What can I make with pantry staples?
Wondering what to make with pantry staples? Below are recipes from our library that use it, followed by practical cooking, storage, and substitution notes for pantry staples.
Recipes with pantry staples
How to cook with pantry staples
- 1Start with aromatics - onion, garlic, or ginger softened in fat - then add the pantry staples.
- 2Season early and taste as you go rather than salting only at the end.
- 3Give it enough heat and enough space; a crowded pan steams instead of browning.
- 4Finish with acid and fresh herbs, the two things that make a simple dish taste deliberate.
What goes well with pantry staples
Pantry Staples is at its best with onion, garlic, olive oil, lemon, herbs and black pepper. Any two or three of those, plus pantry staples, is already a dinner rather than an ingredient list.
Storing pantry staples
Store pantry staples sealed and cool, and use the oldest stock first. If it is close to turning, cook it rather than throwing it out - roasting, soup, and a quick sauce all forgive slightly past-peak ingredients.
Substituting pantry staples
If you are out of pantry staples, look for something that behaves the same way in the pan rather than something that tastes the same. Match the moisture level, the cooking time, and the richness, and adjust the liquid slightly if your substitute releases more water. When in doubt, describe what you actually have in the chat and Mr. Chef will rewrite the recipe around it.
Pantry Staples recipes: common questions
- What can I make with pantry staples and not much else?
- Plenty. With pantry staples plus an onion, garlic, oil, and salt you already have the base of a skillet dinner, a soup, or a simple sauce. Add a starch - rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes - and it becomes a full meal. The recipes above are ordered so the ones needing the fewest extra items come first.
- What is the quickest pantry staples recipe?
- Look for the entries above marked 20 minutes or less. As a rule, anything cut small and cooked in a hot pan beats anything roasted whole, and one-pan recipes save more time in cleanup than in cooking.
- Can I substitute pantry staples?
- In most recipes yes, as long as the replacement plays a similar role - similar moisture, similar cooking time, similar richness. Swapping across roles (a watery vegetable for a starchy one, for instance) usually needs a change in liquid or cooking time too.
- How do I use up leftover pantry staples?
- Fried rice, a frittata, a grain bowl, a soup, or a quesadilla will absorb almost any leftover pantry staples without a recipe. If you want something specific, tell Mr. Chef exactly what is in the fridge and it will build a recipe around it.