Who doesn't love a great home-cooked meal? Aside from salt, I'd love to know what spices you use regularly and a dish or two you love that relies on one or more of the spices to make the dish taste delicious.

Bonus: if particularly unique to your country or region.

EDIT: if you want to include herbs, you are welcome to do so. Rosemary is one of my favorites.


44 comments

  1. When I make Italian food,I don’t use a lot of spices really.Pepper,of course.More herbs for sure!

    Cooking things from other countries? I use a lot of cumin.And fresh ginger.

    I also love the Spanish smoked paprika,I use that a lot.

  3. Pepper (black or white), nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, chilli flakes (if they count as a spice).

  4. Pepper, cloves, cumin, paprika. I use herbs far more than spice however, typically basil, thyme, rosemary parsley, oregano and garlic powder where that fits as an ingredient.

  5. I use way more herbs than spices.

    That being said, my most used spices are: black pepper, cinnamon, paprika (hot or smoked) and chili flakes. Ginger, cumin and nutmeg get second place.

  6. Probably paprika, oregano and I’m guessing that cumin would be a distant third? Or if you’re not including peppercorns as a basic spice then that one.

  7. A lot. And a lot of different ones. I am a spice geek. Probably the most used ones are black pepper, thyme, coriander, cumin, and basil.

    Closely followed by chili, paprika, oregano, rosemary.
    And I regularly use cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon. I could keep going, I love spices and herbs and all things aromatic.

    Dill and parsley are very used in traditional Danish cooking but I don’t use them much.

  9. I often use that little sack that comes with aiki noodled to spice the noodles.

  10. I’d say the most used would be pepper (black and white), saffron, clove, chili pepper, macis, nutmeg, cinnamon.

    We mostly make dishes from Lombardy and other Italian cuisines at home, but also the occasional Austrian, German, French, Chinese dish.

    Herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage, basil, chives, parsley, origano, etc.) are probably an even more important part to many local dishes, although even spices have their role (risotto alla milanese is a staple and is based on saffron).

  12. Pepper, cumin, paprika -> Goes into basically any savoury meal I’m making

    Cinnamon -> Any sort of sweet meal

    Caraway seeds -> I make friend potatoes at least once a week just so I can eat a fuckton of caraway seeds. It’s my favourite spice. I also use a ton of it for my pork roast, but I make that less often

  13. “de la Vera” sweet smoked paprika (it has to have the DOP) pepper, parsley, bay and thyme

  14. Chili, soy sauce and herbes de Provence (i know its cheating bc its multiple ones, but basically we buy a mix on weekly market that i put on every salad or anything with meat… so like 70% of my food)

    German btw

  16. Vegeta may be unique to Croatia. It’s a mix of spices that works very well basically with any food that should be seasoned.

  17. Black pepper, oregano, nutmeg, garam masala and curry I think.. I love using all sorts of spices.

  19. Curry, turmeric and paprika are my top 3 most used for sure !

    I cook a lot of Asian food (especially Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and Indian) so I use plenty of different spices and sauces.

  21. I’m a spice geek too, so I use tons of different spices as well. But if I had to make a top five of my (current) most used spices and herbs, I’d put Espelette Pepper, Black pepper, Dragoncello, Garlic and parsley.

    – Dragoncello & Garlic => Poulet à l’Estragon
    – Espelette pepper => Chipirons sautés
    – Garlic & Parsley => Beurre Maître d’hôtel, an excellent condiment with a steak.
    – Pepper => Steak au poivre (marinated)

    But it changes from one season to another. On summer, I use rosemary, fines herbes (a mix), oregano, thyme, basil, etc. for example.

  22. Not gonna count pepper because it generally goes in hand with salt for me. Red chilli powder, cumin, turmeric, coriander powder and then maybe paprika, in order of use. We make a lot of curries but paprika is uniquely good for savoury pastas and paella style things as well as general use.

    Edit: widening to herbs, I generally use mixed herbs a lot, but rosemary, basil, thyme, parsley and coriander otherwise.

  24. Not counting pepper, I use allspice, bay leaf, herbes de Provence, basil and marjoram for vast majority of my dishes. The former two are very common in most Polish homes.

    I suppose those count as herbs and not spices though. Spices I don’t use very often, if I do then it’s cinnamon for sweet dishes and cayenne pepper for savory, not much else.

