10 Secret Ingredients Chefs Use That Home Cooks Rarely Know

MSG – The Umami Game Changer That’s Making a Comeback

Walk into any professional kitchen today and you’ll likely spot a small container of white crystalline powder that’s been quietly revolutionizing dishes for over a century. MSG’s popularity is rising and using this longtime flavor enhancer is listed as a top food trend for 2025, with growing recognition from culinary publications. MSG is widely used to intensify and enhance taste and flavors in sauces, broths, soups and many more foods, and can also be used as a partial replacement for salt, containing just one-third the sodium.

Professional chefs note that if you’re not cooking at home with monosodium glutamate, you’re missing out on major umami, as it brings a rich, umami flavor to soups, vegetables, and many restaurant dishes. Despite decades of unfounded health scares, MSG-related health concerns have since been debunked, with MSG being safe for consumption and causing no headaches, tremors, or heart palpitations.

Fish Sauce – The Liquid Gold of Southeast Asian Kitchens

Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years, and due to its ability to add a savory umami flavor to dishes, it has been embraced globally by chefs and home cooks. The umami flavor in fish sauce is due to its glutamate content, making it incredibly powerful for building depth in dishes beyond Asian cuisine.

What makes fish sauce particularly valuable is its versatility – it’s used as a seasoning during or after cooking, and as a base in dipping sauces. Professional chefs often use just a few drops in unexpected places like vinaigrettes, marinades for grilled meats, or even in chocolate desserts to enhance richness without adding a fishy taste. The key is moderation – a little goes an incredibly long way.

Miso Paste – The Fermented Secret Beyond Soup

Miso paste is made from fermented soybeans mixed with salt and koji, a mold that’s also used to make sake, and the mixture ferments for anywhere from a couple months to years. Roland Foods has noticed an increase in customer interest of their fermented products, including their white miso paste, reflecting the growing mainstream adoption of this ingredient.

In cooking, miso paste is used to impart a rich, umami flavor to both simple and complex recipes, and is commonly used as a marinade for meats and fish, providing a savory glaze that enhances the natural flavors of the protein. Smart chefs add miso to unexpected places like salad dressings, roasted vegetables, and even ice cream bases for a subtle complexity that guests can’t quite identify.

Colatura di Alici – Italy’s Ancient Liquid Umami

Traditionally made in Cetara on Italy’s Amalfi Coast, colatura is still produced in small batches using centuries-old methods and is labor-intensive, low-yield and bottled in small quantities, but a little goes a long way. Garum was frequently maligned as smelling bad or rotten and is said to be similar to modern colatura di alici, a fish sauce used in Neapolitan cuisine.

This golden liquid represents one of the most concentrated flavor enhancers available to modern chefs. Surprisingly, although there was a subtle fishy smell, the flavor was not jump in your face anchovy, but a subtle, unique flavor, and this sauce would also be great used to add a little umami flavor to any other dishes. Professional chefs use colatura as a finishing touch on pasta dishes, drizzled over grilled vegetables, or whisked into simple vinaigrettes.

White Soy Sauce – The Lighter Touch of Umami

Lighter than regular soy sauce in both taste and color, this wheat-based seasoning delivers a subtle umami boost to countless preparations, from bright citrus vinaigrettes to delicate whitefish tartares, and chefs love adding a few drops to a classic French beurre blanc, bringing depth and complexity without overpowering the dish. This ingredient represents the evolution of traditional Asian flavors into modern Western cooking techniques.

Unlike its darker cousin, white soy sauce won’t darken your dish or overpower delicate flavors. Professional chefs appreciate how it can enhance the natural taste of ingredients without masking them, making it perfect for light-colored sauces, seafood preparations, and dishes where you want umami depth without visual impact.

