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Ina Garten is no snob when it comes to pasta: She's entirely happy using the dried version. In fact, she actually prefers using dried pasta a lot of the time, due to the doughiness that fresh pasta can occasionally have. Famously, she has two favorite brands of dried pasta, and one of them is De Cecco. De Cecco is an Italian pasta with a story that starts way back in 1831, when miller Nicola Antonio De Cecco started his business. It took over 50 years for the De Cecco factory to be opened and for the brand to fully form, but after that there was no stopping it.

It seems that Garten likes to use De Cecco for virtually any short pasta shape. The type she chooses depends both on what mood she's in and what suits her dish best, but she's partial to its fusilli, farfalle, and penne, among other types. Having said this, she's also partial to using De Cecco's spaghetti, which she puts in her spring green spaghetti carbonara. If it's good enough for her, it's good enough for us.

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A lot of Ina Garten's recipes have chocolate in them — and we all know that if you're using chocolate when you're baking or in a dessert, you need it to be good-quality. Predictably, Ina doesn't do things by halves here. Instead, she reaches for Lindt, a brand that she's trusted for a good while now, and particularly does so when a recipe asks for bittersweet chocolate.

Garten expressed her admiration for Lindt when she visited the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen, where she told Carla Lalli Music about how much she likes its flavor. "I've used Lindt bittersweet chocolate for a long time," she said in the video of the visit seen via YouTube. Garten states that after a moment of doubt about whether she still liked it as much, she did a blind tasting of six different brands. "It was the Lindt that we still liked. It was just the right balance of sweet and bitter." It's worth noting that when she's working with chocolate chunks, Garten veers towards Nestlé instead — but for melted chocolate, Lindt wins out.

The quality of your butter can make a huge difference — and if anyone should know that, it's Ina Garten. As a professional cook, she uses butter on a regular basis, and so it's natural that she could try and go for the best brand she can afford. Garten revealed on her website that her chosen butter comes from Cabot Creamery, a Vermont-based outfit that operates in a co-operative format and places the health and happiness of its cows front and center. This approach results in creamy, rich, delicious dairy products that are versatile enough to be used in a variety of dishes.

If you don't want to take Ina Garten's word for it that Cabot Creamery butter is the best out there, then listen to the other experts out there. Cabot Creamery's 83% Sea Salted Butter was voted Best of Class at the 2024 World Championship Cheese Contest. Cabot also won awards for its cheeses at the same event, with its Pepper Jack and Cheddar Cheese being recognized for their quality and taste.

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If you've ever watched an Ina Garten show, you've probably heard her say the immortal phrase "store-bought is fine." These words come as a sigh of relief to those trying to follow on at home, worried that they may not be able to afford the ingredients that Garten uses. Luckily, when it comes to pasta sauce, they can — if they can find a jar of Raos. This store-bought pasta sauce is approved by Ina Garten, with the cook being a particular fan of the brand's marinara sauce.

To be honest, we can see why Ina's such a big fan of this sauce. As opposed to other marinara sauces on the market, Rao's is made with just the basic ingredients. All that's in each jar is Italian whole peeled tomatoes, olive oil, basil, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and a little oregano. There are no preservatives or stabilizers, its nutritional content doesn't raise any major red flags, and to top it all off it's fairly affordable. Naturally, Garten prefers it when you make marinara yourself — but if you don't have the energy, Rao's is a great alternative. We even conducted a taste test of 18 different Rao's sauces and were very impressed.

Although some of Ina Garten's favorite brands are available virtually anywhere you shop, some are a touch more niche and difficult to find. This is the case with her preferred maple syrup, which comes from specialty food producer Stonewall Kitchen. This Maine-based outfit produces pure grade A amber maple syrup and bottles it in a classy receptacle, complete with a wax seal on the top and a label that looks like it's handwritten (we doubt whether it actually is, but it's a nice touch). Its larger bottles come in a charming earthenware bottle; we bet you wouldn't see that at Costco, huh?

