13 Ingredients Guy Fieri Swears By

Anyone who has watched the Food Network at any point during the past decade is probably familiar with TV chef Guy Fieri. Loved for his down-to-earth takes on fast food, Fieri has been a staple of the Food Network since his first show premiered way back in 2006. He's only grown since then, both in popularity and prestige, now owning multiple restaurants. Fieri even hosted a huge 2024 Super Bowl tailgate party, complete with high-profile attendees like Gordon Ramsay.

Fieri hasn't taken any shortcuts to get where he is now, either. Over the years, Fieri has dispensed countless cooking tips and tricks to live by. He's visited tons of local restaurants while on his hit show, "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." He's also written a handful of cookbooks and walked through recipes with millions of viewers on Food Network shows and social media.

As the so-called "Mayor of Flavortown," Fieri may be seen as eccentric by some thanks to his sense of style, but there's no denying his mastery of the culinary arts. He has plenty of delicious dishes to test out at home, but these ingredients are absolute necessities in Fieri's own kitchen.

Soy sauce is best known for its contribution to Asian cooking, but, depending on the type of soy sauce, it can certainly be used to enhance a multitude of meals. The salty addition is already a staple in many home chefs' kitchens, and Guy Fieri's endorsement just makes it that much more of a necessity. Fieri has said many times that he loves Asian cuisine, so it's not too surprising to hear that soy sauce is something he always keeps on hand.

"If I had to pick one thing that I couldn't live without, it'd probably be soy sauce," Fieri told Today Food back in 2019. The chef frequently features soy sauce in his recipes, with green beans being a common pairing. Fieri even revealed to the Daily Meal that he used it the first time he ever made dinner, cooking up a simple steak with soy sauce.

Whether it's for Asian-inspired dishes, simply acting as a marinade, or making soy sauce-based desserts, it's a powerhouse in the kitchen. You don't necessarily need to get the top-shelf, popular soy sauce brands, either. Soy sauce has a powerful taste, meaning that even grocery store branded soy sauce can be a boon in the kitchen. In Fieri's kitchen, that goes double.

Chicken powder is a simple ingredient that many people can easily overlook. It's available at most grocery stores, but can be overshadowed by the more recognizable chicken bouillon. However, to Guy Fieri, chicken powder might be the most useful ingredient home chefs can stock. During an interview with Food & Wine, Fieri proselytized the powder as a flavor enhancer for just about anything, saying, "Powdered chicken stock doesn't go bad ... It enhances flavor. A little tablespoon will elevate the regular everyday jasmine rice to the next level."

Not many people have heard of chicken powder, or they are much more familiar with its cousin, chicken bouillon. Luckily, Fieri went on to say that chicken bouillon could be used in place of chicken powder. The most important difference between chicken stock and chicken bouillon is the fact that chicken bouillon comes pre-seasoned with spices or even mirepoix vegetables. This makes it a bit difficult to control the spices in your meal if you're using bouillon. Regardless of which you use, this Fieri secret ingredient will punch up just about any dish.

Fried chicken is a favorite food for millions of people, and Guy Fieri stands among them, staunchly advocating for delicious fried chicken. Given the number of fried chicken tips, tricks, and recipes he's promoted, he's in a good position to do so. One such piece of advice involves the batter for fried chicken. Fieri advises taking care to choose your ingredients when breading and frying chicken, as he explained in an Instagram clip from "Best Bite in Town," there's a "canvas of flavor" to be enjoyed. To that end, rather than using standard milk, Fieri always fries up chicken using rich buttermilk as part of the dip and dredge chicken frying method he uses.

The buttermilk helps give the chicken a nice, crisp crust. Adding in other ingredients is a good idea too, as the chicken will need to marinate in the buttermilk for somewhere between 4 and 24 hours. Of course, the longer the marinating time, the better the flavor, but even a 4-hour wait will deliver plenty of punch. Fieri calls for things such as pickle juice, paprika, and other common spices to help further enhance the taste, but the buttermilk is a non-negotiable addition to any decent fried chicken.

Guy Fieri is known for adding a little extra oomph to all of his dishes, so it's no surprise that his fried chicken recipe has yet another secret ingredient that many people would never think to add to their own fried chicken: pickle salt. Now, it's known that just about any flavor can be added to salt to make a dish even more flavorful than normal, but pickle salt isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of unique seasonings.

