Best Gifts for the Home Cook

If you’ve spent any amount of time shopping online, you know there’s an almost limitless number of kitchen tools and gadgets, as well as pantry items, on the market – and many of these would make great birthday or holiday gifts for the people in your life who love to cook. The only problem is choosing the right one to make their culinary adventures even more enjoyable.

Is your loved one the type of person who likes to entertain and put out a big spread for the crowd, or more of an exacting home cook intent on creating restaurant-worthy meals? Are they advanced or someone who got inspired to try their hand in the kitchen after watching a few celebrity chefs on cooking shows? Think about what they might need the most and make an informed choice — with help from our extensive guide to the best gifts for the home cook.

Serving trays & boards

Whether hosting a group or creating a snack plate for two, having a selection of boards and trays on hand for serving is a necessity. Our recommendations include a pine food and drink serving tray with secure slots for wine glasses, a stylish two-tiered wood and enamel serving stand that gets an “A” for presentation, a handsome cheese serving board with knives with a swivel porcelain top, and a charcuterie board tricked out with salami, cheese, and spreads.

Apron and linens set

For the organized, well-dressed home cook, this set of kitchen linens with an apron and oven mitt makes for a thoughtful gift that’s also practical. The high-quality cotton apron will protect their evening wear when preparing a delicious meal, while the linens and mitt come in handy for wiping up spills and grabbing hot pans from the stove or oven. Harry & David fans will appreciate the Royal Riviera® Pears logo, and the classic blue stripe patterns on the flour sack linens and mitt add a stylish touch to any kitchen.

Herb scissors

Gadgets like herb scissors make the home cook’s life easier. Its five blades allow for quick, symmetrical cuts, perfect for finishing a dish with an attractive topping of fresh parsley or adding chives atop an omelet. This tool is a serious time saver, and is more efficient than chopping herbs with a knife and transferring them to a dish. Take this gift to the next level by adding an herb garden.

Personalized beechwood rolling pin

Laser engraved with your favorite home baker’s name set between two decorative leaf designs, this personalized rolling pin will become a point of pride in your recipient’s kitchen. Made from solid beechwood, it’s perfect for rolling out any kind of dough, from pie to pizza, and at 21 inches from handle to handle, it’s compact enough to fit in a kitchen drawer or countertop utensil basket.

Pizza stone

Any homemade pizza convert will tell you that a pie tastes better when it comes out of a home oven. The key to creating a delicious pizza is cooking it on a pre-heated stone; you assemble the pie (you already rolled out the dough using the aforementioned rolling pin) and slide it into the oven and onto the 12.5-inch stone, which heats the undercarriage evenly and absorbs moisture for a light and crispy crust. This pizza stone kit also comes with a metal cooling rack — another key to making a pie that will outdo the best delivery pizza — and stainless steel cutter for slicing.

Mortar and pestle

One of the more underrated kitchen tools, a marble mortar and pestle will likely become your loved one’s go-to for hand-grinding dried herbs or muddling fresh herbs like mint. And it has other uses too! Guacamole lovers can smash garlic, cilantro, and fresh avocados into a base with this handy set, and pesto, hummus, and aiolis all can be quickly prepared in a mortar and pestle. The sturdy white ceramic set also adds panache to a kitchen countertop.

Prepared meals

Sometimes, showing your favorite home cook you love them means giving them a break. While a prepared meal won’t make them a better cook, it will give them the chance to enjoy a gourmet meal at home without having to do all the prep and cooking. Harry & David offers so many options, from a family-style Italian meal with baked pasta, rosemary bread, and tiramisu to a Create-Your-Own Prime Rib Feast, pre-seared for easy finishing in the oven along with heat-and-serve sides. 

Wine

Preparing a gourmet home-cooked meal is hard work. Reward your loved one with a gift they can put to use while cooking up a feast: wine! Harry & David features award-winning wine gift sets that come in a wide variety of options and price ranges, from reds to whites to bundles with both. It also offers combo packs that include snacks to pair with the grape, such as a wine and cheese basket, or, for the wine lover with a sweet tooth, a wine and chocolate box. Cheers to all that!

DIY baking kits

Here’s a perfect gift for the home baker. Red Velvet NYC produces several do-it-yourself kits to create desserts for days! Cupcakes, macarons, caramel brownies, molten lava cakes, chocolate truffles, chocolate chip cookies, madeleines, more cupcakes. There are more kits, but we just don’t have the time to list all of them.

Spice blends

Your favorite home cook will appreciate the ability to experiment with flavor. Vital Choice Spice Blends are custom blended in small batches with organic ingredients. The seasoning sampler is a gift that will keep on giving, containing 2.5-ounce pouches with gourmet spice blends to elevate seafood, meat, and vegetable dishes. These seasonings pair well with Vital Choice wild seafood and premium meats. Sprinkle the lemon pepper seasoning on wild Alaskan cod for a healthy, delicious main, or add Hawaiian-style poke seasoning to wild salmon.

Tinned fish

For the home cook who follows trends, wow them with the gift of Vital Choice canned and pouched seafood. This is about more than making a tuna sandwich (though Vital Choice fish can help up any tuna salad game); home cooks are experimenting with preserved, sustainable seafood in pasta dishes, soups, appetizers, and more. The Vital Choice line includes top-notch options for wild salmon (great for fish cakes!), sardines (serve with saltines as a snack), and mackerel (add umami to your salad). Best of all, this gift has an extremely long shelf life, making it a great pantry item to use whenever the mood strikes.