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The Best Kitchen Essentials

By Courtney ODell

Oct 12, 2020, Updated Aug 12, 2021

The best kitchen essentials – the best easy tools, equipment, and small appliances to help make every meal great!

If you’re looking for the best items to get ready to cook like a pro at home, I’m sharing some of my favorite tools and items to make you a master in no time.

This list isn’t just random tools – I personally use each in many of the recipes you’ll find on Sweet C’s.

With Christmas coming up, I hope this list also helps inspire you to find some awesome holiday gifts for your friends and family who love cooking, too.

Amazon Prime Day is October 13-14 this year – so be sure to act fast to take full advantage of special deals!

Be sure to visit my Amazon storefront here.

If you’re looking to find just the top essential tools to make your dishes easier and packed with more flavor, I’m sharing my top kitchen essentials I use in my own home everyday!

Those tools are used in our house almost every single day – but I’m not stopping there!

If you’re looking for great Christmas gifts for friends and family please read on and find some of my favorite tools, cookbooks, and kitchen essentials.

• Hedley and Bennet Apron – heavyweight and perfect for everyday use.
• Meat Temperature Guide Magnet – easy reference to find the perfect cooking temperature for meats.
• Avocado Slicer – easy for cutting and slicing avocados.
• Food processor – make quick work of chopping, slicing, and pulverizing.
• Vitamix blender – we use for making peanut butter, pesto, smoothies, and so much more!
• Mixing Bowls – this set is my absolute favorite, with graters, spouts, and other useful tools built in to the bowl lids!
• Stand Mixer – a sturdy stand mixer is not only great for baking, but also shredding cooked meats like boiled chicken or pulled pork!

• Silicone Baking Mats – cookies and biscuits won’t stick for perfect results.
• Silicone Baking Molds – its easy to get perfect easy release cakes, cookies, and more.
• Sturdy Cooling Racks – also great for roasting meats like Crunchy BBQ Chicken legs.

• Instant Pot – I reccomend buying a pressure cooker with the crisping lid and dual functionality for air fried foods.
• Instant Pot Stackable Pans – cook a side dish and main like in my Sweet and Sour Chicken and Rice in one pot by using stackable pans.
• Nonstick Pressure Cooker Essentials – basics that transform your Instant pot into a multi-functional tool for easy cooking and baking.
• Ninja Foodi – if you’re going to air fry or broil more than pressure cook, I reccomend the Ninja Foodi over the Instant Pot. It broils at a higher temperature and works well for steaks and meats.
• Ninja Foodi Baking Kit – turn your Foodi into a countertop oven with everything you need for perfect baking, in-machine.
• Complete Pressure Cooker Bundle – strainers, pans, egg trays, and other tools to make anything you could ever imagine in a pressure cooker!

• Phillips Air Fryer – for making french fries, chicken drumsticks, and more – the Phillips air fryer is a great option.
• Instant Pot Air Fryer – Instant Pot’s standalone air fryer also functions as a rotisserie!
• Foodi Ninja Air Fryer

• Keto Cheat Guide Magnets – easy to display and keep on track!
• Vegetable spiralizer – make perfect easy zoodles and vegetable noodles in a snap!
• Ghee – pan frying in ghee instead of oil gives keto meals a rich, fabulous flavor without butter’s lower smoke point.
• Kitchen scale – lots of keto recipes rely on precise measurements, so a scale is essential.

• Pebble Ice Machine – if you love slushes or soda, you’ll love this machine!
• Cocktail ice mold – perfect large square or spherical ice cubes perfect for artisan cocktails.
• Complete bartender set – strainers, stirrers, and shakers – so you can make yourself any drink you’d like.
• Cocktail stirrers – stainless steel picks perfect for olives or a twist, stirring drinks, or even as an appetizer skewer.

If you love making aa great cup of coffee at home be sure to check out my favorite items!

• Ceramic pour over
• Burr grinder – grind coffee beans with precision.
• Nespresso Essenza – easy to use with espresso pods for a shot of espresso at home.
• Breville Touch Espresso Machine – easy swipe to select drink function.

• The Ultimate Guide To Vegetable Side Dishes – tons of delicious vegetable sides perfect for any meal!
• Ready Set Dough! Beginner Breads For All Occasions – delicious breads that are simple and straightforward to make.
• Weeknight Gourmet Dinners – if you love trying new spices and want a restaurant style dinner at home, this book is for you!
• The Weeknight Dessert Cookbook – delicious easy desserts you can make in no time.
• The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook – easy meals your family will love.
• The Well Plated Cookbook – Gorgeous easy dinners that are slimmed down, fresh, and healthy!
• Air Fryer for Two – easy meals for two right from your air fryer.
• Latin Twist – delicious cocktails with a south of the border flair!
• Pinch of Nom – slimmed down recipes that are simple and full of flavor!

Now it’s time to get all your new tools in the kitchen and off to good use – for more, be sure to check out my recipe archives, easy keto recipe page, or follow me on social media below!

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