Kitchen essentials

Assumed

Salt and pepper are taken as given — they are in more recipes than anything else, and no one needs a website to tell them to buy salt. Every figure on this page already assumes you have them.

Salt

Assumed, not recommended. Fine sea salt for cooking; flaky salt to finish if you like.

Black pepper

Assumed. Buy whole peppercorns and a grinder — pre-ground pepper loses almost everything within a month.

The starter rack

Buy these 12 and 75% of the catalog opens up. Listed most-used first — the figure is the share of our recipes that call for it.

Cumin20% of recipes

The single most useful warm spice here. Ground for stews and curries; whole seeds if you want to bloom them in oil.

Cinnamon15% of recipes

Earns its place twice over — it is in the desserts and drinks, but also the Moroccan and Caribbean savoury dishes.

Smoked paprika15% of recipes

Not interchangeable with regular paprika. It is what makes beans and stews taste like they had meat in them, and it is the one to buy first if you only buy one.

Turmeric11% of recipes

Mostly colour and earthiness. Stains everything it touches, including wooden spoons and worktops.

Chili flakes10% of recipes

Heat you can add at the end and control by eye. More forgiving than powder for that reason.

Coriander7% of recipes

⚠️ The SEED, ground — a warm citrusy spice. This is NOT the leaf. In American English the leaf is cilantro, and the two are different rows on our shopping lists for exactly that reason.

Oregano7% of recipes

Dried, not fresh. One of the few herbs genuinely better dried; it carries the Mediterranean and Latin American dishes.

Chili powder6% of recipes

The American blend (chili, cumin, garlic, oregano), not pure ground chili. Buys you most of a taco seasoning on its own.

Bay leaf5% of recipes

Whole leaves, fished out before serving. A jar lasts years and does quiet work in every long-simmered pot.

Garlic powder4% of recipes

Not a replacement for fresh garlic — a different, rounder thing, used where you want the flavour without the moisture.

Black salt3% of recipes

Kala namak. Sulphurous and strange on its own, and the reason a tofu scramble tastes like eggs. Genuinely worth owning if you cook vegan breakfasts; nothing else does this job.

Cardamom3% of recipes

Green pods. Punches above its frequency because it is what makes the South Asian sweets and the chai-style drinks taste right, and nothing substitutes for it.

Going further

These 6 take you from 75% to 86%. Several are specialists — worth buying when a recipe you want needs one, rather than up front.

Paprika4% of recipes

Sweet, not smoked. Mild enough to use by the spoonful for colour and body.

Allspice3% of recipes

One berry that tastes like three spices. Essential to the Jamaican dishes, and not a blend despite the name.

Dried thyme3% of recipes

The backbone of the Caribbean dishes here. Stored separately from fresh thyme on our lists because they are not swappable by volume.

Cayenne2% of recipes

Pure heat in a small jar. Start with less than you think.

Nutmeg2% of recipes

Buy it whole and grate it. Pre-ground nutmeg is a different, duller spice within weeks.

Onion powder2% of recipes

Same logic as garlic powder — depth without water, mostly in rubs and blends.

Pantry staples

Not spices, but the things a recipe assumes you already have. The figure is the share of recipes that call for them.

Vegetable oil32% of recipes

A neutral high-heat oil for frying and searing. Keep it separate from your olive oil.

Olive oil29% of recipes

For dressings, finishing and gentler cooking. The everyday bottle, not the expensive one.

Sugar28% of recipes

Ordinary granulated unless a recipe says otherwise.

Vegetable stock20% of recipes

Cubes, powder or liquid. The difference between a flat soup and a good one.

Plant milk18% of recipes

Unsweetened, unflavoured — a sweetened one will quietly ruin a savoury sauce.

Vegan butter16% of recipes

A block rather than a spread where baking is involved — spreads carry more water.

Maple syrup15% of recipes

Sweetening that pours. Used in dressings and marinades as much as in breakfasts.

Flour15% of recipes

Plain or all-purpose, for baking and for thickening.

Soy sauce14% of recipes

Salt plus savoury depth. Tamari if you need it gluten-free.

Canned tomato12% of recipes

Chopped or whole. Buy several; they are the base of a large share of the stews here.

Vanilla extract11% of recipes

Real extract if you can. Mostly for the desserts.

Rice10% of recipes

Long-grain or basmati. Cooks alongside most of the curries and stews.

Chickpeas10% of recipes

Tinned, for speed. The most-used bean in the catalogue by a distance.