Pickle salt is something that Fieri has recommended for his fried chicken recipe on Food Network's website and a few Instagram features, though he promises that this fried chicken recipe won't make everything taste like pickles. The slight flavors of sour and salty pair perfectly with the crispy fried dough and the juicy umami of the chicken. For those who want to add a little kick to their chicken without going too spicy, pickle salt might be the jumpstart flavor they're looking for. At least, Fieri seems to think so!

Some ingredients are always a surprising addition to a dish or marinade, and anchovies can certainly be an unexpected inclusion. Take, for instance, the fact that Worcestershire sauce is made using the fish. Guy Fieri understands that the depth of flavor found in many sauces are thanks to the anchovies that are included. He's said as much on the Food Network before, specifically lamenting that, "Anchovies don't get enough respect." He explained that the fish adds a saltiness along with that depth of flavor found in Worcestershire sauce. "They're great to work with in Italian dishes," Fieri said, encouraging chefs everywhere to think a little outside the box.

As anyone who's ever ordered a pizza knows, anchovies can be a divisive ingredient, but when integrated into sauces, marinades, and pasta, the flavor is tempered significantly. In one of Fieri's top-rated recipes on Food Network for anchovy bucatini, he instructs viewers to cook chopped anchovies until they essentially melt into the hot oil, leaving behind only a rich umami taste for the red bell peppers to absorb.

Guy Fieri may not don his flaming shirt often these days, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't still swear by hot sauce. Plenty of people rely on hot sauce for their daily meals, and Fieri himself has a number of recipes that call for it, including his fried chicken. However, the ingredient is a surprising must-have for Fieri when he's eating garlic bread. When he makes garlic bread, he not only adds hot sauce to the mix before baking, but also drizzles some on top just before taking that first bite.

Like him, it's a bit eccentric to add hot sauce to garlic bread, but it makes total sense. The buttery bread and sharp garlic flavor pair incredibly well with a tangy and spicy hot sauce. It's certainly worth trying, since most people already have hot sauce in their fridge. Regardless, Fieri isn't going to give up hot sauce as a household staple anytime soon.

Mashed potatoes are a classic dish for millions of people. Whether the mashed potatoes are heavy on the butter or come loaded with extras is completely up to the chef, as they can be easily customized to suit every palette. Well, most palettes. Not everyone will agree with Guy Fieri on this one, but he adds a kick to his recipe for mashed potatoes by mixing in wasabi powder! Wasabi, also known as Japanese horseradish, brings a spicy heat to any dish, so it's one of the most unique ingredients anyone would even think to add to mashed potatoes.

That being said, home chefs who can't get enough heat from their food will probably agree with Fieri on adding wasabi powder to their mashed potatoes. There are plenty of examples of the recipe being tested, and it has a 5-star rating on Food Network as of this writing. Clearly, even Fieri's more unusual combinations are packed with flavor that people love.

Not many people would guess this, but Guy Fieri actually really loves to cook and eat vegan food. This is likely because he grew up with a mostly vegetarian diet. He also learned to cook some seriously delicious vegan meals for his sister when she was battling metastatic melanoma. When you mix Fieri's style with vegan cooking, his recipes make vegan dishes much more flavorful than a lot of counterparts available to the public.

His veggie burgers are famous for using a wide variety of ingredients and ending up just as tasty as regular beef burgers. Although he has a few vegan and veggie burger recipes, his March 2025 interview with Food & Wine revealed some of his top vegan cooking tips, including what he prefers to keep in his kitchen for eating meat-free meals. Fieri said that mixing quinoa with brown rice was his go-to move for creating an excellent veggie burger, but that's far from the only way he utilizes the healthy grain. "Quinoa is my baby — quinoa hot, quinoa cold," Fieri told Food & Wine. "So nutty, has a little pop, I put it on top of salads for crunch."

One of the toughest parts about going from a carnivorous diet to a vegan one is removing eggs from the kitchen. They seem to go in every recipe! Luckily, Guy Fieri has spent plenty of time experimenting with vegetarian and vegan cooking, thanks to his sister, who loved to challenge him to make tasty vegan food.