This maple syrup, it should be said, is a little bit pricier than others. Just 8.5 ounces of Stonewall Kitchen Maple Syrup costs approximately $18, more than double the amount that you'd pay for a bottle of Walmart's Great Value Maple Syrup. However, we're willing to bet that the latter doesn't give you the same nuance and balance of sweetness and smokiness that Stonewall Kitchen's product would. Sometimes, it pays to spend a bit more.

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So much emphasis is placed on the food that Ina Garten makes, that we sometimes forget about the drinks. Well, rest assured that she puts the same amount of thought into these, too -– and when they're vodka-based, there's only one brand she uses. Grey Goose is Garten's vodka of choice, and she mixes it into all of her favorite vodka-based cocktails. It's such a staple in her house that she requires a bottle to always be in her freezer, in case friends stop by in need for an immediate drink.

Ina Garten's devotion to Grey Goose was put on display in an infamous viral video from April 2020. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Garten was featured on "Good Morning America," where she was featured making a supersize Cosmopolitan cocktail. To make it, she decanted an entire bottle of Grey Goose into a jug, and stirred it with some (well, a lot of) Cointreau, cranberry juice, and lime juice. She shook it all up, and poured the cocktail into a comically oversized cocktail glass. We'd hope that she didn't drink the whole thing on her own, given how strong it was!

Ina Garten is a big fan of dried pasta — but while she commonly goes for De Cecco brand pasta for the majority of her needs, she often prefers another product for when she needs longer shapes and a touch of class. Cipriani is the brand she reaches for in these situations. We can see why: This Venice-born brand specializes in making dried pastas that look as though they've been made in a home kitchen. Each strand has a pleasingly rustic appearance, with every noodle dappled with semolina and giving off a luxurious, egg-yellow glow.

Garten prefers using the brand's dried pasta over fresh egg noodles (which is pretty high praise, right?), and she often goes for Cipriani's tagliarelle. This pasta cooks in just 3 minutes, despite being boxed and dried, and it's perfect paired with truffle butter, some heavy cream, and a little bit of Parmesan. With these ingredients, the pasta's flavor is allowed to shine through and not be overwhelmed, and you get to taste the quality of each individual component. You'll have to pay the price for this, though: Cipriani's pasta is a lot more expensive than other brands.

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Although Ina Garten often opts for artisanal ingredients for her meals, in certain situations she's more than happy to go with brands that can be found anywhere. Somewhat surprisingly, she does this when she's using chocolate chips, and reaches for Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chunks over pricier options. This might seem like a surprising option, given that in baking recipes the flavor of chocolate chunks really stands out (and so you'd think that Garten would go for the best options she could afford) — but apparently, Nestlé's product is more than acceptable.

Ina's also happy to use Nestlé Chocolate Chips, and she lists both items in the recommended ingredients section of her website. It's important to remember that these two products are different, even though they taste similar. Chocolate chips are smaller than chocolate chunks, and so they can give a slightly more subtle flavor in baking recipes. They can also be a little quicker to melt down. Chocolate chunks, on the other hand, have more bite to them and are better if you want a more punchy taste in your homemade chocolate chip cookies.

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Mustard is a must in Ina Garten's kitchen. "One of my favorite ingredients is mustard," Garten stated in an interview with Bon Appetit. "I use it in so many things. It's kind of that Provencal thing of mustard, and garlic, and thyme." Take a look at the recipe section at Barefoot Contessa, and you'll see that she's not exaggerating here. Virtually every type of protein has been featured on the site with mustard in its recipe, a clear testament to her love of the ingredient.

As for which brands she goes for, it's Grey Poupon and Maille all the way. Garten sticks to Grey Poupon for when she's using Dijon mustard, but when she's opting for whole grain she goes for the latter. For Ina, it's as much about the aesthetic appearance of whole grain mustard as it is the taste. "I like when things look like what they really are," she said to Bon Appetit, also mentioning that she liked to combine the two in her recipes. This fills out the mustard flavors and gives her dishes a combination of textures. You can purchase both Grey Poupon and Maille mustards on Amazon.

