Celebrity Chef’s 5 Ingredients to Splurge on — and What to Save on

Chef K’s motto is that she is your favorite celeb’s favorite chef.

For years, Khristianne Uy, known as Chef K, has worked as a private chef for household names and is now also a content creator.

Despite working with the rich and famous, her cooking philosophy is that not all that glitters is gold. Chef K believes good cooking is not about buying the most extravagant ingredients.

Unlike her celebrity clientele, Chef K said she makes her Instagram and TikTok recipe videos with a single mom struggling to make ends meet in mind.

However, if you want to splurge on high-quality ingredients, these are the items Chef K said are worth spending extra on — and the ones you should buy cheaply.

Chef K uses high-quality cooking and finishing oils

Chef K said that a high-quality oil is the No. 1 ingredient you should splurge on. For cooking, she recommends high-heat avocado oil, and for finishing, extra-virgin olive oil.

Extra-virgin olive oil has a lower smoke point than regular olive oil and high-heat avocado oil, making it more suitable for drizzling on salads or making dips.

Simple, higher-fat butter is best

“Every time I go to a client’s house, and I see that they’re consuming butter with a ton of different ingredients, I think to myself that we’ve got to make a change here,” Chef K told Business Insider.

She said it’s worth spending extra on less-processed butter.

For instance, you can opt for butter with a higher butterfat content, such as the Kerrygold Unsalted Pure Irish Butter or the Land O’ Lakes
Extra Creamy Salted Butter.

Opt for more costly breads with fewer additives

Chef K also likes to buy breads containing whole grains or made of sourdough, avoiding added sugar.

“We all love bread and butter.
But think about what kind of bread you’re using. Is it the bread that lasts for 90 days, and it’s still fresh?” she said.

A 2022 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, based on a meta-analysis of 68 studies with over 1.6 million participants, found that consuming whole grains rather than refined grains can help lower the risk of coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease.

“Make the grilled cheese, but use the good bread,” Chef K added.

She prefers using gourmet salts

Chef K said she prefers to use Celtic sea salt and pink salt (also known as Himalayan salt) over cheaper alternatives.

Gray and pink salt typically also contain trace minerals, such as magnesium chloride, calcium, and iron.

In her recipe videos on Instagram, Chef K sometimes uses Maldon salt, a British gourmet sea salt. It costs $9.99 for an 8.5-oz pack at Walmart, much more than regular iodized salt.

Many chefs prize the bigger flakes in Maldon salt for finishing, salting meats, and adding a burst of salty flavor to dishes.

Splurge by making your own mayonnaise at home

Chef K is forever a proponent of spending a little extra money (and time) to make certain condiments from scratch. Mayonnaise is one of these.

“If you don’t want your kids or your family to consume 17 ingredients in one squeeze of mayo, make it yourself. It’s just three ingredients, and you will taste the difference,” she said.

To make mayonnaise, you need eggs, vinegar or lemon juice, and an oil.

Depending on the cost of individual ingredients, making your own mayonnaise at home can be more expensive than the cheapest mayos.

But without preservatives, homemade mayo will last about a week in the fridge, compared to about two to three months for store-bought.

But for produce, you don’t have to spend much

Chef K said one way she recommends making meals more accessible price-wise is by bringing inexpensive produce typically used for side dishes — such as cabbage and carrots — into main dishes.

She also said buying seasonal and local varieties of fruit and vegetables beats trendy ones. Prices are often lower, and the quality tends to be higher.

Despite cooking for the stars with budgets likely far greater than those of the average family, Chef K believes that buying the most expensive ingredients is not what cooking should be about.

“You don’t need the shiny things. It’s not about that. It’s what you can do. It’s simplicity,” she said.