8 Ingredients Chefs Always Keep in Their Pantry to Elevate Their Recipes

Honey

Sometimes, a touch of sweetness can really amp up a dish, and honey adds a more complex element than just plain sugar. "Honey is my secret weapon," says Harris Mayer, chef and owner of Creamline in New York. He notes that many soups and sauces benefit from a pinch of sugar to balance acidity. He uses honey instead of sugar because it's more natural. "The wildflower honey from Catskill Provisions adds so much more than just a sweet touch; it brings a complexity that gives the completed dishes layers of flavor and better nutrition." 

Culatura

Fish sauce, like Italian culatura or Vietnamese-style fish sauce, can add umami, saltiness, and depth to a wide range of cuisines. “I really enjoy the amazing savoriness it adds. It’s a very interesting and complex way to add salinity,” says chef Harold Dieterle of Il Totano, the Top Chef season one winner. He uses it with passion fruit and preserved chili to dress the dry-aged fish kona kampachi for a blistered eggplant basil sauce that dresses a whole roasted fish.

Curry Blocks

"I love curry blocks because they add a tremendous foundation of flavor in a short amount of time without the labor effort," says Tony Inn, executive chef at Kin Gin in New York. Brands like Golden Curry make shelf-stable blocks of dehydrated curry that, when added to a warm dish, add intense and easy-to-build-upon flavor. Inn uses them "as a starter for curry rice, noodles, stew, soup—or any one pot meal I can clean out my fridge with."

Specialty Salt

Any chef will tell you that not all salt is alike and that a special salt can elevate your cooking to the next level. Flaky sea salt, like the widely available Maldon Sea Salt, is used as a finishing salt and "adds last-minute seasoning to meats, vegetables, fruit, and just about anything that needs a pinch of salt. It even comes in travel-size packets.” says John Tesar, chef and owner of Knife Italian in Irving, Texas.

Tim Mangun, chef de cuisine at Majordōmo in Los Angeles, agrees, "I believe it is one of the greatest and easiest ways to elevate food no matter what kitchen you are cooking in."

Ñora Pepper Paste

Chef Laila Bazahm of El Raval in Austin first started using Ñora Pepper Paste, a rich and fruity red pepper paste, while she was living and cooking in Barcelona. It's made from Spain’s ball-shaped ñora peppers, which are renowned for their sweet, earthy flavor and umami edge. "It's so versatile, I use it to add depth to paellas, sofritos, fish stews, pasta, and casseroles,” says Bazahm. At El Raval, she adds it to her sofrito–onions, garlic, red bell peppers, ripe tomatoes, ñora paste, and olive oil–which forms the base for her paella, and puts in the sauce for her fried calamari.

Green Cardamom

"My secret ingredient is green cardamom. I love its versatility between sweet and savory dishes," says Kiano Moju, author of the upcoming cookbook AfriCali: Recipes From My Jikoni. She uses it to add spice and dimension to olive oil cakes, scones, cinnamon rolls, and donuts. And, for savory cooking, she infuses some in ghee over low heat on the stove and uses it throughout the week.

Yondu

A liquid umami sauce made of slowly fermented soybeans and simmered vegetables, Yondu is a favorite of Ed Cotton. At his New York restaurant, Jack & Charlie's, he incorporates it into several dishes. It really lifts the ingredients that you’re working with, he says. "It's almost like a vegetable extract that enhances and gives depth to the overall dish. I like to put it in soups, sauces, vinaigrettes, and stocks, and a couple of drops go a long way. The days of spending time reducing rich vegetable stocks are gone."

Coconut Aminos

A pantry staple for many vegans and gluten-free diners, coconut aminos is a savory dark brown sauce made by fermenting coconut palm sap with sea salt. "People use it instead of soy sauce. It’s surprisingly versatile," says chef Jay Kumar of Lore in Brooklyn. He adds coconut aminos after cooking butter, ginger, garlic paste, and some masala spice mixture together in a pan. He lets it reduce, and "it turns into a sort of demi-glace with a crazy depth of flavor." He uses it as a sauce for seafood like scallops, shrimp, and lobster. Kumar’s new summer menu uses coconut aminos in his sauce for duck confit with buttery polenta.