A Beginner’s Guide to a Spicy Pantry

The spring-cleaning itch has hit me nearly as hard as the pollen has. In the kitchen, that often looks like a pantry and freezer clean-out — and a restock. Every time I take an inventory of my spice rack, I’m gobsmacked by the sheer volume of chile products I’ve accumulated. But here’s the thing: They all have their rightful place in my cooking.

If you’re in the market for a kitchen refresh yourself, here is a (nonexhaustive!) list of pantry and fridge staples worth stocking to spice up your cooking, and thus, your life.

Dried chiles

A well-equipped pantry might have three different forms of dried chile: whole, flakes and powdered. Whole dried chiles, such as guajillo chiles or chiles de árbol, can be rehydrated by soaking or simmering them in water, so they can be easily puréed into smooth salsas, pastes or moles. They’ll add color, earthiness or heat (or all three!) to dishes like Rick Martínez’s chilaquiles.

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Chilaquiles

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Red-pepper flakes (or crushed red pepper), often a blend of dried hot chiles and their seeds processed into uniform flakes, may be the quickest, most cost-effective and accessible path to heat. In Alexa Weibel’s simple arrabbiata sauce, one or two teaspoons of the stuff builds the fiery foundation of the classic tomato sauce.

When it comes to ground spices, the options are seemingly endless: ground cayenne, Kashmiri chile powder, gochugaru, Aleppo pepper and ancho chile powder are just a few examples. Because some chiles are spicier than others, you may not want to make a one-to-one swap of, say, spicy cayenne for the more mild Kashmiri in Naz Deravian’s aloo gobi. If you can’t find Kashmiri, she writes, instead “combine ½ teaspoon smoked or sweet paprika with a dash of cayenne.”

Fiery condiments

Across cultures, you’ll find chiles cut with vinegar or oil, fermented or steeped in honey for condiments that will last what feels like a lifetime in your fridge door or pantry.

Some pastes, like sambal oelek or harissa, feature other flavors like garlic, so they can pull double duty in otherwise simple dishes, like Hetty Lui McKinnon’s five-ingredient baked tomato pasta with harissa and halloumi. (Note that some sambals, depending on their region of origin, may contain seafood.) And the consistency of chile pastes makes them a great base for a glaze, as in Eric Kim’s recipe for gochujang-glazed eggplant with fried scallions.

A drizzle of hot honey — which is made by simmering chiles in white vinegar and honey — can perk up pizzas and add a sweetened heat to dishes like Melissa Clark’s roasted honey nut squash and chickpeas. And chile-based condiments can lend both fire and texture to a dish. Look no further than chile crisp (or chile oil, or chile crunch) to add bite in both senses of the word, as it does in Hetty’s vegan chile crisp fried rice with tofu and edamame. You can also use some of the condiment’s oil to pan-fry an egg, should you like to enjoy one over your rice.

While you can certainly buy any of these, you can also easily make harissa, hot honey, chile crisp and other quick chile sauces at home.

No thoughts, just the “Challengers” actor Mike Faist wearing a giant root vegetable brooch at the Met Gala on Monday. Is it a radish? A turnip? Either way, it’s so very Veggie of him. (The theme this year was “The Garden of Time.”)