  25. Not counting salt: pepper, chilli, basil, oregano, cumin. Oh, and garlic if that counts. But then do onions count too?

  26. I guess generally I make a variety of food at home so I use a lot of cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, ground coriander and ginger. But when making traditional British stuff I’d do a lot more with thyme, rosemary, bay, mustard and black pepper. It’s a misconception that we don’t use spice for sure.

  27. I use 3 spices in my morning porridge alone: cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. Delicious!

    I love cumin, paprika, and chilli flakes, but it all depends on the dish. I find spices help me use less salt which is good for me for health reasons.

  28. If you mean actual spices (not herbs): ginger, cumin (seeds and ground), ground coriander, turmeric and chilli.

  29. – universal meat spice
    – paprika
    – black pepper
    – various dried herbs (marjoram, provences, oregano, basylia) interchangeably

    I use them for frying most things, with exception of DHs wich i use for pizza sauce and potatoes only.

  30. Aside from salt

    1. Pepper
    2. Sweet paprika
    3. Hot paprika
    4. Cumin seeds
    5. Garlic

    After them (including herbs)

    Parsley
    Bay leaves
    Rosemary
    Thyme
    White pepper
    Oregano
    Turmeric
    Nutmeg
    Coriander
    Cardamom
    Cinnamon
    Ginger
    Cloves
    Dill
    Tarragon

    I could keep going

  31. I’m not a good cooker and I add to almost everything: dried garlic, basil, oregano, pepper

  32. Bulgarian cuisine uses a lot of chubritsa(summer savory) and has a table condiment in which it features prominently – sharena sol. 

    Djodjan (Wikipedia says spearmint – but it does not taste that minty to me) is used a lot in soups. 

    Cumin and paprika are also common. 

  33. Pepper, chili, cumin, cinnamon, ginger

    I use lots of spices, but also other things like herbs and condiments for seasoning. Also many spice mixes, so it’s difficult to tell.

  34. Top three by far is parsley, basil and black pepper, then oregano and chili peppers.

    I use Szechuan pepper a lot too, since it’s not overpowering or “ethnic” like some other spices I like as well.

  35. Mediteran olive oil, salt, pepper. Sometimes just that, most of the time. If the food is natural bad good you dont need too many spices

  36. Aside from salt, my main ones are black pepper or mosaic pepper mix, a lot of fresh garlic, fresh thyme. I also use scallions / green onions a lot but more as a toping than an aromatic. And I always get basil infused passata, but I don’t think I’ve ever bought basil leaves.

    Sometimes I use fresh rosemary or ground cayenne pepper.

    The traditional ones in Romania are garlic, parsley and dill, but I don’t like parsley and dill.

  37. I don’t ever use salt, my most used ones would be tumeric, black pepper, garlic, ras el hanout and cinnamon.

  38. One herb I use a lot but haven’t read often in this thread: savory! And mustard seed and caraway;)

  39. Garlic powder, basil, oregano, black pepper, bay leaves. Also a generic “mixed herbs” blend.

    I make a lot of Italian-ish food, which would explain those choices. I recently got some za’atar for a recipe recently which was delicious, so I want to find more stuff to do with that too.

  40. We have this mystery powder in the UK called ‘Medium Curry Powder’, and I put it in pretty much everything 🤪

  41. Chilli, cumin, ginger, smoked paprika, coriander.

    Shout for cinnamon if i was allowed to eat and cook more sweet stuff. Mustard seed is also very close to making this list.

  42. Fresh cracked pepper, garlic, rosemary, sweet paprika, chili, cumin, basil, thyme, marjoram, parsley, love me some dried minced onion, zaatar if I’m brining, celery salt when I need celery flavor but my butthead partner hates celery, lemon and orange peel.

  43. I’m half Pakistani and I feel like this is becoming a bit of a spice discovery thread so here are a few suggestions out of left field: asafetida/hing, fennel seeds/soonf, ajwain (carom seeds), kala namak (black salt), and nigella seeds (kalonji). These spices are used in various dishes for their distinct flavors and health benefits. Hing adds a savory, umami kick, especially in lentil dishes; fennel seeds can be used to balance heat or as a refreshing after-meal digestive; ajwain adds a sharp, thyme-like flavor; kala namak gives a sulfurous, tangy punch (great in vegan dishes); and kalonji offers a peppery, onion-like taste that’s often sprinkled on flatbreads or in curries.

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