His go-to replacement for eggs? Flaxseed, surprisingly enough. He advises soaking them in a 3:1 ratio of water to seeds. This, Fieri explained to Food & Wine in 2025, "Creates a phlegm ... It's the ultimate binder." In most recipes, that's exactly why eggs are called for — to bind ingredients together. By using flaxseed instead, it's easy to get cohesive batters even while skipping out on the eggs. Flaxseed is so highly regarded by Fieri that he called it, "The greatest hack to not using eggs."

While it's a bit of a surprising piece of advice, when it comes to cooking vegan dishes, flaxseed is one of Fieri's greatest weapons. You can usually find flaxseed at the grocery store, and there are plenty of other delicious ways to use flaxseed in the kitchen.

Despite his stylish, albeit unique, appearance and high-profile life as a celebrity chef, Guy Fieri comes from humble roots. He spoke to Food & Wine in 2025 about growing up with "hippie parents" and how that naturally made him pick up some habits and preferences that he can't put down. As an adult, he still falls back on snacks he had growing up, and that includes what he calls, "hippie dust," otherwise known as nutritional yeast. This might sound a bit off-putting to anyone who has never tried it, but it's something Fieri stands by. Fieri described the taste as, "nutty, cheesy, awesome" and swears on it as a topping for all kinds of snacks. From cashews to popcorn and anything else that could use a helping of savory flavor, Fieri loves his "hippie dust."

Aside from Fieri's endorsement, nutritional yeast has a lot going for it. It's a great way to add vitamin B12 to a meal, something that many vegans and vegetarians whose diets typically lack plant-based sources of vitamin B12 will be pleased to hear. If you haven't tried it yet, it may be worthwhile to accept Fieri's advice and try nutritional yeast on your next bowl of popcorn!

Veggies aren't everyone's favorite things, though some vegetables are more vilified than others, such as broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. One simple trick to making veggies taste better is to try grilling or roasting them. Guy Fieri definitely knows his way around a grill, and he has never curbed his enthusiasm based on others' opinions alone, so the fact that one of his favorite vegetables is Brussels sprouts is far from shocking.

Talking to Today Food, Fieri admitted that two things he couldn't live without were soy sauce and Brussels sprouts. According to Fieri, Brussels sprouts are very versatile, and can be served on their own or as a delicious addition to salads. Plus, braising them is easy and there are a ton of different marinades that work well with the veggie. His recipes take full advantage of Brussels sprouts, too. On their own, paired with pancetta and capers, Brussels sprouts can make for a seriously tasty meal. Even shaved Brussels sprouts can impress, as Fieri showed off with his shaved Brussels sprouts with walnuts and pecorino recipe.

Certain cuts of meat are better for certain dishes. This is something that many home chefs know, but even with this knowledge it can be tough to know what to grab at the store before trying out a new recipe. From cubed beef to flank steaks and everything in between, there are a lot of options to parse through! Even when considering how to punch-up traditional recipes, it can be difficult to figure out what should be changed.

Guy Fieri has weighed in on plenty of classics, but his chili recipes rely on one distinctive ingredient: coarse ground beef. Experts are well aware of the benefits of choosing the right type of ground beef for a given recipe. Even Shake Shack's top chef has said that highly coarse beef is better for recipes that need large chunks of beef, rather than something like a burger. Getting coarse ground beef is just a matter of making a request to your butcher, so it's easy to stock up on. Sure, it may be easier to skip the extra step, but Fieri swears that this is one of the keys to the absolute best bowl of chili.

Slow cookers and pressure cookers have made it easy to cook large chunks of meat until they are tear-apart tender for the better part of the last hundred years, yet some cuts are better than others. When it comes to cooking on a budget, Guy Fieri recommends turning to a delicious cut that most people enjoy: pork butt.

Perfect for pulled pork sandwiches, traditional Cuban dishes, and more, pork butts offer fatty, flavorful dishes that melt in your mouth. Even if all the meat gets is salt and pepper before going into the oven, Fieri says you'll get some delicious pulled pork. He mentions that usually you can get plenty of leftovers out of a pork butt too, making it easy to have pulled pork sandwiches, enchiladas, and meaty red sauces using just one large pork butt.

Plus, it's easy to cook a pork butt with just a standard oven. Of course, his own pork butt recipes come with a healthy helping of seasonings and vegetables, making the cut of meat seem like so much more than a budgeting decision.