Top Pantry Staples and Essentials

Olive oil

The base of many a gorgeous meal, olive oil is one of the pantry staples in both Spanish and Greek cooking. Extra virgin olive oil is a must-have in your pantry. It's a single-origin oil from the first pressing, extracted mechanically without heat or chemicals. With less than 1% acidity and no flavour defects, it's a top-quality choice.

Enjoy the fresh flavour of this popular olive oil. Drizzle it on crisp bread, use its high smoking point for various cooking methods, dress up tasty salads, substitute it for butter in baking, or marinate meat, fish or vegetables with olive oil and fragrant spices for a delicious touch.

Garlic and onions

Garlic and onions are the secret ingredients in many dishes. This is especially true in Spanish cuisine.

Spanish garlic adds a wonderful flavour to various dishes, such as traditional meats like salami or chorizo, or stirred into cheeses or crumbly pate. It enhances the taste of other ingredients without overpowering them. Try it in garlic prawns, garlic cauliflower, garlic chicken or garlic potatoes. 

Onion is also a staple in every Spanish recipe, from the famous paella to soups like Serrano ham broth and vegetable broth. Onion is even used in meats like the Spanish blood sausage, Morcilla. 

Canned tomatoes

You probably keep a few of these pantry staples around already. But this lycopene-rich food is good for much more than just pasta dishes. Pour some tomate frito into your meat, rice, potato or fish dishes like Spanish baked cod or patatas bravas, and you’ll have a handy meal made entirely of your pantry staples.

Canned legumes

There’s so much more to legumes than just peanut butter or houmous. Legumes like garbanzo beans, lentils, faba beans and kidney beans are one of Spain’s fundamental pantry essentials.

One obvious Spanish recipe featuring legumes is chilli. Then there’s caldo gallego, a chickpea, meat and potato stew. However, Spain is also home to white bean stew, green bean stew, classic lentil stew and plenty more spicy, smoky and nourishing legume dishes. 

Spice up your legume stew with some chorizo, or dice a Ñora pepper in to make fabada stew or create something truly unique.

Rice

Though Spain is otherwise a potato-centric country, rice is also one of the big pantry staples in Spanish cuisine, with Spain having a few varieties of rice in their own right. One example is paella rice, Oryza Sativa, which can absorb up to 3 times its weight of your favourite paella stock.

There are also recipes like the highly nutritious stuffed baby squid, which is filled with rice and surimi. If you haven’t tried it, this combination of ingredients results in a truly unique and surprising flavour.

Paprika

We must mention paprika when we’re talking about Spanish pantry staples. Called pimentón in Spanish, paprika features in everything from chorizo to different types of sauces and even on eggs and octopus. Originally from the Americas, you can choose between sweet, smoky, spiced and combinations of this ground pepper.

Saffron

Though this aromatic ingredient can be pricey, the Spanish azafrán flower is always a Spanish pantry essential. Made from the three stigmas of the saffron crocus, you can toast saffron, crush it with a pestle and mortar, or immerse the stigma strands in your stock or water. This will help you get the most robust flavour out of the strands. Saffron even makes a lovely, colourful garnish!

Vinegar

Good vinegar is another one of the absolute Spanish pantry staples. Whether you use it in recipes like refreshing gazpacho or as a tasty dressing with fresh olive oil, vinegar is one of the most versatile Spanish pantry essentials.

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