If you do a fair amount of cooking and baking, you probably have a list of items that you consider your must haves. Maybe its a big spoon that you’ve had forever or an old seasoned cast iron skillet that never lets you down, but it seems like the more you do in the kitchen, the more tools and gadgets you acquire.
Some recipes require specialty tools that you may not end up using very often, but there are certain items that I use quite regularly. These are some of my favorite kitchen items, the things that I consider my “essentials” and the things that I suggest anyone wanting to cook and bake more should consider acquiring.
I love these things…
Cooling Racks
I use my cooling racks all the time and while they are designed for cooling freshly baked items, that is definitely not their sole purpose…
- Oven safe cooling racks are the best way to get super crunchy oven baked chicken wings and crisp bacon.
- I put freshly fried fish or doughnuts on a cooling rack, which helps prevent their “bottoms” from becoming soggy as they cool.
- I love decorating cookies, doughnuts and cupcakes on cooling racks set over sheets of parchment paper. Excess frosting, glaze or sprinkles fall right through onto the parchment paper, leaving the desserts pretty and clean up a breeze.
- If you are into making smoothies at home, you may freeze bananas, cucumbers or other fruits and veggies for added texture. If you freeze your fruits and veggies on a cooling rack, they release much easier than if they were frozen on a plate or cutting board.
- For those of us with limited counter space, stackable cooling racks can allow you to cool dozens of cookies or other desserts on a very small amount of counter space.
See how useful a set of cooling racks can be?? They are easy to find, pretty cheap and when you aren’t using them, they can be stored right between your baking sheets.
This is one of my favorite cooling racks – OXO Oven Safe Cooling Rack
Good Quality Knives
It may sound obvious, but slicing, dicing, chopping, mincing and filleting are substantially easier with a good, sharp knife. I remember the first good set of knives I got and how much of a difference they made in every day prep work. Whether you are thinly slicing a super ripe tomato or cutting through a big butternut squash, working with a sharp knife makes so many things easier in the kitchen.
You don’t need a super expensive set of knives, they just need to feel good in your hand and be very sharp. I highly recommend finding a set that comes with a sharpener set in the knife block. That way, you can sharpen the knives every time they feel less than perfect.
This is one of my favorite knife sets – Chicago Cutlery’s Insignia Set
A Kitchen Scale
If you are into baking, a kitchen scale is non-negotiable in my opinion. Baking is a science and a few too many grams of one ingredient or not enough of another can really impact the quality of the finished product. If a recipe calls for 250 grams of all purpose flour, you could take the time to translate 250 grams into volume and hope you scooped out the right amount or you could quickly weigh out 250 grams and have confidence that you are using exactly what the recipe calls for.
The cool thing about using a kitchen scale is that if a beginner baker weighs their ingredients and follows a recipe correctly, they can achieve the same quality results as a seasoned professional. I think thats pretty awesome!
This is one of my favorite kitchen scales – KitchenAid’s Glass Kitchen Scale
Instant Read Thermometer
If you have ever over cooked a chicken breast, under cooked a loaf of bread or left your Thanksgiving turkey in the oven way too long because you were worried that it wasn’t cooked through (and all of us fall into this category), then you need an instant read thermometer! It is so nice to be able to figure out in 5 seconds whether your chicken thighs are cooked through or your loaf of bread is just as well baked in the center of the loaf, as it looks to be from the outside.
Most recipes containing yeast require “warm water” to wake up the yeast and help it work its magic. Well, warm means something different to everyone and the temperature that you bloom yeast in is very important. If the water is too warm, it will kill the yeast and if it’s too cold, it won’t wake it up, so the success of your yeast recipe is dependent on that water being between 100-110 degrees and my finger just isn’t that talented, so I always check the temperature with my instant read thermometer and avoid frustrations later.
This is one of my favorite instant ready thermometers – Taylor Precision Digital Thermometer
Zester & Grater
Two of my very favorite ingredients are fresh citrus zest and finely shredded parmigiano reggiano or grana padano. The citrus zest just adds so much flavor to everything from desserts to salad dressings, marinades and smoothies. It adds freshness, a little tartness and loads of flavor and without a good zester, you will be missing out on all of that! Then, of course, finishing pasta, soup, pizza, salad, scrambled eggs, garlic bread… so many things with a little shredded parm right before serving just pushes them over the top.
See… every kitchen needs one! And if you are wondering what the difference is between a zester and a grater, it is simply the size of the holes (grating requires larger holes and zesting requires smaller ones). Most of them come with multiple options, so they fall into both categories.
