32 Pricey Pantry Items We Think Make Truly Wonderful Gifts

That adage about the way to someone’s heart being through food feels…conditional. What kind of food? Was it cooked well? Did they follow a recipe from a reputable website (like, ahem, Serious Eats) or go rogue, adding ingredients willy-nilly? 

See, conditional! But what is certain is that everyone appreciates excellent food—and pricey pantry ingredients are a surefire great gift. I’ll warn you, though, that the list below is very much a buy one for you, one for me, sort of deal. As in: These vetted ingredients are all so highly awesome that you’ll want them, too.

Flavored Syrup for Lattes and More

Sonoma Syrup Co Vanilla Bean Simple Syrup

$25 at Amazon

Tie a ribbon around the neck of this bottle and you’re done. A tablespoon or two of it is incredible in a latte (or a matcha latte or steamer). It tastes like real-deal vanilla, with none of the cloying sweetness you get from artificial flavoring.

Fabulous Tinned Fish

Siesta Co. Tinned Fish Variety 5-Pack

View on Siesta-co.com

Siesto Co. makes some of our favorite tinned fish. Everything is sustainably sourced, delicious, and best paired with good bread and marinated olives. The variety 5-pack will give you a little bit of everything, but gifting a 500-gram (over a pound!) tin of anchovies is really fun too. 

A Versatile Matcha

Golde Pure Matcha

$28 at Amazon $28 at Golde.co

This ceremonial-grade matcha makes a great stocking stuffer. It’s also a good all-arounder and nice in both hot and iced preparations. For a fleshed-out gift, you can get it in a kit that includes a whisk, too.

A Spice Set from a Staff-Favorite Brand

Burlap and Barrel Fundamentals Collection

View on Burlapandbarrel.com

I’ve heard numerous Serious Eats staffers proclaim their love for Burlap and Barrel. And with good reason: The single-origin spices are uber-fresh and truly fantastic. For a gift, the Fundamentals Set comes with six spices for under $55. It’s housed in a nice box, too—built-in gift wrap!

Superb Coffee

Big Island Coffee Roasters Kona Coffee Collection

View on Bigislandcoffeeroasters.com

This has been one of my favorite coffees of late. For a real treat, the barrel-aged coffee is delightfully spicy and tastes like rum. 

A Display-Worth Duo of Olive Oil

Brightland The Duo

$79 $74 at Amazon $74 at Brightland.co $74 at Bloomingdales

Aesthetics! Taste! This olive oil has it all! The set comes with robust and smooth olive oils. For easier pouring, add in this equally eye-pleasing gold spout.

Enough Olive Oil to Last a Few Months (At Least)

Corto Truly Extra Virgin Olive Oil

$80 at Amazon $25 at Walmart View on Corto-olive.com

This is one of my favorite olive oils and for a gift that keeps on giving for literal months, you can buy this 3-liter box. It has a spout so you can easily decant the olive oil into a dispenser.

Literal Pounds of Pasta

Gustiamo Big Bag Bucatini Faella

View on Gustiamo.com

Nothing quite says “I’m treating you” like five-and-a-half pounds of pasta. Gustiamo sells several behemoth bags in different shapes, including bucatini. Print out this recipe for spicy tomato sauce and you’re good to go in gift land.

Booze-Free Cocktails

Curious Elixirs No. 1 Booze-Free Cocktail

View on Curiouselixirs.com View on Boisson.co

I try to go booze-free during the week and having alcohol-less, pre-mixed drinks like this on hand helps me do so. Coincidently, they’re pricey enough that they make for a great gift. There are a number of flavors available, but I like the No. 1, which is inspired by a Negroni Sbagliato and has pomegranate and orange.

A Classic (to Us) Alcohol Alternative

Ghia Non-Alcoholic Apéritif

$38 at Amazon View on Drinkghia.com View on Thenewbar.com

I’ve extolled my love for Ghia before, and it’s another great booze-free bottle. Maybe pair it with some nice stemless wine glasses, huh?

A Torte You Don’t Have to Make

Andre's Engadiner Nut Torte

View on Andreschocolates.com

This is one special dessert, which I gifted to my dad once and he now asks me to re-order regularly. It has layers of pecans, caramel, and sugar dough. Every slice is enrobed in chocolate and has a chocolate Andre’s logo on top (stunnin').

Spices from a New Brand

Van Van Bundle of Flavors

View on Getvanvan.com

These packets of spices are single-origin from Vietnam and can be rehydrated and used in place of fresh herbs. For example, the sliced Northern Mountain Garlic would be excellent in this fried rice.

A Hot Sauce Subscription

Fuego Box Small-Batch Quarterly Hot Sauce Subscription

$130 at Food52 View on Fuegobox.com

Twelve months, 12 bottles of hot sauce, and everlasting, fiery joy: This is the ideal gift for the hot sauce lover in your life. With this subscription, you get three bottles every four months for a year. The first box even includes a “hot sauce log”—a journal for hot sauce tasting notes.

Our Favorite Masa

Masienda La Familia Masa Bundle

View on Masienda.com

Freshly made tortillas are a gift in and of themselves. This set includes white, yellow, blue, and red heirloom masa. You can even pair the flours with one of our favorite tortilla presses (perhaps our top colorful option, also from Masienda?). 

Beautiful, Floral Honey

L’Abeille Occitane Lavender Honey

$17 at Amazon

There’s a huge difference between great honey and the supermarket stuff. A jar of lavender honey from France and some nice tea and your gift is done and done.

