15 Essentials to Upgrade Your Kitchen

Most of us are pretty stocked with the basic kitchen essentials. From mixing bowls to measuring spoons, spatulas, baking dishes, colanders and more.

I wanted to focus on the items that I will up your kitchen game just a little bit more. Sure there are gadgets for almost anything you want to do or cook in your kitchen. These are the things that will just take your kitchen up a notch.

1 Flour Sack Towels | 2 Instant Read Thermometer | 3 Cast Iron Skillet | 4 Dutch Oven | 5 Sheet Pans | 6 Immersion Blender | 7 Microplane | 8 Mason Jars | 9 Silpat | 10 Pan Scrapers | 11 Slow Cooker | 12 Cheese Cloths | 13 Mesh Strainer | 14 Julienne Peeler | 15 Citrus Squeezer

Let’s break them down quickly one by one:

1. Flour Sack Towels: These can be used for so many things. They are lint free and can be used as dish towels, keeping bread warm, cleaning and even wrapping and store vegetables.
2. Instant Read Thermometer: Stop cutting your steak or chicken to see if it’s cooked.
3. Cast Iron Skillets: These hold heat so well and become a great non-stick pan once they become seasoned. Don’t be afraid of them, they are easy to care for and use.
4. Dutch Oven: These are a hefty enough to cook large cuts of meats like roasts and they retain heat well. Great for stews and soups.
5. Sheet Pans: These are different than cookie sheets which usually don’t have sides. Sheet pans are heftier with sides on all 4 sides. They come in half sheets or a full sheet pan. These are great for sheet pan dinners, roasting vegetables and some people will even roast their Thanksgiving turkey in it.
6. Immersion Blender: These are great to have for blending in smaller spaces or even just for quick blends. Use them for blending soups right in the pot your are cooking it in like butternut squash or tomato soup.
7. Microplane: I know you already have a grater, why do you need a microplane? Having a microplane makes it much easier to do some quick grating such as grating garlic or ginger into a pot of soup, grating hard cheese over your pasta dish or even grating nutmeg to add to your cider drink.
8. Mason Jars: Where would we be without these versatile jars. Sure they are your best friend for making jams and sauces to preserve but they go far beyond that. Use the wide mouth jars for storing leftover chili, marinara sauce, homemade broths and more in your freezer. Use them in your pantry to store food items. Make salads and overnight oats in them and so much more.
9. Silicone Baking Mat: These mats are made form high quality, food-grade silicone. They come in different sizes to fit your cookie sheets or sheet pans. They are a reusable version of parchment paper. So, better for the environment which is a plus. They stand the test of very messy or greasy cooking and are easy to clean. Just throw them in the dishwasher on the top rack.
10. Pan Scrapers: I know, such a small simple tool but guys, you need this in your life. Makes it super easy to scrape off the edges of your sheet pans or skillets. Once you have one you’ll wonder how you lived without this simple tool.
11. Slow Cooker: This should probably go under your basic kitchen supplies but honestly, there are lots of home kitchens that don’t have one. Even if you don’t want to cook with a slow cooker, they come in very handy when entertaining. Football parties are a must for chili right, so throw it in the slow cooker to serve to your quests.
12. Cheese Cloths: For years I never had cheese cloths but now that I do, I realize I should have had them all these years. And I know what you are saying, I don’t make homemade cheese. See that’s what I thought too. But, it’s great for straining so many things such as making homemade baby food, straining vegetable juice like celery juice (if you don’t have a juicer), dusting powdered sugar on cookies or cakes, use it outside to cover food from flies (it looks pretty too). You won’t use it everyday but it will come in handy when you need something like that.
13. Mesh Strainers: Listen, you could, technically get away with having a fine mesh strainer instead of the cheese cloth but, why not have both. Since the mesh strainer is sturdy vs. the cheese cloth, you can easily puree tomatoes through a mesh strainer. Or, quickly squeeze a lemon through a mesh strainer to stop the seeds from falling in. Of course, like the cheese cloth, you can use it to dust powdered sugar on baked goods. I like to use mine to quickly lift out cooked pasta or veggies from the pot.
14. Julienne Peeler: This little tool is a game changer for your salads, wraps, stir fry and bowls. It’s just a peeler with serrated teeth that turns your veggies, such as carrots, sweet potatoes and squash into pretty little veggie noodles.
15. Citrus Squeezer: Not much to say about this except that it makes squeezing lemons and limes a snap.

Now it’s your turn. What are your favorite kitchen essentials that you can not live without. Sound off below. I’m always on the hunt for great kitchen tools.