15 Highest-Rated Pantry Essentials Worth Finding On Amazon

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When Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, it was a relatively humble online marketplace for books. 33 years later, Amazon owns everything from Whole Foods to James Bond, and Bezos is one of the richest people in human history. Are we thrilled about the worker exploitation and anticompetitive business practices that got it there? Certainly not. But who among us hasn't gotten out of a sticky situation thanks to Amazon same-day delivery? And if you're not in the mood to go to the grocery store, you can get pantry essentials delivered right to your door.

When choosing products, you can scroll for an awfully long time on Amazon, and it's easy to psych yourself out. The discussion around the highest-rated items is a bit tricky. If one offering has a 4.8 with 15 ratings and another has a 4.3 with 1,500 ratings, you're probably going to want the latter. So we're going to look at 15 pantry staples and find the highest-rated products that people buy most often. When you put them away at home, just make sure you keep these pantry items from going unnoticed and expiring.

Any chef or baker worth their salt (sorry, sorry) knows what sets kosher salt apart: It's the best way to add deeper flavor to a dish without worrying about the additives that often come with table salt. While Amazon has its own 365 by Whole Foods Market brand right at the top of the list, the salt with the best ratings is good old Diamond Crystal. The 3-pound box gets a 4.7 out of 5 from over 21,000 ratings.

Buy Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt from Amazon for $10.98.

Winning out over heavyweights like the Amazon Grocery brand and King Arthur, Gold Medal All Purpose Flour takes the gold when it comes to flour available on Amazon. The 5-pound bag has a score of 4.7 from over 14,500 ratings. It's enough to make you forgive those annoying paper bags flour still gets sold in.

Purchase Gold Medal All Purpose Flour for $3.97.

Brands like Filippo Berio, which is now owned by the Chinese government, and Bertolli may be more famous, but the highest-rated olive oil on Amazon is actually Pompeian Smooth Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It has a near-perfect score of 4.8 out of 5 after 41,000 ratings, so be sure to coat your pan with some before sauteing your vegetables.

Get a 32-ounce bottle of Pompeian Smooth Extra Virgin Olive Oil for $12.49.

Of course, not all rice can be used for exactly the same purpose. You may decide you want jasmine rice to go with a curry, or maybe some brown rice would hit the spot in a grain bowl. But generally speaking, you can't go wrong with Nishiki Medium Grain Rice, which receives a score of 4.7 out of 5 from over 44,000 ratings. Just pop it in your rice cooker and enjoy!

Buy a 5-pound bag of Nishiki Medium Grain Rice on Amazon for $6.73.

If we were to go through every individual kind of pasta to find the absolute highest-rated of the bunch, you wouldn't be reading this article for at least another year. But a search for the highest-rated pasta, generally speaking, gives us Barilla spaghetti. With 4.8 out of 5 stars from almost 20,000 ratings, it's a perfectly respectable choice to stock in your pantry. Just be sure to pair it with the right sauce, or Stanley Tucci will get mad at you.

Purchase 16 ounces of Barilla spaghetti for $1.87.

Amazon almost managed to snag a win with this one. Depending on what type of canned tomato you want, some of the Amazon Grocery options are the highest-rated. But for whole peeled tomatoes (which are typically the best quality), Cento's San Marzano tomatoes beat out Amazon's offering, receiving a 4.7 from over 5,000 ratings as opposed to Amazon Grocery's 4.5 from almost 2,500 reviews. (Amazon's is significantly cheaper, though, for what that's worth.)

Get a 28-ounce can of Cento San Marzano Whole Peeled Tomatoes for $4.89.

We almost had an upset on our hands here. Kikkoman may just be the most famous soy sauce company in the world, and it has a score of 4.8 with over 5,200 ratings — but the 365 by Whole Foods Market Organic Reduced Sodium Shoyu Soy Sauce has a score that's only slightly lower, a 4.6 with almost 6,000 ratings. The difference in rating numbers is negligible enough that Kikkoman still gets the win, but you can't go wrong with either of them.

Buy Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce on Amazon for $4.99.

Amazon finally snags a win when it comes to beans. As with rice, exactly what kind of beans you want depends on the dish you're making, but when it comes to black beans, Whole Foods' 365 brand has the highest-rated option, with a 4.8 out of 5 from over 11,000 ratings. The silver medal goes to Goya, which also gets a 4.8 but with just a bit more than 5,000 ratings.

Purchase 365 by Whole Foods Market Organic Black Beans, priced at $1.59 for each 15-ounce can.

Chicken stock or broth is such a valuable pantry essential that you can (and perhaps should) use it in place of more specialized varieties, like beef. If you don't want to make your own — even though homemade chicken stock separates good home cooks from the great – 365 has you covered. Its Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth gets a 4.7 with over 12,500 ratings; Swanson's offering also has a 4.7 but with a few thousand fewer ratings.

Buy a 1-quart carton of 365 Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth for $1.99.

You may not think one vinegar will really outdo another, but think about how useful a good vinegar can be. When you're making a delicious salad dressing or adding a little bit of tang to a braise, you want the very best, don't you? So why not get Heinz Distilled White Vinegar, which has a score of 4.8 out of 5 from over 11,000 ratings? (365's white vinegar also has a 4.8, but again, with fewer reviews.)

Get a 32-ounce bottle of Heinz Distilled White Vinegar for $2.72.

Peanut butter, as you well know, comes in many different varieties and consistencies. But the one with the highest rating is Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter — specifically, the 5-pound jar, which gets a 4.7 with over 22,000 ratings. The smaller 28-ounce jar has a 4.8 but with only about 8,600 reviews. Still, it's not like there are different kinds of peanut butter for different jar sizes, right? That would be nuts. (No pun intended.)

You can buy that giant 80-ounce container of Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter for $10.97.

How much do customers love Nate's 100% Pure, Raw, and Unfiltered Honey? This brand of delicious bee fluid has a score of 4.7 out of 5 from over 63,000 ratings. Hey, 63,000 people can't all be wrong, can they? (They can, of course, but that's not the case here.) Our only complaint is that it doesn't come in a bottle shaped like a bear. Do better, Nathaniel.

Purchase a 32-ounce bottle of Nate's 100% Pure, Raw, and Unfiltered Honey for $14.47.

It's tough to beat Rao's, isn't it? Sure, Rao's sauce costs more than Prego, but the use of fresher ingredients and outstanding taste is just too good to pass up. That's why it's the highest-rated pasta sauce on Amazon, with a 4.7 from almost 15,000 ratings. 365 by Whole Foods Market does pretty well for itself, too, getting a 4.6 with close to 12,000 ratings, and it's cheaper than Rao's. But in our opinion (and that of lots of other reviewers), Rao's is the good stuff.

Buy a 24-ounce jar of Rao's Homemade Marinara for $8.19.

You can get all sorts of hot sauces from Amazon, from the more popular, accessible options to the real fire-breathers. But it's hard to beat Frank's RedHot for sheer versatility. Getting a score of 4.8 out of 5 with almost 10,000 ratings, it's a position well-suited for the sauce used to invent buffalo wings.

Purchase a 12-ounce bottle of Frank's RedHot for $3.54.

You have a few options if you're looking for a good curry powder. Amazon Grocery offers one, of course, as does that old reliable McCormick. But the highest-rated curry powder is Rani, an Indian brand that blends 10 different mild spices, including coriander, turmeric, and cumin. It gets a 4.7 with nearly 5,000 ratings. That's enough to brighten up anyone's day, to say nothing of their tikka masala.

Buy a 3-ounce container of Rani Curry Powder for $6.99.