this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2025
219 points (99.1% liked)

Cooking

9003 readers
430 users here now

Lemmy

Welcome to LW Cooking, a community for discussing all things related to food and cooking! We want this to be a place for members to feel safe to discuss and share everything they love about the culinary arts. Please feel free to take part and help our community grow!

Taken a nice photo of your creation? We highly encourage sharing with our friends over at !foodporn@lemmy.world.


Posts in this community must be food/cooking related. Recipes for dishes you've made and post picture of are encouraged but are not a requirement. Posts of food you are enjoyed or just think like food are welcomed as well.

Posts can optionally be tagged. We would like the use and number of tags to grow organically. Feel free to use a tag that isn't listed if you think it makes sense to do so. We encourage using tags to help organize and make browsing easier, but you don't have to use them if you don't want to.

TAGS:

FORMAT:

[QUESTION] What are your favorite spices to use in soups?

Other Cooking Communities:

!bbq@lemmy.world - Lemmy.world's home for BBQ.

!foodporn@lemmy.world - Showcasing your best culinary creations.

!sousvide@lemmy.world - All things sous vide precision cooking.

!koreanfood@lemmy.world - Celebrating Korean cuisine!


While posting and commenting in this community, you must abide by the Lemmy.World Terms of Service: https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/

  1. Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, ableist, or advocating violence will be removed.
  2. Be civil: disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally insult others.
  3. Spam, self promotion, trolling, and bots are not allowed
  4. Shitposts and memes are allowed until they prove to be a problem.

Failure to follow these guidelines will result in your post/comment being removed and/or more severe actions. All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users. We ask that the users report any comment or post that violates the rules, and to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

...Other than salt and pepper

For me it's cumin. It's one of the few spices I buy in bulk and actually use up my supply.

In the winter it may lean towards cardamom thanks to copious amounts of chia.

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The always underestimated nutmeg.

[–] diverging@piefed.social 10 points 5 days ago (4 children)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Horsey@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

Cinnamon. Goes in both breakfast and dinner recipes.

[–] harcesz@szmer.info 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Caraway/cumin, thyme, wild garlic and lovage (which happens to be a surprisingly close translation of the name in Polish). The first two are really helpful in pods based kitchen. Lovage has a bit of a MSG effect, brings up umami.

But half of the time I just randomly spray stuff with one of the masalas I got from a local Indian store.

[–] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Sage. Always from Penzey's.

I once accidentally dumped too much sage into a sauce. It tasted so good that I kept doing it.

Penzey’s is the shit. They’re awesome.

[–] RoquetteQueen@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 days ago (7 children)

Cumin, coriander, and especially sumac. Sumac is SO good.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] MelonYellow@lemmy.ca 10 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Does bouillon count? I tend to use that in place of salt (I think salt is boring) so it goes in almost everything. Other than that, it’s a tie between black pepper, garlic, and onion powder. I don’t use that much in spices actually lol rather use the whole ingredient.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Garlic (usually the refrigerated kind from a jar) and cumin. Dried onion can be acceptable if you don't have time to chop an onion. Coarse ground black pepper has a distinctly different flavor than the kind that goes on the table. Crushed red pepper flakes really help revive leftover Italian, Mexican, and Thai food. And it's situational, but I am really starting to like Aleppo pepper quite a bit.

[–] HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 8 points 5 days ago (12 children)

Garlic (usually the refrigerated kind from a jar)

😭

Life is too short for jarlic!!

load more comments (12 replies)
[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

Cumin. It's used in quite a lot of cultures in different ways.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Tarragon. My favorite. Notable runners up cardamom, oregano, basil, herbs de Provence. Curry definitely, but technically that's a mixture of spices.

I'm not including salt or garlic salt, which would absolutely dwarf all others.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Brutticus@midwest.social 7 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Not counting sugar? garlic powder or Cinnamon and vanilla. I use garlic powder to go with salt and pepper in a 7:2:1 ratio as like a base for everything from tuna salad to bean burritos. Thrice a week I make overnight oats with Vanilla extract and cinnamon.

Note my favorite is smoked paprika, I just know fewer recipes and synergistic flavors.

[–] vatlark@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I normally don't think of sugar as a spice but Flavor by Ottolenghi seems to use sugar as a spice.

There is a little sugar in most recipes but not a lot of it

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] SaneMartigan@aussie.zone 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I have cinnamon in my porridge most every day. But I also have a lentil curry with a lot of curry paste - Yellow, vindaloo, butter chicken, really any curry paste will work I've found - and they're all a blend.

[–] Alpha71@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Dalkor@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Chipotle pepper powder. It's like smoked paprika and cayenne rolled into one.

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Cumin here too, followed by Berebere mix which is the one I buy in bulk, keep the bag in the freezer. I don't buy the cumin in bulk because it's cheap in stores here.

Unless you are counting onion & garlic, but those almost always fresh and I'd call them veg more than spice.

[–] Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago

Savory: Garlic Powder, Onion Powder on almost everything - sometimes even if I am using fresh versions. Sweet: Cinnamon. However I have about 20 spices that I have in high rotation and another 20 for occasional use. I also keep Chives, Flat Parsley, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme & Mojito Mint plants.

[–] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Does salt count as a spice? I don't think it does. If salt doesn't count, probably tumeric, ginger or oregano.

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 7 points 5 days ago

Probably garlic

[–] Alcyonaria@piefed.world 4 points 4 days ago

Oregano/thyme

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

Freeze dried garlic, by far.
Propably even tops pepper and occassionally also salt.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] wieson@feddit.org 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Coriander seeds.

Cumin and the other cumin (what's Kümmel called in English?)

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] dangrousperson@feddit.org 7 points 5 days ago

My favorites are crushed dried chilis, smoked parika, cumin and nutmeg. I often use vegetable bouillon as a spice as well.

[–] JandroDelSol@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

paprika and whatever nice spice blends my mom occasionally gets me from pensey. right now my favorites are Justice, Outrage of Love, and Transgender Remember Vanilla Sugar of Love

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 7 points 5 days ago

im not the cook of the family and failing at flavoring is my main failing so I asked my wife and she says onion powder or minced onion with garlic not far behind.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›