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There's a longstanding perception of Ina Garten's dinners being fancy, but honestly, a lot of them are the kind of thing that you'd make on a weeknight. The same goes for her breakfasts: Rather than opt for luxury first thing in the morning, Garten eats an oatmeal brand that she's had every day for 10 years. That brand is McCann's, which has been producing Irish oats since the 19th century. Ina opts for the quick-cooking variety, like McCann's Irish Oatmeal and she makes it in the microwave (which we can totally relate to — do you wanna be standing over a hot stove after you've just woken up?).

As for what she puts in her oatmeal, Ina Garten keeps it simple. She sticks to making her oats with just milk and salt, with an exception on her birthday when she adds maple syrup. She serves her oats with coffee, which again has just a touch of milk in it and no sugar. Garten's morning meal is totally unwavering, even on Christmas Day. Honestly, we kinda admire that regularity — if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

You don't need Ina Garten to tell you that you should be cooking with good olive oil. There's a massive difference between the flavor and quality of cheaper brands, which are usually fairly tasteless and thin, and slightly more expensive ones which have a premium mouthfeel and a fruity, nutty depth.

Interestingly, though, Ina doesn't opt for European olive oil in her kitchen. Instead, she uses Olio Santo, a Californian olive oil brand that she absolutely loves. "I like California olive oil better than I like Italian. It's fruiter," said Garten to Bon Appetit. "It doesn't have that little turpentine-y edge, or bitterness from the olives." She states that she's been using Olio Santo for decades, and adds it to whatever she can think of. "I use it for everything. I use it for sautéing. I use it for dipping. I use it for finishing a salad." It's not just Ina Garten that uses this olive oil, either: It's the brand of choice for Williams Sonoma. With that double stamp of approval, you can't really go wrong.

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When it comes to kitchen brands, a lot of emphasis is placed on the food we use — and rightly so. However, that food is never gonna sing if we're not making it with the right cookware. Ina Garten knows this too, and that's why she opts for All-Clad cookware in her kitchen, buying all of her pots and pans from the brand. Although she does point out that this brand is a little expensive, she also highlights All-Clad's durability, mentioning that they'll last forever if you treat them right.

All-Clad specializes in stainless steel cookware, like this 3-ply 10-piece set, which has a versatility to it that other materials don't. Although you may pay slightly more for these pans, you'll be able to use them for way more than your nonstick varieties, and they're especially well-suited for cooking with high heat. All-Clad cookware doesn't need seasoning, either: It's ready to go straight out of the box. Importantly, though, Ina Garten doesn't just use All-Clad products. She's also partial to Le Creuset Dutch ovens, like this 7.25-quart one that is made of enameled cast iron.

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When it comes to ice cream, Ina Garten has a clear favorite, and it's Häagen-Dasz. This brand, which was started in the Bronx by Polish immigrants Reuben and Rose Mattus, is Garten's go-to when she fancies a scoop of vanilla. It's a staple in her freezer, despite her having to resist buying it every time she's at the grocery store. We can relate, Ina — we'd be going through a carton of it in no time, too.

However, it appears that Häagen-Dasz is far from the only ice cream brand that Ina Garten uses. She's also a fan of Talenti, which she recommends using in her Coffee Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches. Talenti is an Italian gelato and sorbetto brand that started in Argentina, and is slightly more of a niche find than Häagen-Dasz. However, if you're able to seek it out you'll be rewarded with a smooth, luxurious product that's created slowly, but with care. If you can't track it down in stores, though, Häagen-Dasz will do just fine.

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Here's the thing about Ina Garten's salt situation: It's pretty varied. She doesn't stick to just one brand when it comes to salt, but instead likes to spread a rather wide net, and opt for different products for different crystal sizes. For Ina, using the right salt at the right time is crucial. "The one ingredient that most people use wrong is salt. It's really important in every dish, both sweet and savory," she says to Bon Appetit. "You also have to use the right one for the right occasion."

As for which brand is right for which moment, Garten is pretty specific. "For cooking, I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, and it's always perfect," she states. "But when I want to finish with salt, I use Fleur de Sel, which is a French sea salt, and it's just the kind of briny, or Maldon English flake salt." She goes on to say that flaky salt is the perfect option for when you're topping pastry, as it can give it a pop of crunch without being too brittle, and of course imbue your food with that all-important salty flavor. "It's absolutely delicious," Ina says — and we'd have to agree.