The short answer: most Asian cooking runs on a small core of pantry staples. For Japanese food that means dashi, miso and soy sauce. Chinese cooking leans on soy, hoisin, five-spice and chili oil. Korean food is built on gochugaru, gochujang and doenjang. Thai cooking relies on curry paste, fish sauce and lemongrass, and Vietnamese on fish sauce, rice paper and fresh herbs. Stock three to five staples for the cuisine you cook most, then branch out. This guide breaks each region down so you know what to buy first and why.
You can browse everything in one place in our Asian Ingredients collection, or jump straight to a region below.
A few ingredients cross nearly every regional border. Get these first and you can cook a surprising amount before buying anything region-specific:
Japanese cooking is built on umami, the savory depth that comes from fermented and dried ingredients. The backbone is dashi, a quick stock traditionally made from kombu (kelp) and bonito flakes. Most home cooks start with an instant dashi like Hondashi, which turns miso soup, simmered dishes and noodle broths into weeknight cooking.
Miso is the second pillar, and color matters. White (shiro) miso is fermented briefly and runs around 6% salt, so it tastes mild and slightly sweet. Red (aka) miso ages for a year or more and runs closer to 12% salt, which gives it a deeper, punchier flavor. Regional taste follows the same split: the Kansai region around Kyoto and Osaka favors white miso, while the Kanto region around Tokyo leans red. If you only buy one, start with white miso for soups and dressings; add red miso for glazes and heartier braises.
Round out the shelf with Japanese curry roux such as Golden Curry flakes, plus mirin, sake and short-grain rice.
Chinese cooking covers huge regional range, from the sweet-savory Cantonese style to the numbing heat of Sichuan. A few sauces do most of the work. Hoisin sauce brings sweet, fermented-soybean depth to glazes, stir-fries and dipping sauces. Five-spice powder (usually star anise, clove, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and fennel) is the signature seasoning for roast pork and braised meats.
For Sichuan flavor, chili crisp has become a pantry staple well beyond China. Fly By Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp is a good example: spoon it over noodles, eggs, dumplings or rice. A tip if you buy Sichuan peppercorns: the tingling flavor lives in the husk, not the black seed inside, so pick out any seeds you find. Doubanjiang, a fermented broad bean and chili paste, is what gives mapo tofu its color and depth. For an all-in-one shortcut, San-J Szechuan cooking sauce covers a fast stir-fry.
Korean cooking rests on three fermented or chili-based staples, often called the jang and the flakes:
Mix doenjang and gochujang together and you have ssamjang, the classic dipping sauce for Korean barbecue lettuce wraps. For a deeper look at how the pastes differ, see our guide to miso vs doenjang vs gochujang.
Thai food balances sweet, sour, salty and spicy in almost every dish. Curry paste is the fastest route there: a spoonful fried in coconut milk becomes a full curry in minutes. Green curry paste and Thai Kitchen green curry paste are both easy starting points.
Fish sauce supplies the salty backbone (more on choosing a good one below). Add coconut milk, palm sugar, lime and lemongrass, and you can cover curries, tom yum, larb and stir-fried basil dishes.
Vietnamese cooking is lighter and more herb-driven than its neighbors, and fish sauce is the one non-negotiable ingredient. The best fish sauces list only anchovies and salt on the label. Red Boat Premium Fish Sauce is made that way; a more economical everyday fish sauce works well for marinades and cooking.
Keep rice paper wrappers on hand for fresh spring rolls, along with rice noodles, rice vinegar, and fresh mint, cilantro and Thai basil. Mix fish sauce, lime, sugar, garlic and chili and you have nuoc cham, the dipping sauce that goes with almost everything.
| Cuisine | Buy First | Add Next | Signature Dish It Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | Dashi, white miso, soy sauce | Red miso, mirin, curry roux | Miso soup, Japanese curry |
| Chinese | Soy sauce, hoisin, five-spice | Chili crisp, doubanjiang | Char siu, mapo tofu |
| Korean | Gochugaru, gochujang | Doenjang, toasted sesame oil | Kimchi, bibimbap |
| Thai | Curry paste, fish sauce, coconut milk | Lemongrass, palm sugar | Green curry, tom yum |
| Vietnamese | Fish sauce, rice paper | Rice noodles, rice vinegar | Spring rolls, nuoc cham |
Soy sauce, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, fresh ginger and garlic, and a chili product form the shared base. From there, add dashi and miso for Japanese cooking, hoisin and five-spice for Chinese, gochugaru and gochujang for Korean, curry paste and fish sauce for Thai, and fish sauce and rice paper for Vietnamese.
White miso ferments for a short time and has around 6% salt, so it is mild and slightly sweet. Red miso ages for a year or longer and runs around 12% salt, giving it a stronger, deeper flavor. White suits soups and dressings; red suits glazes and hearty braises.
No. Gochujang is a sweet, spicy fermented chili paste. Doenjang is a fermented soybean paste with no chili, closer to miso but saltier and sharper. Mixed together they make ssamjang, the Korean barbecue dipping sauce.
Read the label. The best fish sauces list only anchovies and salt. Added sugar, hydrolyzed protein or MSG usually signal a lower-grade product. Premium first-press sauces work well for dipping sauces; everyday bottles are fine for marinades and cooking.
Unopened soy sauce, fish sauce and vinegar keep for a long time in the pantry. Once opened, fermented pastes such as miso, gochujang and doenjang should be refrigerated and sealed, where they keep for months. Always check the manufacturer's best-by date on the package.
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