The Three Foods Tieghan Gerard Always Has In Her Pantry During The Fall - Exclusive

No matter how many pantry items you have, you may find you're still missing some recipe essentials — especially for seasonal dishes. Since the holidays are approaching, we turned to the creator of Half-Baked Harvest, Tieghan Gerard, to find out exactly which ingredients you need to buy this season. In an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, the recipe blogger revealed how much she loves pumpkin, apples, and spices in the fall — in both sweet and savory ways — so they're part of her pantry essentials at this time of year.

For instance, pumpkin pizza and pumpkin pie are two great pleasures of fall cooking, so it's a no-brainer that you'll need canned pumpkin stocked in your pantry if you want to make them. "A can of pumpkin is essential, but honestly, I don't have to have it," Gerard explained. "I would do something like apple butter [or] apple cider." The social media personality advised grabbing apple butter from your main grocers like Whole Foods or Kroger, though you can also make homemade apple butter for yourself.

Of course, canned pumpkin and apple products are two main fall flavors, but Tieghan Gerard recommends keeping a few other items in your cabinets. She told us, "You want to keep your spices stocked, like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, all those really warming spices that can create a fall dish, sweet or savory." Other spices like cardamom, thyme, parsley, and orange peel are also great additions to your spice rack — especially when it comes to wholesome fall comfort foods like stews and soups.

Cinnamon can be thrown into any food from pancakes to apples to lattes, which makes it a solid go-to for cozy season. Gerard recommends making tasty dessert recipes such as pumpkin bread, brown sugar maple cookies, and baked apple cider donuts to really get that feeling of fall. As you add these pantry staples to your next grocery list, make sure to check out any other fall recipes you're planning on making to see if there's anything else you're going to need to keep on hand for the next few months.

You can now order Half-Baked Harvest recipes on the Home Chef website. The "Nine Favorite Fall Things" giveaway will be available to enter on September 13 at 12 p.m. CT. Keep up with Tieghan Gerard's latest recipes on her Instagram page.