The Base Five
Five seasonings that will change everything you cook
If you learn nothing else from this entire site, learn this: buy salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika. These five seasonings will change everything you cook. They go on virtually anything, they're cheap, and the difference between unseasoned food and food with the base five is night and day.
The Five
Salt is the foundation — it doesn't just make food salty, it amplifies every other flavor in the dish. Black pepper adds a subtle heat and earthiness. Garlic powder brings that savory, aromatic depth that makes everything smell and taste like real cooking. Onion powder adds a sweet, rounded savoriness that's different from garlic but just as important. And smoked paprika — not regular paprika, smoked — adds a warm, smoky dimension that makes even simple food taste complex. Yes, smoked paprika costs a little more than regular. It's worth every penny.
The Shaker Bottle Method
Take an old spice shaker or any container with a lid that has holes. Put roughly equal parts of all five seasonings in it, shake it up, and you've got an all-purpose blend that goes on everything. Chicken? Shake it on. Vegetables before roasting? Shake it on. Eggs? Shake it on. Steak? Shake it on. This single blend will cover 80% of your seasoning needs for everyday cooking. It removes the guesswork and the decision-making — you just grab the shaker and go.
Keep Them Separate Too
The shaker blend is your everyday workhorse, but you'll also want the individual spices on hand for when you need to adjust. Some foods want more garlic. Some want extra paprika for color and smokiness. A steak might just need salt and pepper. Having them separately lets you customize based on what you're cooking, while the blended shaker handles the days when you just want to season and cook without thinking about it.
The Starting Point for Everything
Every rub, marinade, and seasoning blend on this site builds on the base five. The cajun rub adds cayenne and chili powder. The Mediterranean rub adds oregano and thyme. The fajita blend adds cumin and lime. But the foundation is always the same five ingredients. Once you're comfortable with them, branching out into more complex blends is easy because you already understand the base layer. Start here, experiment, and over time you'll learn what ratios work best for different foods.
Quick Tips
- ●Buy smoked paprika, not regular — the difference in flavor is massive and worth the extra cost.
- ●The shaker bottle method: equal parts of all five, mixed together, ready to go on anything.
- ●Salt amplifies every other flavor. When something tastes flat, it usually needs more salt.
- ●These five seasonings go on proteins, vegetables, eggs, potatoes — basically everything.
- ●Every complex seasoning blend on this site is built on top of the base five.