Must-Have Spices: A Starter Spice Rack

Building a spice rack from scratch? There’s no official list of must-haves, and the right rack depends on what you cook. A dozen or so spices cover the main jobs: heat, earthy warmth, sweet warmth, herbal notes, color and salt. America’s Test Kitchen names eight savory spices its cooks reach for over and over: paprika, cumin, coriander, ground mustard, black peppercorns, cayenne, red pepper flakes and turmeric.¹ We build on that with the baking spices, dried herbs and two blends most home cooking calls for, plus one trap: a spoonful of kosher salt isn’t a spoonful of table salt.

The starter rack at a glance

Spice	Job in the dish	Worth knowing
Black pepper	Heat and sharpness	ATK: grind your own peppercorns just before use for the best flavor¹
Cumin	Earthy warmth	ATK: an earthy, warm flavor; whole seeds ground at home are more potent¹
Paprika	Color, mild sweetness	ATK: a generic term for a spice made from ground dried red peppers¹; US labels must declare it as “spice and coloring” unless named²
Smoked paprika	Smoke	ATK: made by drying peppers over smoldering embers; best for grilled meats or boldly flavored dishes, not every paprika use¹
Cayenne pepper	Heat	ATK: usually contains other ground dried chiles besides cayenne; its volatile oils lose potency within a few months¹
Red pepper flakes	Heat in pockets	ATK: dried, crushed red chiles that, unlike cayenne, don’t make every bite hot¹
Coriander	Sweet, almost fruity warmth	ATK: a sweet, almost fruity flavor
Turmeric	Yellow color, earthy bitterness	Also a coloring: declared on US labels as “spice and coloring” unless named²
Mustard powder	Sharpness	ATK: made by grinding mustard seeds and sifting to a fine powder
Cinnamon	Sweet warmth	Baking, and savory stews and curries
Nutmeg	Sweet warmth	Custards, eggnog, cream sauces; buy whole and grate
Cloves	Strong, sweet, slightly bitter	A little goes a long way; baking, ham, mulled drinks
Allspice	Cinnamon-clove-nutmeg in one	Britannica: named because its flavor resembles a combination of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg
Ginger (ground)	Warm heat	Baking and spice rubs; see is ginger spicy?
Oregano	Herbal, slightly bitter	Tomato sauces, pizza, grilled meats
Thyme	Woody, herbal	Roasts, soups, stews
Bay leaves	Background depth	Stocks, soups, braises; remove before serving
Rosemary	Piney, resinous	Lamb, potatoes, focaccia
Sage	Savory, slightly peppery	Stuffing, sausage, brown butter
Basil (dried)	Sweet, herbal	Tomato dishes, though fresh basil is a different ingredient
Garlic powder, onion powder	Savory base	Rubs, dips and breading where fresh would be wet or harsh
Chili powder	Ready-made chili seasoning	A blend; see below
Curry powder	Ready-made curry base	A blend; see below
Kosher salt and table salt	Salt	Not interchangeable by the spoon; see below

Start smaller if you cook one cuisine

A rack for one kind of cooking can be much shorter. Here’s where we’d start:

Mexican and Tex-Mex: cumin, chili powder, oregano, cayenne or red pepper flakes, garlic powder. See Mexican oregano.
Italian and Mediterranean: oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, red pepper flakes, bay leaves. Or a blend: Italian seasoning, herbes de Provence.
Indian: cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, mustard seed, plus garam masala. See the best spices for curry.
Baking: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice, or a pumpkin pie spice blend.

The two blends: what’s actually in them

Blends save space, but read the label, because neither one has a fixed recipe.

Chili powder. The USDA’s purchase specification lists ground chili pepper, cumin, oregano, salt and garlic powder for chili powder.³ It’s a seasoning blend, not plain ground chile.
Curry powder. The same specification says curry powder should include, but isn’t limited to, turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, ginger and cardamom.³ Nutmeg isn’t on that list. Whether a curry powder is hot depends on added chile; see is curry powder spicy?.

Salt: kosher and table salt are not the same by the spoon

Kosher salt is much coarser than ordinary table salt. That changes how much fits in a spoon. America’s Test Kitchen weighed a teaspoon of Morton kosher salt at 4.8 grams and Diamond Crystal kosher salt at 2.8 grams, against about 6 grams for table salt of any brand.⁴ So a recipe written for table salt needs more kosher salt by volume, and the two kosher brands differ from each other too. It’s handy to keep coarse kosher salt for seasoning by hand and fine table salt for baking, where it measures consistently. For conversions and the disagreement between published ratios, see kosher salt and best salt for cooking.

Two labeling quirks

US food labeling treats some of these differently. Under FDA rules, onions, garlic and celery are excluded from the definition of “spice” because they’re traditionally regarded as foods, so garlic powder and onion powder fall outside the legal term. Paprika, turmeric and saffron, which also color food, have to be declared as “spice and coloring” unless listed by their own name.²

How to buy and keep a starter rack

Buy small. Buy a smaller container until you know how fast you go through a spice.
Buy whole where it matters. Buy spices whole when you can and grind them just before use. That means whole nutmeg over ground, and peppercorns over ground pepper. Black pepper, cumin and nutmeg are the easiest to start with.
Keep them away from the stove. Store jars tightly closed in a dark cupboard or drawer, not above the stove.
Date the jar. Write down the date you open a new jar.

For how long each one lasts, see how long can spices last?, and for what to keep them in, the best containers for spices.

Savory Spices, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
21 CFR 101.22, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. ecfr.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩² ↩³
Commercial Item Description A-A-20001C: Spices and Spice Blends, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, 2023. ams.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²
Kate Shannon Levine, “The Best Kosher Salt”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2019. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩

Also drawn on

Allspice (Britannica Editors, updated 3 Sep 2026), Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com
Add a Little Spice to Your Life! Part II (news release, Anna Martin, March 2002), University of California Cooperative Extension, San Joaquin County. ucanr.edu
Keeping Spices and Dried Herbs Fresher Longer, America's Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com
Q: Besides being kosher for religious purposes, what’s the difference between kosher salt and other salt? (16 Nov 2013, updated 17 Sep 2019), Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter. nutritionletter.tufts.edu
How Long Do Spices Last? (McCormick Kitchens, 28 May 2025), McCormick. mccormick.com

Must-Have Spices: A Starter Spice Rack, Spice by Spice, and How to Buy It