Coconut milk10% of recipes

Full-fat, in tins. The light version splits and thins in curries.

Tomato paste10% of recipes

Concentrated tomato in a tube or small tin. Fried for a minute before liquid goes in, it does more than its volume suggests.

Sesame oil8% of recipes

Toasted, for finishing rather than frying. Heat destroys the point of it.

Fresh, every week

These perish, so they are a weekly buy rather than a stocked one. Their frequency surprises people.

Garlic46% of recipes

In roughly half the catalogue. Buy a whole bulb rather than a jar of paste.

Onion33% of recipes

Brown or yellow unless a recipe says red. The start of most savoury dishes here.

Lemon28% of recipes

Bought for the juice more often than the zest. One lemon covers most single recipes.

Lime20% of recipes

Not interchangeable with lemon in the Latin American, Caribbean and Southeast Asian dishes.

Ginger19% of recipes

Fresh root, not ground. Keeps for weeks in the fridge and freezes well.

Cilantro18% of recipes

⚠️ The LEAF — what a British recipe calls fresh coriander, and a different item from the ground seed above.

Parsley18% of recipes

Flat-leaf. Used by the handful rather than the sprig.

Worth buying organic

If you buy some produce organic and some not, this is where the money goes furthest. It is worked out from the same catalog as everything else on this page: the fruit and vegetables our recipes actually call for, checked against the Environmental Working Group's annual testing of pesticide residues.

EWG's Dirty Dozen — the produce their testing finds carries the most pesticide residue. These are the ones our recipes use. Our recipes that just say “mixed berries” are included: strawberries, blueberries and blackberries are each on the list, so whichever you pick up the answer is the same.

Potatoes7% of recipes

Spinach6% of recipes

Berries2% of recipes

Kale, collard and mustard greens2% of recipes

Pears1% of recipes

Strawberries1% of recipes

Save your money

EWG's Clean Fifteen — consistently the lowest residues, and most of them had none detectable at all. Our recipes lean heavily on this list, so most weeks the organic decision barely comes up.

• Onions 33%
• Carrots 12%
• Mushrooms 6%
• Bananas 4%
• Avocados 3%
• Cauliflower 3%
• Frozen sweet peas 2%
• Mangoes 2%
• Cabbage 2%
• Pineapple 2%
• Sweet corn 1%
• Watermelon 1%

Worth saying plainly: this is a guide to where organic buys you the most, not a warning that the rest is unsafe. Residues found in testing are generally well below regulatory limits, and the ranking method has its critics for not weighting by dose. Eating more vegetables matters more than which ones you buy organic — so if the choice is conventional spinach or no spinach, buy the spinach.

Source: 2026 EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce, Environmental Working Group. Dirty Dozen™, Clean Fifteen™ and Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ are trademarks of the Environmental Working Group. Sprig is not affiliated with EWG and does not reproduce their guide — we name the items that appear in our own recipes and link to the source.

Tools

Derived, like everything else here. Each figure says what it is a share of — the pans are counted across every cook-along step, the spoons across recipes.

A large pot30% of steps

Heavy-based, with a lid, big enough for a soup for four. The most-used vessel in the catalogue by a wide margin.

Mixing bowls29% of steps

Two or three in different sizes. More recipes than you would guess need a second bowl going at the same time — a dressing while the salad waits, a batter while the fruit sits.

A large frying pan20% of steps

Cast iron or heavy non-stick, wide enough that vegetables brown instead of steaming. Crowding the pan is the single most common reason a dish comes out grey.

A baking tray11% of steps

Rimmed, and ideally two so a tray-bake is not cooked in shifts. Baking paper saves the scrubbing.

A wide plate6% of steps

For assembling and serving — and for the one manoeuvre that needs it, inverting a tortilla to cook the second side.

A blender or food processor4% of steps

For the dips, the smooth soups and the cashew-based sauces. A stick blender covers most of it; a jug blender does the silky ones better.

Measuring spoons93% of recipes

A set of proper spoons, not the ones from the cutlery drawer — a heaped teaspoon of baking soda is nearly double a level one, which is the difference between a cake and a brick. Almost every recipe here measures something in teaspoons or tablespoons, and it is the cheapest thing on this page.

Kitchen scales86% of recipes

Digital, with a tare button so you can weigh straight into the bowl. This figure counts recipes that weigh something in grams — liquids in millilitres want a measuring jug instead, which is a separate and less-used tool. Every recipe here can also be switched to cups and ounces with the US toggle, so scales are a convenience rather than a requirement.