12 Fall Seasonings And Spices You Need In Your Pantry

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It may not cool down for a while, but it's never too early to start planning for fall. In the past, this consisted of filling the cellar with preserved goods, chopping and stacking firewood, and sealing drafts. Now, all we need to do is decide when it's no longer too early for pumpkin spice season to begin and start stocking up on the warm spices and seasonings our taste buds expect once the temperature begins to drop. Not all autumnal spices are meant for pumpkins, so we included all flavors of the fall in our list. This includes savory, earthy spices to turn your dinner into a harvest feast, and sweet, warm seasonings to add to oatmeal, coffee, and dessert to brighten up the darker days. 

You may have some of these already, but now is the time to go through your spice rack and check the harvest dates. No one wants to wake their family with the smells of a cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven that ends up barely tasting of cinnamon. People have many thoughts on when spices expire — some say pre-ground should get tossed after six months and whole after 10 months; others say one year and three years, respectively. Spices don't go bad; they just lose their flavor. To ensure the spice is fresh, rub a bit in the palm of your hand and sniff. If the scent is still strong, it will be good for heavy use this fall.

Sweet, herbal, and aromatic, cardamom is one of the big stars of the cozy season. The little green pods are full of black seeds and are an integral part of many masala chai recipes. In whole pod form, cardamom is easy to drop into hot drinks as they steep and then remove. The ground cardamom can be added to your coffee grounds before brewing for an aromatic cup. The most affordable source for cardamom is often your local Indian market.

A four-ounce bag of whole cardamom pods from The Spice Way is on Amazon for $11.99.

Black cardamom is dried over an open fire to give it a smoky, earthy taste. The slight menthol undertone of its relative, green cardamom, is still there. Read more on the differences between the two cardamoms here. Toss some pods in your soup to give it a deep, hearty flavor. Add the crushed seeds of one black cardamom pod to your chai to bring a complex woodiness to the drink.

Rani brand black cardamom runs $7.99 for 50 grams on Amazon, but you can also check any Indian market near you.

A cornerstone of pumpkin pie spice, eggnog, and béchamel, nutmeg is best kept whole and microplaned when needed. Pre-ground, it can lose its flavor fast. Not a nut, it's actually the seed of an apricot-like stone fruit from Africa and Indonesia. Grate a bit of nutmeg on top of a mocha or hot chocolate for an easy indulgence. You can garnish most rum drinks with a fresh grating to bring out a warm sweetness.

A small jar of whole nutmeg grown in Tanzania from Burlap & Barrel, a specialty spice retailer known for single-origin sourcing, runs $9.99.

Take advantage of the strong, spicy scent of cloves by sticking them into oranges to make your home smell like the season. Cloves are full of eugenol, the chemical that gives the spice its strong smell and overpowering taste, as well as its medicinal and preservative properties. Be careful when cooking with whole cloves – a little bit goes a long way! Don't put too much in your pumpkin spice lattes, hot toddies, or mulled wine.

Penzey's sells a 1/4 cup jar of whole Ceylon cloves for $6.49 on its website.

Cinnamon can be split into two basic types: Ceylon or cassia. Ceylon cinnamon is rarer and is worth seeking out to keep on hand for its subtler, more vanilla-forward taste. Many store-bought cinnamons can have unhealthy levels of lead and are subject to limited federal oversight, so buy it from a trusted source. Whole cinnamon quills work well in drinks, but they can be hard to grind, making pre-ground a reasonable option.

Burlap and Barrel's Ceylon cinnamon is $9.99 for a 23-gram jar; it tests its cinnamon for lead in an accredited food lab.

Vietnamese cinnamon, also known as Saigon cinnamon, falls under the cassia type and is more common in the U.S. If a jar doesn't specify, it's most likely cassia. This is the potent, sweet, spicy flavor we expect from cinnamon due to its higher levels of cinnamaldehyde. This holds up well in spice mixes and is commonly used in pumpkin pie, ice cream, and in a gooey, slow-cooked cinnamon roll. Again, with cinnamon, make sure you purchase the spice from a trusted brand.

Consumer Reports approved Penzeys Spices' 0.7-ounce jar of Vietnamese cinnamon powder for $6.69.

Ginger brings a distinctive bite to any dish or drink. Fresh ginger has a sweet, complex, citrusy flavor that goes well in tea (on its own or with other teas and spices) and is a welcome addition to many fall soups, like this recipe for carrot ginger soup. Ground and dried, ginger loses some of its complexity but its peppery burn is heightened.

Depending on where you live, you can find fresh ginger at Whole Foods for around $4 per pound, or dried ginger from Amazon for $3.99 for 43 grams.

Not every fall spice goes in pumpkin pie. Sage's herbaceous and earthy flavor evokes harvest feasts with giant turkeys as a centerpiece. The herb dries well, as the flavor becomes concentrated — you can replace fresh sage with about a third of the amount of dried sage. And, yes, it does actually go well with pumpkin in savory dishes. Give our recipe for a pumpkin and pumpkin seeds pasta dish with sage a try!

365 brand ground sage is for sale on Amazon for $2.99.

Made from both sweet and spicy peppers roasted over an open fire for a smoky depth, smoked paprika brings a heavy, earthy flavor perfect for cold nights. Douse your potatoes with the bright reddish-orange powder for a strong, savory breakfast. Flavor rich stews for a hearty meal to keep you warm at night. The color even matches the falling leaves outside. Of course, smoked isn't the only style — learn about the three main types of paprika in our guide.

Smoked Spanish Paprika from Penzeys is smoked over an oak fire in the traditional method and costs $6.95.

A key component of Chinese five spice powder — a warming seasoning blend that can be a delicious replacement for pumpkin spice — star anise brings warm, earthy, licorice notes. This sweet spice is the dried fruit of the star anise tree and consists of pods with seeds radiating out from a central point like a star. A couple of them in mulled wine adds a depth of flavor and can be left in the mug for a festive look.

Pick up a 14-ounce bag of whole star anise pods from Spicy World on Amazon for $12.99.

Ironically, rosemary — an herb that thrives in the dry heat of the Mediterranean — is perhaps one of the most essential flavors when the weather turns colder. This piney herb is used to flavor meats, roasted veggies, and stocks. Don't use it just in savory dishes, though; tuck a sprig into your apple pie or poach pears in a rosemary syrup. Dried rosemary is more concentrated and woody in taste. A teaspoon of dried rosemary can be used for every tablespoon of fresh.

Amazon sells dried rosemary leaves for $2.99 for a 35 gram jar.

Dried berries with flavors reminiscent of cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and nutmeg, allspice is a versatile seasoning representing a large swath of the spice rack to use all fall long. It's understandable if you mistake allspice for the name of a seasoning blend, but Europeans called it that because of how the taste calls to many other similar spices. The spice works in desserts and savory dishes alike and is a core ingredient for Jamaican jerk seasoning.

You can find a five-ounce bag of allspice berries from Spicy World on Amazon for $7.74.