These simple ingredients have transformative qualities. They can introduce sweet, savoury or aromatic notes, and ultimately turn a mundane dish into a showstopper. Here are some of our favourite basic ingredients that every cook should have and how to use them.

This versatile vinegar can add sweet and sour notes to a variety of dishes and extra depth of flavour to dressings and marinades. It also varies in taste and intensity depending on its quality and how long it has been aged for. Remember, a little goes a long way – just a few drops or a drizzle is all that’s required.

Balsamic vinegar brings a notable tang to steak sauces and is a flavourful addition to creamy soups. It can also be made into a delicious, sticky glaze for salads and it'll work particularly well with other big flavours, like sweet strawberries, savoury blue cheese and nutty walnuts. If you've got a sweet tooth, try it as a punchy topping for strawberries and cream or drizzle over ice cream.

Balsamic vinegar can work miracles on meat, especially when paired with a few other ingredients that help tenderise it while it's marinating. In this recipe, balsamic vinegar is mixed with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and rosemary to flavour the lamb steaks that are then served with artichokes and cabbage.

Get the recipe for lamb steaks with artichokes and cabbage here

Little in size but big on flavour, capers are salted, pickled flower buds commonly found in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African cooking. They bring an aromatic and salty flavour, working particularly well when added to light chicken or fish dishes. They're also great in salad dressings that need to be punchy but not fiery.

Learn more about capers with our handy guide

Capers are essential for salsa verde, a gorgeous green sauce that livens up meat, fish and salads. You'll need them to balance out the buttery sauce that's served with a chicken piccata too. Their sharpness means they're a staple ingredient in tartare sauce, the perfect accompaniment for British favourite fish and chips.

Both white fish like lemon sole and meaty fish like monkfish benefit from the tangy saltiness of capers, but added to slightly fatty meat, they work miracles. In this recipe, capers are part of a salsa verde, that's generously drizzled over roast leg of lamb. The sharp, salty and savoury flavours of the salsa verde are perfect to cut through the meat.

Get the recipe for roast lamb with salsa verde here

The dried seeds and flesh of chillies are an indispensable store cupboard item that can be used to infuse recipes with warmth and spice. How much you add depends on how much heat you can handle, but even a small pinch will give a potentially underwhelming dish the kick it needs.

Gone are the days when chilli was just for savoury dishes. Now it’s as likely to be found in chocolate, sprinkled on a sweet mousse, or dusted over cocktails or smoothies. Use it to perk up all the other flavours in pizza and pasta, lift coconut or cheese-based dishes, or add zing to salads and stir-fries.

Chilli flakes make a perfect partner for eggs, which have a mild flavour and are often in need of an extra kick. They work extremely well with the mild, creamy flavour of avocado, taking this dish to a new level and perking it up with a dash of heat.

Get the recipe for sweet potato rösti with poached eggs here

Don’t get us wrong, dried herbs are worth their place in your kitchen cupboard, but for extra lift and lightness, make use of fresh ones. A sprinkling during cooking, or used as a garnish, adds a whole lot of flavour and is pleasing to the eye too. Besides, growing your own is also pretty simple with a little practice and you can often get the most common herb seeds in bigger supermarkets.

Fresh herbs are the key to finishing many a dish. Basil is the backbone of pesto and essential in a tricolore salad, coriander is central to Mexican food and many Scandinavian-inspired dishes benefit from dill. Sage or parsley turns a nice butter sauce into an exquisite one and chives will add a finishing touch to many egg-based dishes. Both savoury meat and sweet fruit salads are transformed by a few sprigs of fresh mint.

There are many recipes and ingredients that benefit from fresh herbs and this grilled skirt steak is no exception. Served with an Argentinian sauce chimichurri, the herby dressing combines fresh mint, parsley, coriander and dill with a touch of garlic, lemon, vinegar and oil. Drizzled over the steak, it's simply stunning. 

Get the recipe for skirt steak with chimichurri

Honey has been added to sweet and savoury foods for centuries, used in cooking, baking and to garnish, and it has multiple non-culinary applications too. It not only adds sweet notes to dishes, but elements of floral, fruity, grassy, smoky, spicy or woody flavours too – it all depends on the honey you choose.

Honey can be added to, and on top of, numerous dishes. Use in glazes, marinades, dressings, sauces, cakes and biscuits for a subtle sweetness. Alternatively, drizzle over creamy Camembert, a nutty Parmesan or Comté to transform cheese. It also compliments horseradish and tahini really well and is a great ingredient to lift up sticky chicken wings.

This easy, colourful dish is the perfect example of what combining sweet honey with salty soy sauce does to the overall flavours of a dish. The sugar in the honey also creates a sticky coating over the salmon that also helps mellow the fiery, zesty and spicy flavours of the dressing.

Get the recipe for sticky soy and honey roasted salmon with greens here

Hot pepper sauce, habanero sauce, chilli sauce, sriracha and Tabasco are all types of hot sauces with varying degrees of spicy intensity. You don't need a lot of these sauces to add a subtle or punchy heat and lift the flavours of a dish. Do some research before picking your sauce as it's not only the heat that varies – some are sweeter while some are more sour.

Hot sauces can be used for so much more than a drizzle on top of dishes or as a dip. Spike plain mayo with sriracha, revolutionise chocolate truffles with a teaspoon of Tabasco and lift sautéed vegetables with a dash of habanero. A couple of drops of hot sauce on fried eggs, or in maple syrup then poured over pancakes, starts the morning with a kick. A dash over vanilla ice cream or in a bloody mary creates depth of flavour where there was none before.