This is one of my favorite graters – Deiss PRO Zester Grater
Food Processor
A food processor is one of the most versatile appliances you can have in your kitchen! It can do so many things. It can do many of the jobs that blenders are usually used for and so much more. Here are some of the things that I use my food processor for…
- It does a great job of bringing buttery doughs together, like shortbread cookies, buttermilk biscuits or my favorite clementine canestrelli cookies
- I make my salsa, olive tapenade and chimichurri sauces quickly in the food processor
- I always use my food processor to crush cookies for a pie crust
- You can churn your own butter, whip up some homemade mayonnaise or make your own nut butters in a food processor
- You can make your own oat or almond flour in a food processor
- You can quickly grind meat into ground chicken, beef or turkey in your food processor
- Most food processors come with simple attachments that allow you to shred, julienne or thin slice many different fruits, vegetables and cheeses
And these are just a few of the tasks that a food processor will help with!
This is one of my favorite food processors – Cuisinart’s 8 Cup Food Processor
Stand Mixer
While I admit that everything a stand mixer does CAN be accomplished by hand, I must say that I am not a huge fan of whisking something by hand consistently for 8 minutes straight or kneading bread dough by hand for 15 minutes straight. Could I do it by hand? Yes. Would I rather let my pretty little bright orange stand mixer do it for me? Also yes.
The ease of splashing some heavy cream and brown sugar in my stand mixer, turning it on and coming back in just a few minutes to light, fluffy whipped cream is just one of the reasons that I consider my stand mixer one of my favorite kitchen appliances. It also brings bread dough together easily (including the kneading), whips egg whites into a stiff, glossy meringue and shreds multiple chicken breasts in less than 30 seconds. Its a pretty handy item to have on hand and some of them have a long list of attachments that can do everything from make fresh pasta to churn fresh ice cream. I love my stand mixer and highly recommend one to anyone who loves to cook.
This is one of my favorite stand mixers – KitchenAid Mini Stand Mixer
A Non-Stick Skillet
If you read my blog, you probably see me cooking with stainless steel cookware. I love cooking with stainless steel, but it does take some practice and it is not ideal for everything, so I recently ordered a good quality non-stick skillet and it has changed my life in the kitchen.
I grew up hearing about how dangerous some non-stick pans can be and my mother warning me not to use metal utensils on them, but things have changed in the non-stick cookware game. This Le Creuset Non-Stick Skillet is something else entirely. First off, it is truly non-stick. I have made the most sticky sauces in this skillet and let them sit there while we enjoy the meal and come back to a very pleasant washing experience and that is way more than I can say about most skillets. Plus, you can use any utensils you want on their non-stick surfaces. I love them and would highly recommend one to anyone, especially someone just starting out in the kitchen. You don’t need any special talent when it comes to preparing the surface and nothing… absolutely nothing sticks to this skillet.
This is by far my favorite non-stick cookware – Le Creuset’s Toughened Non-Stick Cookware
In addition to the really essential things listed above, I also recommend a few smaller “extras” that I wouldn’t say are necessarily essential, but definitely something that I use often enough to recommend them to you.
- Doughnut Pans – I rarely made doughnuts before I acquired a doughnut pan. I didn’t feel like going through the hassle of frying doughnuts, but once I picked up my first doughnut pan at HomeGoods, I fell in love with just how easy whipping up “healthier” baked doughnuts can be! Some doughnut recipes come together in less than 10 minutes and bake up in about the same time. 20 minute doughnuts? Yes, thank you! If you do pick up a doughnut pan, you should try my banana chocolate doughnut recipe! This is one of my favorite doughnut pans – Nordic Ware’s Doughnut Pan
- Mesh Sifters – I use a mesh sifter to drain pasta, wash vegetables and fruit, sift and combine dry ingredients for baked goods and rinse beans and rice. Get a fine mesh sifter and you will use it more than you think!
- Biscuit or Cookie Cutters – Have you even seen the little metal circles sold in kitchenware and wondered what you would do with them? Lots of things! Although, their main purpose is to cut round shapes out of biscuit or cookie dough, they can also cut rings out of your bread for Baked Eggs in a Basket, help you to fry up perfectly shaped eggs for a breakfast sandwich, help your soufflé pancakes rise tall or create beautifully presented dishes by stacking rice, vegetables or desserts in these cylindrical molds. This is one of my favorite dough cutter/ring mold sets – Oneida 8 Piece Ring Set
I hope you enjoyed this list of my favorite kitchen essentials. I would love to hear what you have in your kitchen that you would hate to cook or bake without. Comment below and let me know!
