My top 10 herbs and spices paleo primal cooking recipes-min

My Top Ten Herbs & Spices

Since I’ve been Paleo my cooking has got more and more inventive, and I find I’m using a lot of different Herbs & Spices.

This does start out quite expensive if you don’t have any, but I really recommend going out and buying a basic selection to get started with.  Just by changing the herbs you can completely transform a meal.

Herbs-and-Spices paleo my top ten-min

When I went strict Paleo, I already had a lot of Herbs & Spices, but I went through all of my Paleo recipe books and bought all of the herbs and spices that came up in the ingredients list.  I’ve noticed I tend to use a few very frequently, and some are barely used, so thought I’d share my top ten herbs and spices, and what I use them for.

  1. Onion Powder.  Although I use onions too, this is great to add to lots of dishes for extra onion flavour.
  2. Garlic Powder.  I use this similarly to onion powder, to gives an almost sweet garlic taste.
  3. Turmeric.  I’m trying to add this to more and more of my cooking, as it is has so many great attributes – including having anti inflammatory properties.  Turmeric gives a yellow colour and a slight bitter, mustard flavour.  I always add Turmeric to curries.
  4. Cayenne Pepper.  This is a hot spicy chilli pepper, with hot being the word!  I only add a very small amount, but often add it to dishes like chilli, where I want a bit of heat.
  5. Paprika.  This is from dried capsicum and quite a sweet flavour.  It gives food a red colour and I’ll use it in sauces and dips.
  6. Oregano.  I seem to use a lot of this, almost anytime I cook with tomatoes, I add some oregano.  It has a slightly lemony flavour.
  7. Thyme.  I often add this near the end of cooking to ensure the heat doesn’t damage it.  I add it to lots of different things such as stews, vegetable dishes and stocks.
  8. Cinnamon.  This is my current favourite – I use it in almost everything.  Although it isn’t sweet, it’s great as a sweet substitute in tea and NoOatmeal.  I commonly use it in meat dishes as it gives such a great flavour.
  9. Ginger.  This is another favourite which I have to regularly replenish.  I often add this to curries.
  10. Salt.  This is another must have which brings out the flavour in dishes.  I naturally have quite low blood pressure, and as I don’t eat anything processed think it’s quite a good addition to my cooking.  I use Pink Himalayan salt as it is very pure with a great mineral content.  I also have Celtic Sea Salt, which also has a great mineral content.  I would go without rather than having table salt!

Herbs-Spices my top ten paleo-min

Are my most commonly used Herbs & Spices completely different to yours?  Which are your favourite Herbs & Spices and what do you use them for?

My top 10 herbs and spices paleo primal cooking recipes-min

Paleo Cookbooks cavemanfeast paleo-recipe-book
15 replies
  1. Mads Henning Nordbustad
    Mads Henning Nordbustad says:

    I found your blog posts literally just minutes after writing my shopping list for the weekend.
    I ended up adding a few things after reading this.

    Mads

    Reply
  2. Jen
    Jen says:

    My favourites are: Cayenne Pepper (I add a sprinkle to my home made soups.)
    I also love using mint & rosemary gives a lovely flavour with lamb dishes.

    Reply
  3. AmandaLP
    AmandaLP says:

    My current favorites are garam masala and ground cardamom.

    Also, when buying lots of spices, try seeking out bulk spice stores. Instead of paying $4 per bottle, you can get a few tablespoons for usually less than $1.

    Reply
  4. Lars T
    Lars T says:

    I use most of the ones you listed, except turmeric, garlic powder, and onion powder. I used a lot of garlic and onion powder for my awesome pizza sauce. As you might guess, I no longer bake pizzas from scratch.
    I use a lot of chile powders, such as Ancho, Chipotle, and whole dried chilies such as Gaujillo, Arbol, and New Mexico. The whole dried chilies are seeded, then heated on a cast iron skillet, rehydrated in hot water, then blended into a sauce for delicious Mexican recipes.
    Those chilies might not be as prevalent in Australia as they are in the US.

    Reply
  5. Kitty
    Kitty says:

    A slight deviation to the side (hope you don’t mind Suz) – on condiments – does anyone know of a good paleo-friendly fish sauce in Australia? Everyone in the US swears by Red Boat but it doesn’t seem to be available here.

    Reply
  6. Craig
    Craig says:

    Great list, I use cumin a lot. I find a little of it sprinkled over almost anything can change it completely. Paprika, cinnamon also get good use my cooking. Salt and pepper just go without saying I think.

    I’ve had no luck finding onion powder but have plenty of recipes that call for it, do you mind telling me where you buy yours?

    Reply
    • Suz
      Suz says:

      Hi Craig,
      I just got it in Coles in the herbs & spices section – I have quite a good sized Coles near me though. Hope you manage to find some!

      Reply
  7. Elissa
    Elissa says:

    I have rock salt in a grinder at home, would you recommend this or should I go straight to pink himalayan salt instead?

    I have to stop using the salt at work, there thats something I can work on this week, be conscious and mindful and bring my own salt into work to use. Cant believe I didnt do that before or realise! On autopilot just grabbing whats in the lunchroom arrghh!

    Im a big fan of fresh herbs I currently have a oasis on the balcony, sage, basil, thyme, coriander, chilli, parsley, chives, rosemary which I try and use in all my cooking.

    In dried herb variety i use basil and mixed herbs, also chilli powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, pepper and ground coriander.

    Reply
    • Suz
      Suz says:

      What a great selection of fresh hebs you have Elissa! Well, I really like the pink salt and sea salts like Celtic sea salt for the mineral content.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.