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Our Staff Picks: Favorite Ingredients We Always Keep in Our Home Kitchens

If you've ever wondered what ingredients our team can't live without, you're in for a treat! At Sweet Basil, our love for food doesn't stop at the restaurant door. These are the must-have staples we always keep stocked in our home kitchens, whether we're cooking classic Thai and Lao dishes or adding a little extra flavor to everyday meals.


Here are a few of our go-to favorites:


This dipping sauce is becoming just as popular as Sriracha in many ways! Great as a dressing for salads, a dipping sauce for fried appetizers, or a wing sauce - Thai Sweet Chili sauce is a must-have in our pantry arsenal. Our favorite thing to make is an “Egg Roll Salad” where you chop up some fresh green leaf lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, cilantro, add in some cooked vermicelli noodles (cooked and cooled) or crispy wonton strips, and your protein of choice. We recommend shrimp! Then use the Thai Sweet Chili sauce as the dressing for the salad. 


For an elevated Egg Roll Salad, we recommend slicing fully cooked eggrolls into slices then topping the salad with them as “croutons” - it’s amazing! 




Umami magic in a bottle! A splash of fish sauce brings depth and saltiness to so many dishes. We use it in everything from marinades for steak and meats to stir-fries. You can use it in place of vinegar in most dishes flavor-wise. Add a splash to your ramen noodles or soups for a depth of flavor. Or even sprinkle it on top of white rice or fried rice for that extra flavor boost. Fish sauce is extremely underrated and is even keto-friendly, paleo, whole 30, gluten-free and sugar-free. 



Click to buy: Red Boat Fish Sauce


Palm sugar adds a rich, mellow sweetness that's distinct from regular white sugar. It’s our secret weapon for balancing out the spicy, sour, and salty notes in Thai cooking. The sugar comes in tablespoon sized disks and can be broken up into sugary granules. 



Tamarind is a tropical fruit with a sweet-sour taste, commonly used in cooking and beverages. It comes from a tree of the legume family and is known for its unique flavor profile.


Tamarind paste brings that iconic tang to dishes like Pad Thai and various dipping sauces. It’s one of those pantry staples we always want within reach because it’s a versatile paste that can be kept in your fridge and used in many ways. You can add it to your noodle dishes, use it as a syrup for sweetening drinks, add it to a marinade, create dipping sauces and chutneys with it, and more! This is how we flavor a lot of our vegan and gluten-free dishes, as this is made of pure tamarinds! The ingredient is also gluten-free and offers various health benefits, including aiding digestion, boosting the immune system, and promoting cardiovascular health. It's also a source of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds, and nutrients like vitamin C and magnesium. 


Tamarind paste’s consistency reminds us of melted chocolate sauce lol 


Click to buy: Tamarind Paste


5. Frozen Ramen Mix-Ins

In our freezer, we always have “Ramen Mix” - it’s a sandwich sized ziploc bag filled with a mixture of shrimp, sliced cabbage, sliced mushrooms, thinly sliced seaweed strips or sliced green onions, sliced imitation crab and ramen fishcakes. Whenever we make instant ramen, we grab one of these bags from the freezer and dump it into the pot. Taking boring instant ramen one step closer to a real ramen experience, while still keeping the convenience. 


We gather the ingredients we want for our ramen mix and prepare it in advance (probably once every month or two). We’ll slice up the imitation crab, vegetables, and divide the shrimp and fish cakes into individual portions. Place a bit of each into the sandwich baggies and store them all in the freezer. It requires a little bit of prep but it’s so worth it on busy nights or even cold rainy nights when you’re feeling instant noodles! 


The best part about this is you can switch up the ingredients to your liking and portion preferences. If you need more protein, you can easily add more seafood or even cooked and diced chicken. If you prefer corn instead of cabbage, you can easily swap those. And if you don’t like seaweed or green onions, you can omit it from your ramen mix-ins. 



Bringing Sweet Basil Flavors Home

Some of these ingredients are the backbone of the dishes we’re proud to share at Sweet Basil MKE - and they’re staples in our home kitchens too. If you’re ready to try your hand at making some of your favorite Thai and Lao flavors at home, these essentials are the perfect place to start!


Happy cooking! 🍲


-The Sweet Basil Family


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