It's easy to assume that broccoli is a boring, tasteless vegetable, but this recipe shows it's about how and what you cook with it. The broccoli florets are roasted until the tops are almost crispy and then tossed in a spicy, sweet, umami-laden sauce that includes both Thai sweet chilli sauce and sriracha. The finished dish is then served with salted roasted peanuts, spring onion and jalapeños for even more flavour.

Get the recipe for kung pao broccoli here

Lemon is an essential ingredient among chefs and home cooks in the know. The citrus fruit lifts and brightens dishes with zingy acidity and is crucial to cut through rich or fatty foods. It also helps to bring out other flavours so it's rare that a dish wouldn't benefit from a quick squeeze of a lemon.

Take a look at our complete guide to lemons here

This yellow citrus fruit is versatile enough to be used in sweet and savoury dishes. Add at the end of cooking to sharpen a tomato sauce or rich stew or use to balance an oil-based dressing. Including citrus in a dairy-based sauce is tricky as it may curdle but it's worth it. Squeeze a little lemon juice into a warm (not hot) sauce at the end of cooking and whisk to stop the sauce splitting. Don't forget about the zest: add it to cake batter and use to garnish other desserts and drinks.

Lemon drizzle cake is an obvious classic, but lemon often really comes into its own in fish dishes. In this harissa baked fish recipe, the citrus fruit cuts through and lifts the spicy, rich harissa marinade and is also stirred through cous cous, which is otherwise rather bland, adding depth of flavour and really tying the whole dish together.

Get the recipe for harissa and lemon baked fish here

Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning made from fermented soybeans. There's a range of styles but all are a rich source of umami, that essential fifth savoury taste. A little goes a long way – its yeasty and salty flavours add depth to sauces and marinades and it's especially great for vegan dishes.

Read more about miso in our complete guide

Miso is an indispensable addition to soups, marinades, sauces and glazes – and, of course, Nobu's famous black cod with miso or miso aubergine – as it creates a fantastically complex base with mild, rich, salty or sweet flavour notes depending on the variety used. Surprisingly, it can also work wonders in desserts. Try adding to salted caramel to deepen the flavour.

Combining a light, savoury ramen broth with the intense, deep flavours of the miso cod, it really lets the fish be star of the show. Inspired by miso black cod recipes, the marinade is packed with delicious umami flavour, making it a super satisfying dish to eat.

Get the recipe for miso cod ramen here

No, we're not talking just regular table salt. Sea salt flakes are often a chef's secret weapon to adding a finishing touch and drawing out flavour in sweet and savoury dishes. Don't be shy when adding it to food, either. Most flavours benefit from a little saltiness, but you'll want to use the good stuff for this.

Sea salt flakes are mainly used as a flavour enhancer in everything from sauces and stews to bread and cakes. A sprinkling gives vegetables, meat and seafood something special, a pinch in baking strengthens gluten and encourages a golden crust, and when added to caramel or chocolate, it conjures a wonderful interplay between sweet and savoury. Add a sprinkling to steak just before serving and you'll achieve that signature steakhouse flavour.

Fudgy, gooey chocolate brownies are great already but the addition of sweet and salty dulce de leche will take them up a notch. Good-quality sea salt is stirred through the dulce de leche to create an indulgent sweet and salty flavour that's great on top of the brownies. You could also swirl it through the brownie mixture before baking but be mindful it'll alter the cooking time. Finish with a sprinkle of the sea salt flakes too.

Get the recipe for chocolate brownies with dulce de leche here

Soy sauce, made from fermented soya beans, is commonly used in Asian cuisine but is now used more and more in Western dishes too. Different varieties vary in consistency (light soy sauce is thinner than dark) but all add umami and saltiness, enhancing and balancing glazes, marinades, dressings, sauces, stir-fries, broths and soups.

As well as being used to incorporate umami savouriness into dishes, soy sauce balances salad dressings and vinaigrettes. Its natural saltiness lifts veg and cooked eggs, both of which can be bland without seasoning. Soy sauce can even be added to cakes, muffins and dough as an alternative to salt to balance sweetness. And sushi is obviously unimaginable without it.

Find great dressing ideas for salads and greens here 

This is a classic Taiwanese recipe known as three-cup chicken for a very obvious reason – it combines a cup of soy sauce, a cup of rice wine and a cup of toasted sesame oil. In this recipe it's not quite a cup of each, but the proportions are still equal, enveloping the chicken in nutty, slightly sweet, sharp and salty flavours.

Get the recipe for three-cup chicken here

Extra virgin olive oil (also known as EVOO) is an unrefined oil that, because it hasn’t been treated, retains more nutrients and a stronger, more complex flavour. It’s the highest-grade olive oil you can buy. Expect a fresh, sophisticated flavour. Remember, while olive oil is great for baking, you shouldn't really be using it for cooking as it has a relatively low smoke point.

Here's everything you wanted to know about olive oil

It's at its best when used to finish dishes as a drizzle over dips, soups, salads, pasta dishes and bread, and in dressings that require a light touch. It’s so fragrant and lightly savoury that it's great in desserts like cakes and ice creams too. For a beautiful finishing touch, drizzle some over a block of feta or homemade hummus just before serving.

Almost nowhere is extra virgin olive oil as beautiful as in pasta dishes and this recipe uses the roasting oil and the bursting tomato juices as the sauce to mop up with the pasta. Roasted with garlic and chilli, the oil is full of flavour and beautifully coats the pasta for a quick and easy dinner.

Get the recipe for roasted tomato pasta here