Kitchen Essentials

If you are just getting into cooking - welcome! I have exciting news: it doesn’t take a lot of “stuff” to get started.  In fact, start with just what you need now (pan, knife, cutting board) and add to it from there. As you stock your kitchen, I recommend buying the best quality you can afford every step of the way so you aren’t wasting money upgrading or replacing broken or damaged items in the future.

Below is my list of kitchen essentials. As you refer to this list, consider what you want to start cooking and prioritize what you feel you really need to get started and grow from there. I created categories and ranked items within each category in what I consider to be most beneficial to have on hand in your kitchen.

Pots & Pans:

1. Cast Iron Skillet - mine is 10.25 inches which is perfect because my stock pot lid fits right on top of it, but if you are cooking for a family, you may prefer a larger skillet. These are inexpensive and can be purchased anywhere from the hardware store to Target or  Amazon.  Using Cast Iron actually helps us get more iron into our diet, which is important when eating plant based. As you use the skillet over time, it will become more seasoned and non-stick. Use it to make curries, stir-fries, tofu scramble, sauteed veggies, stewed fruit, even cornbread.
2. Stock Pot with lid - as I said, my lid works perfectly for my cast iron skillet too (I love a multi-purpose tool!). Use this large pot to boil spaghetti or potatoes, to make soups, stews, stocks, chili, pasta sauce and beans.
3. Sauce Pan with lid - a good sauce pan is useful for making a smaller portion of soup as well as beans, rice, quinoa, hot chocolate and oatmeal.

Utensils:

1. Wooden spoon - start with a wooden spoon which can be used for cooking, mixing and serving
2. Stainless Steel Pancake Turner/Griddle Spatula - essential for flipping pancakes, veggie burgers, hash browns, oven fries and roasted veggies
3. Stainless Steel Potato Masher - if you are a potato fanatic like me, this is essential
4. Stainless Steel Ladle
5. Stainless Steel Whisk - helpful to have on hand for combining ingredients when making dressings or to make sure creamy dishes like polenta are lump-free
6. Stainless Steel Tongs - helpful tool to stir long noodles when cooking, to incorporate sauce and noodles together as well as for serving
7. Silicone spatula -  to scrape every last drop of goodness out of your mixing bowl or blender
8. Thermometer - an important tool if you are making bread to make sure the water is the correct temperature to activate yeast, can also be used to check for doneness in loaf of bread

Food Prep:

1. Chef Knife - the only knife you really need, this is the knife I use daily. I recommend splurging here and buying the best you can afford. Keep it sharp and take care of it and it will last for a very long time.
2. Cutting board - I recommend bamboo for chopping veggies and slicing fruit. You can also turn your fresh loaf of bread cut side down on your board to preserve freshness and maintain that wonderful crust.
3. Stainless steel measuring spoons, dry and liquid measuring cups - having dry and liquid measuring cups ensures precision in measuring your ingredients. The dry measuring cups come in the individual measurements: 1 cup, 1/2 cup etc while the liquid measuring cup is graduated glass or plastic pitcher. I like my 4 cup pyrex for liquid ingredients, I also use it to soak lentils
4. Mesh Colander - to rinse rice, lentils, beans, fruits and veggies and to drain cooked pasta and potatoes
5. Large Glass Mixing bowl - for combining ingredients, mixing dough, and soaking beans
6. Paring Knife - use for the smaller tasks like slicing and peeling fruits and veggies, and opening the occasional box 😳
7. Peeler - if you are doing a lot of peeling, this comes in quite handy because it will take just the peel, not the flesh. Also nice to use on cucumber and carrots to make pretty ribbons for salads.

For the Oven:

1. Baking sheet - I always line mine with parchment paper for a non-stick, easy clean surface. Use to roast veggies, make oven fries and bake tofu. Using the oven makes cooking a breeze, just pop the baking sheet into the oven and set your timer.  Roasting or baking leaves your stove top clear (or usable for something else), infuses a roasted flavor into the food and makes clean up quick and easy.
2. Baking Dish - I have a 9x9 and 9x11 pyrex that came as a set with lids which helps in transporting a dish.  These are great for baking apple crisp, peach cobbler, brownies and for making lentil loaf, mac and cheese and enchiladas. You can roast veggies in these as well.

Appliances:

1. High Speed Blender - in my opinion, this is a must have in the plant based kitchen to make super smooth desserts, dressings and sauces (like cheeze sauce), sour cream and cream cheese as well as for making smoothies and salsas.  I have had my Vitamix for 4 years and use it almost daily, in my opinion it’s worth the splurge. There are sales on them from time to time or you can check out their website for refurbished models (that’s what I have) to save on this very useful machine.
2. Kettle - if you are doing your hot water sip daily, you should have a kettle. I recommend an electric one where you can determine the temperature of the water. It’s also nice to keep the stove top clear for cooking.
3. Toaster Oven - perfect for making toast of course, but also nice to when you just want a baked potato or are reheating the rest of last night’s vegan pizza. ​

I hope you find this list to be a useful reference. Let me know in the comments what kitchen tool you can't be without.