Flavour Bombs for Home Cooks

Inspired by Gurdeep Loyal's new cookbook, Flavour Heroes, we've rounded up the storecupboard flavour bombs you need to transform your home cooking. Check out his inspiring book, and our other recommended Christmas cookbook buys, here.

Chipotle Agave Nectar

Made with Blue Weber agave nectar and infused with a big hit of chipotle chilli, this sauce is deliciously sweet, smoky and spicy. Fat-free and with no artificial colours, it is perfect for drizzling on pizzas, stirring into sauces, jazzing up a cauliflower cheese or using on its own as a sticky, smoky marinade for ribs or chicken wings. 

RRP: £3.25

Available from The Groovy Food Company

Chilli Jam Peanut Butter

Yumello joins Tracklements for a perfect flavour partnership. Yumello uses just a few, simple ingredients including high-oleic peanuts, prized for their naturally sweet, rich flavour and healthier fat profile, deeply roasted and stone-ground to deliver a bold, nutty taste. Their peanut butter is then paired with Tracklements' award-winning sweet and hot Fresh Chilli Jam, which smoulders with the gentle heat of fresh red chillies. Use it to make a spicy satay sauce, or a PBJ snack with a twist.

RRP: £4.99

Available from Tracklements

Organic Cocoa Powder

While cocoa might not be the first ingredient that comes to mind for a savoury pantry staple, a pinch of high-quality cocoa can, like cinnamon, transform both sweet and savoury cooking; it adds depth, complexity, and a rounded richness much like miso, chilli oil, or truffle. It’s a secret weapon for adding richness where you least expect it,  lending an earthy depth to chillies, stews, game sauces and reductions, or even forming the perfect crust on a piece of meat.

RRP: from £3.80

Available from major supermarkets

Smoked Sea Salt

Hand-harvested on the Cornish shores, this mineral-rich sea salt enhances the natural flavours of winter favourites – from golden roast potatoes and hearty stews to sweet salted caramel treats.

Cornish Sea Salt Co. also sell a range of seasoning blends including roasting salt, chicken chip, bagel, piri piri and garlicky. Just a pinch transforms everyday meals into something special.

RRP: £2.30

Available from Cornish Sea Salt Co.

Fresh Spice Pastes

Transform your Thai cooking with these fresh spice pastes, dipping sauces and stir-fry pastes from renowned chef Sebby Holmes, made at his London restaurant Farang. The fresh sauces keep all of the intensity and nuances of flavour that are usually lost when a paste is pasteurised to give it a longer shelf life; however, as they are stored in the fridge, these pastes will keep for several months unopened. These are worlds apart from standard supermarket curry paste in jars, and our new Thai fakeaway night secret weapon.

RRP: from £4.75

Available from Payst

Crispy Chilli Oil

This east Asian fiery chilli oil with crunchy garlic, shallots, and umami mushroom powder adds heat and texture to any dish. Don't just keep it for Asian dishes; add a spoonful to soups and stews, spice up a cheese toastie or top your morning poached eggs and avo on toast - delicious! Mei Mei also have a range of other useful pantry staples, including:

• House Chilli Sauce: This is not your average Sriracha. Zingy and garlicky, made with fresh red chillies, it’s punchy, bright and full of flavour. This sauce is the bold sidekick of Mei Mei’s famous Hainanese Chicken Rice, but it’s also perfect on everything from eggs to dumplings. 

• Extra Hot Chilli Sauce: This extra spicy version brings in fiery bird’s eye chillies for those who like their sauce with serious heat. It’s still fresh, zingy, and garlicky – just with a devilish little kick that builds with every bite. 

• Spicy Dark Soy: A bold, savoury dark soy sauce with fiery fresh chilli, garlic and spices. Great to marinade, stir fry with fish or on top of rice – rich, punchy, and full of heat!

• Black Bean Crunch: Take everything you love about a traditional black bean sauce and crank up the fun. Loaded with fermented black soybeans, dried chillies and crunchy shallots for a texture twist - stir-fry it with prawns, dollop it on steamed rice, or even sneak it into a cheese toastie.

RRP: £11.00

Available from Mei Mei

Flavoured Dressings

Hitting supermarket shelves nationwide for the first time this month, each All Dressed Up all-natural dressing has been carefully crafted as a quick and easy way to enhance everyday dishes and make healthy eating more simple, vibrant and delicious. They're not just for salads - they work with pretty much anything that needs a flavour boost. We like:

Miso & Sesame: This zingy Asian dressing is perfect for marinating meats, or works brilliantly as a stir-fry sauce.

Tahini & Lime: A zesty Middle Eastern dressing that transforms roasted veg and grains and is great drizzled over falafel, chicken, salmon or slow-cooked lamb.

Spicy Harissa: A fiery number that spices up sauces, and packs a punch paired with halloumi, feta, beans, chorizo or even a simple fried egg.

RRP: £5.99

Available from major supermarkets

Pickled Walnuts

Opies flavourful Pickled Walnuts, hand-packed and presented in a rich, spiced vinegar, add a surprising lift to any dish. They are an absolute must to perk up a pie, slice into a delicious salad, stir into a warming beef casserole, or use to top cheese on toast for a super-easy indulgent snack. These tangy yet sweet pickles are the ultimate cheeseboard companion, the perfect partner to cold meats and charcuterie and feature in Gurdeep Loyal's Chicken Marbella recipe in Flavour Heroes.

RRP: £4.59

Available from Opies

Fresh Spices

It may seem obvious, but don't be afraid to experiment with some more unusual spices: choose one that you haven't used before and try it out in some of your favourite dishes to see if it adds another layer of flavour. It is important to not let your spices get old and dusty; keep them in a cool, dark place and refresh them regularly to get the full flavour hit.

A brand new company, determined to bring better spices to kitchen cupboards across the country, Spice Dept offer a range of fresh single-origin spices, each vibrant with flavour and sourced from the latest harvests, directly and fairly from farmers. Their 8 Spice Starter Set features spice favourites including ground turmeric, fennel seeds and green cardamom to lesser known gems such as Kanthari chilli.

RRP: £29.99 for 8 spices

Available from Spice Dept.

Tarka Paste 

Unlike a ready-made curry sauce, which you heat and serve, this tarka paste is the starting point of a great curry - it’s where all the flavour comes to life. Made with slow-cooked onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and carefully balanced spices, it creates a silky, gently-spiced tomato base that gives you the freedom to cook your curry your way. Also wonderful as a thin layer in a cheese toastie.

RRP: £3.75 for a 270g jar

Available from Aagrah Foods

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

If you're frying in olive oil it's fine to use a medium-quality one, but don't underestimate how easily a really good extra virgin olive oil can transform a dish. It's not just dressing salads either; spiral over a bowl of soup before serving, use to dress roasted vegetables, even drizzle over vanilla ice cream! Experiment with oils from different countries and regions; they really are as different as wines, and will vary slightly with each harvest. Pictured above is a delicious organic Tuscan oil from the lovely Fattoria La Vialla (see our guide to advent calendars), which you can order directly from the farm.

Closer to home, we also love Trulli Ulivi; a stylishly-bottled, high-quality Pugliesi olive oil with an intense fruity flavour and slightly bitter peppery finish.

When you buy a special olive oil, the important thing is to use it! As for spices, keep somewhere cool and dark but it does have a shelf life: try to use within 12 months of its harvest date, and within 3-6 months of being opened.

RRP: Various

Available from multiple retailers

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