The Underrated Pantry Ingredient Guy Fieri Never Goes Without

Pantry staples are essential for any kitchen, especially if you're in a weeknight pinch and need to whip up a meal without a last-minute trip to the grocery store. Most of them, like flour, sugar, rice, pasta, or canned goods, have long shelf lives and can be used in a variety of ways in different recipes. But there's one underrated pantry ingredient that celebrity chef Guy Fieri never goes without — powdered chicken stock.

"Powdered chicken stock doesn't go bad. I mean, it might go bad but it doesn't go bad by the time I'm done using it," the "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" host told Food & Wine in a TikTok interview. "It enhances flavor. A little tablespoon will elevate the regular everyday jasmine rice to the next level."

Used widely in Chinese cooking, powdered chicken stock — or chicken powder — is exactly what it sounds like: dehydrated chicken stock ground into a fine powder. However, unlike chicken bouillon, powdered chicken stock boasts a concentrated chicken flavor that's described as an "umami bomb." It possesses a deep poultry essence without any additional ingredients that often show up in regular chicken stock or broth, like carrot, celery, or onion.

Guy Fieri is a fan of powdered chicken stock because it's like a fast track to Flavortown. Plus, it's convenient and easy to use and saves you the trouble of having to tend to stock on the stove for hours while you're preparing it. "Where you would typically add chicken stock but you don't wanna add the extra liquid, [this] little trick — I call it the little magic flavor enhancer. I'm just telling you, have it available," he told Food & Wine. "A little sprinkle into a chicken dish that you're making [will give you] that little flavor, a little sodium kiss."

To use powdered chicken stock conventionally, you can simply dissolve it in hot water to reconstruct it into a broth, at which point it can be used as a base for soups, sauces, stews, gravies, or really any other recipes that call for chicken stock. What makes Fieri's method so ingenious is that it essentially turns chicken stock into another seasoning. This means you can try sprinkling some of the dry stuff right onto grilled chicken to add a punch of poultry flavor. You can tinker with how much you incorporate into your dishes (as much or as little as you'd like, depending on the intensity you desire), but it's best to start with a pinch and go from there.

Besides powdered chicken stock, there are a few other pantry staples to make sure you always have on hand. One that you absolutely need in your pantry is dry mustard. This versatile ingredient is so adaptable because it packs a subtle, yet tangy heat without having to add the moisture of regular mustard. Add a skosh to your next dry rub mix for meat or include a teaspoon when making sauce or salad dressings. Of course, poultry and mustard are famous friends, so you could also combine it with your powdered chicken stock and other ingredients to create an elevated spice rub.

When it comes to canned foods, must-haves include canned tuna and meat, as well as canned corn. Pantry staples not only come in handy when you don't have time to hit the grocery store, but they're also essential for emergency situations or power outages. Canned meat and fish products are especially useful because they don't require refrigeration or much prep to consume. Canned corn, for its part, is a canned veggie that most closely resembles the taste of its fresh counterpart. As for Guy Fieri, he told Taste of Home that one of his favorite canned foods is peppers — it doesn't hurt that the celebrity chef cans them himself.