Koji Salt – The Fermented Flavor Multiplier

Koji salt is described as a secret weapon anytime chefs are looking for an extra layer to a dish, with the Porcini & Black Garlic variety being excellent on proteins, especially beef, and adding just a pinch will layer in just enough complexity. This fermented seasoning represents the cutting edge of flavor enhancement, combining traditional Japanese fermentation techniques with modern culinary applications.

What makes koji salt particularly valuable is its ability to tenderize proteins while adding umami depth. Chefs use it not just as a finishing salt but also as a curing agent for meats and fish, creating complex flavors that develop over time. The fermentation process breaks down proteins and starches, creating natural flavor compounds that would normally require hours of cooking to achieve.

High-Quality European Butter – The Foundation of Excellence

French butter brands like Lescure are fairly easy to find and incredibly flavorful, and whether using it for baking, cooking fish or steak, or just spreading on a crunchy piece of bread, it’s worth every penny, being made with high-quality milk and artisanal French methods. Chefs don’t skimp on butter and other fats because fat carries flavor and adds richness to dishes and silkiness to sauces, with restaurant dishes often containing significantly more butter than home-cooked meals.

The difference between standard butter and premium European varieties is immediately noticeable in both texture and flavor. Professional chefs understand that butter isn’t just fat – it’s a flavor delivery system that can make or break a dish. The higher butterfat content and traditional churning methods create a more complex, nutty flavor profile that elevates everything from simple vegetables to elaborate sauces.

Dashi Powder – Japan’s Instant Umami Boost

Dashi, a cooking stock infused with kelp and dried tuna flakes, is an integral part of Japanese cuisine and is the base of miso and noodle broths, with its rich umami savouriness now attracting chefs who are using it as a flavour enhancer in other cuisines, adding dashi to soups and stews, or to cure or marinade fish. Hondashi bonito soup stock includes monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate (imparting a meaty, umami flavor), and a variety of bonito or dried fish powders, essentially making it a seaweed and fish-flavored salt.

Smart chefs use dashi powder beyond traditional Japanese applications, sprinkling it into Western-style soups, using it to season roasted vegetables, or incorporating it into compound butters. The convenience of instant dashi powder means you can add complex, ocean-forward umami to any dish in seconds, without the time investment of making traditional dashi from scratch.

Citric Acid – The Invisible Flavor Enhancer

Described by the Globe and Mail as the ‘chef’s new weapon’, citric acid is a naturally occurring substance found in fruit that comes in white powder form and has long been used as a food additive, where it acts as a preservative, and to add a sour note to dishes and drinks, with chefs using it in the cheese-making process, and in jams and buttercreams. This ingredient represents the science-forward approach many modern chefs are taking to flavor enhancement.

What makes citric acid so valuable is its ability to brighten flavors without adding liquid or changing texture. Chefs use it to balance overly sweet desserts, enhance fruit flavors in jams and preserves, and even to improve the texture of homemade cheese. A tiny pinch can transform a flat-tasting dish into something vibrant and well-balanced, making it an essential tool in the modern professional kitchen.

Specialty Vinegars – The Acid That Builds Complexity

Vinegar’s acidity delivers extra flavor dimensions to everything from marinades and pan sauces to dessert toppings, with good balsamic being excellent drizzled over vanilla ice cream. Professional chefs maintain collections of specialized vinegars that can instantly transform dishes – from aged balsamic that’s thick as syrup to delicate rice vinegars that add brightness without heaviness.

The key to using vinegar like a chef is understanding that different types serve different purposes. Sherry vinegar adds nutty complexity to Spanish-inspired dishes, while champagne vinegar provides clean acidity that won’t overpower delicate ingredients. Chefs often finish dishes with just a few drops of premium vinegar, using it as a final flavor accent rather than as a dominant ingredient.

These secret ingredients represent more than just flavor enhancers – they’re tools that can transform home cooking from good to restaurant-quality. The key isn’t using all of them at once, but understanding how each one works and incorporating them gradually into your cooking repertoire. Start with one or two that appeal to you most, and you’ll quickly understand why professional chefs guard these secrets so carefully.