An Instant Coffee for Non-Believers

Verve Coffee Roasters Street Level Instant Coffee

$17 at Amazon $14 at Walmart $16 at REI

Instant coffee is an excellent gift for the friend who’s always running out of Joe and having to rush out in the early morning hours to buy a bag. It lasts a really long time, so it’s smart to have some packets on hand for an emergency stash of caffeine. And guess what: There’s some great instant coffee out there! Like one of our favorites from Verve Coffee Roasters, which is bright and balanced. 

Beautiful Truffles

Compartes 20 Piece Signature Truffles Gift Box

View on Compartes.com

Compartes always has fun flavors, like this donut chocolate bar or this one with brownies. This box of 20 ganache-filled truffles is no different. They have a real Art Deco vibe.

Frozen Pizza Dough

Ooni Frozen Pizza Dough Balls

View on Ooni.com

These frozen dough balls have been my savior as I’ve tested pizza ovens. They’re supremely easy to work with: just thaw them in the fridge overnight, proof at room temperature, and then stretch and top them. The dough is so supple and easy to work with. And for someone who makes pizza regularly (or has been wanting to), they’re a real time-saving treat.

Not Flowers, But

Olympia Provisions Salami Bouquet

View on Goldbelly.com View on Olympiaprovisions.com

A salami bouquet! Cute! You can choose between a three- or six-stem bouquet. It’s not just playful either: Olympia Provisions makes incredible salami, be it their chorizo or Cacciatore, which has spices like caraway, coriander, and red chili. 

Cheese, Please

Murray’s Cheese Cheese Explorer's Club

View on Murrayscheese.com

The Cheesemonger’s Picks club comes with three to four cheeses and is available via 3-, 6-, or 12-month subscriptions, depending on how much you want to spend. The cheese arrives in pristine condition, with each one wrapped in Murray’s emblazoned paper.

Really Great Vanilla

Heilala Vanilla Bean Paste

$16 at Amazon $16 at Walmart View on Heilalavanilla.com

Great vanilla extract is…expensive. Which also makes it an excellent gift. Heilala’s vanilla bean pasta has more vanilla bean seeds than most other brands, and they even have a vanilla extract packed with flecks of seeds!

Hazelnut Chocolate Greatness

Guido Gobino Classic Giandujotto Chocolate Bag

View on Giadzy.com

My local wine shop sells these giandujotto chocolates by the piece near the checkout counter and I always grab a handful. They literally melt in your mouth and are so wonderfully hazelnutty. For any of my friends reading this, buy me a bag! (Please?!)

Another Aperitif Option

Figlia Fiore Non-Alcoholic Apertif

View on Bignightbk.com

Less bitter than Ghia, but no less delicious, Figlia is new to me, but I’m already nearly done with my entire bottle. For those with an aversion to bitter but who still want to wade in the non-alcoholic aperitif waters, I’d give them this to try.

Stellar Sodas

United Sodas of America Variety Pack

$29 $25 at Amazon View on Unitedsodas.com

These organic sodas come in tons of fun flavors, all of which my husband and I burned through in a week. The Blackberry Jam and Pear Elderflower were particular standouts.

Really Great Coffee

Blue Bottle Coffee Winter Single Origin

View on Bluebottlecoffee.com

I have a subscription to Blue Bottle’s single-origin coffee and getting it in the mail is one of the best times of the month. I’m intrigued by this holiday option, which is billed as floral and fruity and with notes of blueberry jam.

A Coffee Advent Calendar

Onyx Coffee Lab Advent Calendar

View on Onyxcoffeelab.com $189 at Food52

This advent calendar opens up like a book and contains 24 bags of coffee. I was lucky enough to receive a press sample of it and burned through my whole advent calendar in October. It was excellent then, but would be an equal delight to open up all December long.

An Oyster Subscription

Real Oyster Cult Monthly Membership

View on Realoystercult.com

Yeah, yeah oysters aren’t pantry items. So sue me! But this subscription’s too good not to include. The family-owned business in Duxbury, MA sources some of the freshest bivalves around. (Their caviar’s great, too.)

Great Flakey Salt

Nordur Salt Arctic Sea Salt Flakes

$18 at Amazon

I love Maldon as much as the next gal, but my sister bought me this Nordur salt back from Iceland and I’ve already stocked up on another tin. It has a finer texture that I really enjoy.

Bags of Beans

A Dozen Cousins Seasoned Microwave Beans Variety Pack

$25 $23 at Amazon

In the realm of offbeat gifts, bags of beans fit in. While I love cooking my own beans, some nights are too hectic for much of anything. A Dozen Cousins beans are flavorful and very hearty atop rice. All you have to do is pop them in the microwave and that’s that.

Demedici Dijon Mustard Bucket

View on Bignightbk.com

A literal bucket of mustard is unexpected to be sure. But also delicious! And adorable! Tie a bow on the bucket and your gift’s done.

Next-Level Hot Cocoa

Diaspora Co. Hot Cocoa

View on Diasporaco.com

Made with jaggery, this caramelly, rich hot cocoa is worth every penny. Also: that tin! It doesn’t need any wrapping.

Truly Great Maple Syrup

Runamok Sugarmaker's Cut Maple Syrup

$23 at Amazon $15 at Sur La Table View on Runamokmaple.com

This Vermont maple syrup is some of the best I’ve ever had. And I live in New England, so that’s high praise. Smaller bottles of it are available for those looking to keep their gift around $20.

FAQs

What food gifts are best for beginner cooks? 

A beginner cook can surely use a good bottle of olive oil. We also have this gift guide dedicated to cooking gifts for beginners.

What are the best mail-order food gifts? 

Any of the above gifts can be ordered by mail, be it a one-off bottle of vanilla extract or a cheese subscription.

Why We're the Experts

• Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm is the senior commerce editor at Serious Eats.
• Riddley's reviewed kitchen equipment professionally for more than five years and previously worked at America's Test Kitchen and Food52.