes actually benefit from dried herbs. They're easy to crumble and mix thoroughly into a dish, where over-chopping fresh herbs can give them a muddy, oxidized flavor. Three important dried-herb options are marjoram, dill, and oregano.

Marjoram plays well with sage in sausage spices and oregano in Mediterranean meat rubs. Reach for dried dill in homemade ranch dressing, or yogurt sauces where you want a light dill flavor but don't want it to overpower other delicate notes. Dried oregano is also a staple in spice blends. You'll find it in Italian seasoning, blackening seasoning, and some Greek seasonings, often paired with dill and dried lemon peel.

The terminology here gets a little confusing: Chiles are peppers, while chili is a stew of meat or beans that's often spiced with chiles. Chili powder is a blend that usually includes dried chiles and cumin, plus other herbs and spices. Dried, ground chiles make chile powder, which is not the same thing as chili powder.

Got all that? Chili powder, the blend, is great to have on hand for chili, of course, but its complex spice is good for tacos, in meat marinades, on crunchy snacks, and in lots of other places.

Once you've covered the basics and have chile flakes and plain paprika in your cabinet, it's time to branch out into the countless other dried-chile options. Cayenne pepper is a powdered hot chile that's perfect for when you want a smooth texture. It brings a clean, straightforward heat that won't detract from other spices. There's also Aleppo pepper, a semi-spicy, coarsely ground chile powder popular in Turkey and the Middle East. It's as versatile as chile flakes and great for finishing and sprinkling on top of creamy ingredients like yogurt sauce. Chile threads are a popular Korean ingredient made of mild dried chiles separated into thin strands. These add smoky-and-fruity flavor in addition to texture.

If you're serious about spices, Youngman suggests buying them whole rather than pre-ground. "Whole spices last longer and have a stronger flavor unless your spices are freshly ground," Youngman says. Ground spices certainly seem more convenient, but you often sacrifice quality. Flavor and aroma are locked in whole spices and dissipate much faster when the spices are cracked open.

If you buy ground spices in the store, you don't know how long ago they were ground or how long they've been on the shelf, and after even more time in your cabinet, they can end up tasting like nothing. If you purchase whole spices and a spice grinder, you'll get much more flavor payoff from your spices. It takes a few extra seconds, but your taste buds will thank you.

Some spices, including turmeric, ginger, or garlic, have to be dried and ground to make them shelf-stable. Buying these items whole always means buying them fresh, and they're often used quite differently in fresh and dried form. Double-check your recipe to make sure you've chosen the right version.

Spices can last for years and won't rot or grow mold like perishable produce, but their flavor does degrade over time. All the spice experts we talked to agreed on three common enemies: heat, moisture, and light. Store your spices in a cool, dark, dry place light a drawer or pantry — not out on the countertop. If the spice came in a resealable jar, that's a great place for storage, but there are many other air-tight storage container options in all shapes and sizes.

Margaret Eby is deputy food director of The Philadelphia Inquirer and a former senior editor at Food & Wine, MyRecipes, and Food52. She's also written two books: Rock and Roll Baby Names and South Toward Home: Travels In Southern Literature. Her third book, You Gotta Eat: Real-Life Strategies for Feeding Yourself When Cooking Feels Impossible, will be released in November of 2024.