My Kitchen Favorites

Ok friends, in honor of the holidays I’ve put together my favorite kitchen gifts.  People have been asking me forever to share my go-to kitchen tools and I figured it was time to finally do it!

These are honestly my favorites – no sponsorships or paid advertising here.  But, I have included my Amazon affiliate links, so if you decide to purchase any of these through the links provided I’ll receive a small bonus to support my blogging.  You can consider it your holiday gift to me!

Without further ado, here are my Top 10 Favorite Kitchen Tools (and a little bit about why I love them).

Cast Iron Pans – So many pans are coated with funky non-stick gunk that inevitably flakes off and contaminates your food with chemicals.  But not cast iron!  These pans require a bit of seasoning, but then they are completely non-stick and truly wonderful to cook with.  Bonus points – your food picks up small bits of healthy iron when cooked in cast iron, and these pans can be used on the stove top or in the oven.

Le Creuset – I often refer to these has ‘heavy bottom’ pots in my recipes, but in my kitchen that always means Le Creusset.  These are actually cast iron coated in ceramic – no funky chemicals leaching into your food, a wonderful surface for browning and braising, and perfectly distributed heat.  I have multiple sizes and use them all the time!

All-Clad Sauce Pan – Just like the cast iron pans and baking sheets, every kitchen needs a good saucepan (or a few in different sizes).  I use mine daily for my morning oatmeal, big pots of whole grains, or reheating soups.  I sound like a broken record here, but you want a pan that isn’t leaching junk into your food, and All-Clad makes wonderful ones.

Aluminum Baking Sheets – I’m a roasting fanatic.  I truly believe almost all vegetables taste best when roasted.  You just can’t go wrong!  So, it’s important that to have workhorse baking sheets for all your roasting needs.  I have two of these and they work perfectly (again, without leaching toxins into your food).

Vitamix Blender – I know it’s an indulgence, but it is just so wonderful!  My sweet sweet husband gave this to me a few years ago for Christmas and it’s seriously one of my favorite kitchen tools.  I use it all the time for smoothies, pestos, and homemade almond milk.  My next adventure is to get the dry attachment so I can start making flours and nut butters.

Immersion Blender – One thing I don’t use my Vitamix for is making soups.  I don’t like transferring hot soup from the pot to the blender and worrying about spraying my kitchen with boiling liquid.  Instead, I use my immersion blender right in the soup pot (usually a heavy bottomed Le Creusset!).  It’s simple, clean, and easy.

Shun Knives – Good knives are non-negotiable in the kitchen.  They make cooking a joy, not to mention avoid the hazard to your fingers that comes with dull knives.  I am fully equipped with Shun and I can’t say enough about how wonderful they are.  Excellent handles, excellent blades, excellent knives. If you can only spring for one, this one is my favorite.

Bamboo Spoons – A reoccurring theme here is to avoid plastic in the kitchen.  Instead, I use these wooden spoons for nearly all my cooking and they are wonderful.  Sometimes they turn a bit red (from cranberry sauce) or yellow (from curry), but they eventually even out and I consider their varied colors a badge of cooking honor.

Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls – These are universally helpful in the kitchen.  They stack (which works well in my small apartment), can be used warm or cold, and come in a variety of sizes.  Some days I use a bowl for my cooking scraps (to use later to make broth), some days I’m mixing up something to bake (like these muffins), and some days I’m using these to hold chopped ingredients before tossing them in a stir-fry.

Cutting Boards – I love wooden cutting boards for serving cheese and taking beautiful photos, but these boards are my go-to for everything else.  They don’t dull your knives, can be tossed in the dishwasher, and provide a great cutting surface.  I have multiple sizes in black and camel, but I have to say black is my favorite.

Whew!  That’s the full rundown folks.  Now please please tell me about your favorite kitchen tools!

P.S. Honorable mentions go to this spatula, this lemon juicer, this zester, these colanders, and my huge collection of ball jars!