Making pantry staples from scratch is easier than most people realize. Many everyday items require only a handful of ingredients, and the homemade versions often taste fresher than what you’ll find at the grocery store. It’s also a handy skill when you run out of something in the middle of cooking.
From baking mixes to sauces and seasonings, these homemade staples can help keep your pantry stocked while giving you full control over the ingredients.
Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk
Sweetened condensed milk only takes a few simple ingredients and comes together with very little effort. It’s rich, creamy, and works beautifully in desserts, candies, and coffee drinks.
Get the Recipe: How to Make Sweetened Condensed Milk from Scratch
Tomato Paste
Homemade tomato paste is made by slowly cooking tomatoes until they become thick and deeply concentrated. The long cooking time creates a rich tomato flavor that’s perfect for soups, sauces, and stews. It also freezes or cans well for later use.
Get the Recipe: How to Make Tomato Paste
Vegetable Stock
Instead of throwing away vegetable scraps, save onion skins, carrot peels, celery ends, garlic, herbs, and other trimmings to make homemade vegetable stock. It’s an easy way to reduce waste while creating a flavorful base for soups, sauces, and grains.
Get the Recipe: How to Make Vegetable Stock
Onion Powder
Homemade onion powder delivers concentrated onion flavor without additives or fillers. It’s perfect for seasoning soups, sauces, marinades, spice blends, roasted vegetables, and countless everyday recipes.
Get the Recipe: How to Make Onion Powder
Ginger Powder
Fresh ginger can easily be turned into homemade ginger powder for longer storage. It’s useful for baking, curries, marinades, spice blends, and hot drinks, and it’s surprisingly simple to make.
Get the Recipe: How to Make Ginger Powder
Buffalo Sauce
Skip the bottled version and stir together your own buffalo sauce using pantry ingredients. It’s spicy, tangy, and ready for wings, sandwiches, wraps, vegetables, or dipping sauces.
Get the Recipe: Homemade Buffalo Sauce Recipe
Homemade Bisquick Mix
This homemade baking mix works much like the store-bought version and can be used for biscuits, pancakes, waffles, dumplings, and more. Making a batch ahead of time means it’s always ready when you need it.
Get the Recipe: 20 Simple Recipes That Start With a Box of Bisquick
Gluten-Free Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
This homemade copycat version of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix is gluten-free, vegan, and made with only a few pantry ingredients. It’s ready whenever you’re craving warm cornbread or muffins.
Get the Recipe: 28 Pantry Staples You’ll Be Surprised to Learn Are This Easy to Make at Home
Gluten-Free Honey Cornbread
Soft, lightly sweet, and full of honey flavor, this homemade cornbread pairs well with soups, chili, barbecue, or holiday meals.
BBQ Sauce
You only need a few ingredients to make a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce at home. It’s great for grilling, dipping, burgers, sandwiches, or brushing onto roasted meats and vegetables.
Homemade Brown Sugar
Making brown sugar at home couldn’t be much easier. Mix granulated sugar with molasses, and you’ll have fresh brown sugar in just a few minutes whenever your pantry runs out.
Homemade Strawberry Preserves
Fresh strawberry preserves are delicious on toast, biscuits, pancakes, yogurt, and desserts. Making them yourself lets the natural berry flavor shine through.
Homemade Blueberry Jam
Blueberry jam offers a balance of sweetness and bright fruit flavor that works well on toast, pastries, pancakes, and even stirred into yogurt or oatmeal.
Homemade Vanilla Extract
With just vanilla beans and vodka, you can make homemade vanilla extract that becomes richer over time. It’s a pantry staple every baker will appreciate.
Italian Seasoning
Instead of buying another spice blend, mix your own Italian seasoning using dried herbs from your spice cabinet. It’s perfect for pasta sauces, pizza, soups, roasted vegetables, and marinades.
Taco Seasoning
Homemade taco seasoning lets you adjust the heat and salt to your liking. Keep a jar on hand for tacos, burritos, chili, nachos, and seasoned meats.
Homemade Sauerkraut
Making sauerkraut at home takes little more than cabbage, salt, and time. The fermentation process creates a tangy, crunchy topping that’s packed with flavor.
Homemade Tuscan Seasoning Mix
This herb blend brings classic Italian flavors to roasted vegetables, pasta, chicken, seafood, and homemade bread without relying on store-bought packets.
Homemade Granola
Homemade granola is easy to customize with your favorite oats, seeds, dried fruit, and spices. It makes a great breakfast or snack and stores well for days.
Homemade Cake Mix
Keep a batch of homemade cake mix in the pantry, and you’ll always be ready to bake a cake without reaching for a boxed mix. It can easily be adapted for different flavors.
Homemade Pancake Mix
This homemade pancake mix makes soft, fluffy pancakes whenever you need them. Mix up a large batch and keep it in the pantry for quick breakfasts.
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Fresh flour tortillas are soft, flexible, and made without preservatives. They’re perfect for tacos, burritos, wraps, quesadillas, or serving alongside your favorite meals.
Homemade Baking Powder
If you’ve ever run out of baking powder halfway through baking, making your own is a simple solution. This homemade version is corn-free and aluminum-free.
Homemade Chili Seasoning
This homemade chili seasoning combines warm spices that work well in chili, soups, taco meat, roasted vegetables, and bean dishes.
Homemade White Bread
Fresh white bread made in a bread maker takes only a few pantry ingredients and fills your kitchen with the smell of freshly baked bread. It’s soft, fluffy, and perfect for sandwiches or toast.
Homemade Mayonnaise
Homemade mayonnaise comes together with just four ingredients and has a fresh, creamy flavor that’s hard to match with store-bought versions.
Homemade Chocolate Syrup
Rich chocolate syrup takes only about 10 minutes to make using cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla, and a few pantry basics. Drizzle it over ice cream, pancakes, coffee drinks, or desserts.
Garlic Scape Pesto
Garlic scape pesto is a fresh, flavorful spread made with garlic scapes, herbs, and simple ingredients. Toss it with pasta, spread it on sandwiches, stir it into soups, or spoon it over grilled vegetables for an easy burst of flavor.
