The Overlooked Pantry Ingredient Guy Fieri Can't Live Without

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Guy Fieri is our source for some of the best cooking tips for home chefs, but one of his favorite pantry staples is what Fieri would dub a "whammy" on "Guy's Grocery Games." Powdered chicken stock may be a head-scratcher of an ingredient, but Fieri swears by it for delivering big flavor fast. While regular chicken stock, either store-bought or homemade, only lasts so long after opening, the powdered stuff lasts almost indefinitely ... or, at least, its expiration is a moot point considering how fast Fieri uses it up. He praises it for its ability to impart umami and sodium to almost any dish that needs it, while delivering a clean, pure chicken flavor that's richer than chicken bouillon cubes, which are often flavored with the addition of herbs and spices.

If you haven't seen powdered chicken stock at your regular grocery store, you might want to check an Asian market. If you don't have one close, you can also buy popular brand Lee Kum Kee chicken bouillon powder on Amazon and have it delivered right to your door. You'll quickly find that an untapped world of flavor is hiding in that humble can of fine yellow powder. Oh, and it also takes up a lot less storage space than cartons of store-bought stock or the homemade stuff stashed in your freezer. Even better, just one or two spoonfuls is all you need to add a new dimension of flavor to savory dishes, often in ways that you wouldn't necessarily expect.

For a meaty kick that will awaken your taste buds, sprinkle a spoonful of chicken powder into your rice cooker. You can even add a bit to your mashed potatoes. The resulting taste doesn't necessarily scream "chicken," but, in small doses, will add a salty, rounded umami flair that brings boring starches to life. Of course, if a chicken-y taste is desired, adding more powder will likely get you to Fieri's famous Flavortown. Any dish that has a savory broth or sauce, such as chicken pot pie, stir fry, or risotto, will surely benefit from powdered chicken stock. You can also use it as a rub on meats or sprinkled in small amounts over veggies in the place of salt for a flavor enhancer that still carries sodium, but with even more savory notes.

It stands to reason that you can also use chicken powder as a shortcut to making chicken broth, either for use in cooking or for plain sipping. While store-bought stock can often be bland and flat, requiring a fish sauce upgrade, the broth from powdered stock is more likely to be hearty and flavorful. When someone is sick in your household, doesn't it seem like there's never any chicken soup available? With the powdered stock, nourishing and delicious broth is only as far away as a hot water source. Once you start playing around with this ingredient, you'll find more and more uses and get to wondering how you ever got by without it.