Bobby Flay Reveals This Surprising 'Go-To Ingredient' He Always Has On Hand!

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is joining the many celebrities who are showing off what they have in their pantries in what seems to be the hot new trend of 2022!

Flay’s pantry is, as one would expect, fully stocked and extremely organized. The “Beat Bobbly Flay” star gave an exclusive tour to Misfits Market and posted a walkthrough of his impressive pantry to his Instagram account.

In the caption, Misfits Market wrote, “Chef-in-residence Bobby Flay (@bobbyflay) knows a thing or two about a well-stocked pantry. In his own, he has all of the obvious must-haves like Italian pastas, hot sauces, and more mustards than we can count on one hand. But there are some surprising favorites in there, too. Think: curry paste, canned tomatoes, and a basic can of chickpeas that help craft easy weeknight dinners in minutes. Watch now to learn what makes Bobby’s pantry must-haves list and then let us know in the comments how your pantry measures up! #MisfitsMarket.”

So what exactly does Bobby Flay have in his pantry? Let’s find out!

Fans probably wouldn’t be too surprised to learn that the Food Network Star is a big fan of Italian food! He has “an array of dried pastas” in “different shapes, different sizes, and different flavors.”

“I buy a lot of pasta from Italy 'cause I love the flour that they use there,” he explained.“This is like, a spaghetti, we have some bucatini of course. I actually have some elbows you can use for a cool version of mac and cheese. This is some squid ink pasta, shells that I use when I'm cooking shell fish and stuff like that. It's also black pasta so it's very cool. Good flavor, a little briny.”

He also prefers canned tomatoes - specifically San Marzano Italian-style tomatoes – when he plans to make pasta sauce. However, when he is looking to whip up a quick dinner, he turns to a pre-made sauce by Simply Sugo.

“It's already made for you and then you can embellish upon it,” he explained. “If I want to eat literally in a few minutes, I throw on a pot of water, fill the pasta in there with a bunch of salt, get some tomato sauce going then I'll take out some Calabrian chilies or some crushed red peppers, fresh basil, or some oregano — or whatever kind of herbs I have — some Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and you have pasta and it's perfect.”

Flay keeps an impressive assortment of international ingredients in his pantry. In his Asian food section, he includes staples like coconut milk, soy sauce, sesame oil, and Gochujang, a fermented hot chili paste that hails from Korea.

He also loves to use red and green curry paste, which he calls a “really good pantry hack” to make a quick weeknight curry.

“Take some red curry paste, toast it in a pan, throw some coconut milk over it, and you literally will have a red curry or a green curry sauce literally in 15, 20 minutes,” he explained. “You can put it over some chicken or some grilled salmon. It has so much flavor and it's so easy.”

He also has an entire section just dedicated to chiles, especially his favorite Calabrian chilies.

“People make fun of me for using these so much, especially on ‘Beat Bobby Flay,’ but in my restaurant in Malfa, we use a ton of these,” he shared. “It adds great flavor to food.”

One of Bobby Flay’s secret ingredients is canned chickpeas! He says that he loves to use them to make his own hummus with a mix of tahini, lemon, garlic, chili, olive oil, and water.

His ultimate secret “go-to ingredient” is actually… anchovies!

“I put anchovies in so many things and people don't know it,” he confessed. “Especially when I'm cooking seafood, I crush up a bunch of anchovies, put it in the sauce. It just enhances it so much more.”

In addition to those staples, he also has his own sections for vinegar, nut butter, flours, sweeteners, and baking ingredients. He also has a whole section dedicated to dried ingredients, like dried mushrooms. “I can rehydrate them, put them in pasta or a rice dish,” Flay explained.

“My mouth is watering thinking about it,” Flay said while discussing how he loves to cook chicken or fish piccata. “I love it!”

Fans take a seven-minute tour of Flay’s extensive pantry below!