I Tried 9 Spices From Target. Here Are The Ones I'd Buy Again

Imagine you're at Target buying ingredients for a recipe and your shopping list includes some spices. Fresh, flavorful spices elevate food to the next level, but will ground spices from Target's Good & Gather brand fit the bill, or should you drive to another store for them instead? 

While Target's options are affordable, I wanted to see which ones would make my food taste amazing and are actually worth buying. That's why I tried several Good & Gather spices (not herbs or seasonings) to find some of the best ones the brand offers. I prepared a recipe with each one and considered its utility, color vibrancy, aroma intensity, and fullness of flavor before forming my recommendation. While many of the spices are adequate, there were a few outliers — read on to find out which ones truly impressed me.

If you're out of cinnamon and happen to be at Target, grab a jar of Good & Gather's ground cinnamon. This cinnamon is passable for most baking projects and toast. It has a rusty color and smells fruity and spicy. The flavor is soft, not spicy like some types of cinnamon, and is ground very fine.

I made cinnamon sugar toast to test out the flavor of this product. The ground cinnamon aligned with the flavor I was expecting: woodsy, fruity, and a bit floral. Because this cinnamon is finely ground, it didn't feel grainy at all. Overall, the toast was enjoyable and reminded me of breakfasts from my childhood.

This cinnamon would be great for most baking. It may not stand out like other spicier cinnamons, like in a curry, but it would make a delicious batch of homemade cinnamon rolls or elevate French toast or apple pie. The price of this cinnamon is also comparable to other major grocery store brands, so you know you're getting a good value.

Good & Gather paprika is worth purchasing if you want to add color to a dish without changing the flavor all that much. This ground spice is orange, smells fruity, and has a bitter overtone. The taste is subtle and sweet. 

I tested it in two recipes: deviled eggs and a grilled chicken rub. It was a garnish on the eggs, meaning it was used to make them look pretty but not to add much flavor. I bloomed the paprika in oil before rubbing it on grilled chicken. It added color and a sweet hint to the poultry.

When compared to other mass-produced paprikas, Good & Gather falls smack dab in the middle — there isn't much to set this product apart positively or negatively. Even the price is similar to store-brand paprikas sold at other stores. So, while there's no reason to go out of your way to buy this paprika, there's also no reason you shouldn't.

The quality of Target's garlic powder makes it worth buying. Unsurprisingly, this product smells like garlic and tastes like garlic — just as expected. The color is light yellow, and the powder is dry and loose with no clumps. All of these are signs of a good product. 

I used this spice to make garlic bread. I popped a slice in the toaster, spread some butter on it, and added a sprinkle of garlic powder. It tasted amazing and was low effort to bring together. 

The delicious taste of this garlic powder made me want to try it out in more recipes. It would be amazing as part of a steak rub or on roasted vegetables, especially since it doesn't burn and turn bitter in the same way chopped fresh garlic does. Guacamole would be another perfect application of this spice. It would add plenty of flavor, but since granulated garlic is water-soluble, the texture of the dip would stay creamy.

While I really liked Good & Gather garlic powder, it's probably very similar to most other brands. They're all produced through the same process: The garlic is dried and ground into a powder. The price is also on par with other similar products.

If you're looking for a spice to add flavor to a dish but without an obvious visual presence, Target's ground white pepper is a solid choice. It has a creamy color that blends in easily and a peppery aroma. The taste is subtle, with spicy, fruity, and floral notes. 

I tested this white pepper in mashed potatoes. While I was preparing them, I broke a rule: I sprinkled spice straight from the jar and accidentally added more than I intended to. I expected the dish to be inedible, but it wasn't actually ruined. Instead, it added a slightly warm, peppery taste to the potatoes; that's to say this product is very lightly flavored. The fine grind of the pepper meant it didn't alter the color or leave behind any specks. As such, its size makes it an excellent choice for recipes where black pepper would be unsightly. I would love to try it in a creamy white pizza sauce or in clam chowder.

White pepper tends to be expensive, and this product was no exception; it was one of the priciest ones I purchased. In fact, it costs as much as some major brand names like McCormick. Whole peppercorns may be cheaper per ounce and more flavorful. So while the quality and taste of this white pepper make it a worthy purchase, budget-conscious shoppers may want to consider other products as well.

Target's turmeric will add bold color and flavor to any dish you use it in. It's vibrantly orange, with a distinct scent and earthy flavor. One important caution of this product, though, is its color. It's so vibrant that it can stain plastic.

I tested out this spice in two recipes: turmeric rice and turmeric milk. For the former, I lightly toasted rice grains in olive oil and mixed in turmeric before adding the water. Even a little bit gave the rice a warm hue. To make turmeric milk, I simply mixed a spoonful of turmeric into a glass of milk. This application gave me a deep sense of the flavor; it was woody with a slightly bitter bite. Although I thought that the milk was going to be grainy, the texture was smooth because of how finely the turmeric was ground. Its price is also a good value; it falls within a few cents of its competitors. 

If your recipe calls for nutmeg, Target's Good & Gather version will satisfy your needs. This nutmeg has a warm brown color. The scent is nutty and astringent, like the tannic smell of black tea. It tastes woody, nutty, and smooth. Adding just a little to a dish can contribute a lot of flavor.

I tested the nutmeg in a béchamel — a white sauce often used in lasagna or over pasta. I added salt and nutmeg when the sauce reached the texture and thickness I was hoping for. I was impressed by how such a small quantity — about a ¼ teaspoon — could contribute so much to the flavor of the sauce. 

Buying ground nutmeg, especially as flavorful as this one, seems more practical than trying to grate or grind it yourself. It would be excellent in both savory and sweet dishes, including a Swiss chard quiche, pumpkin pie, and eggnog. Although the per-ounce price of Target's nutmeg is slightly higher than that of some other store brands, its taste was good enough that I'd still buy it a second time.

Target's cumin is a worthwhile purchase, costing similar to other store brands. When I first opened the jar, the scent was wonderfully earthy, and the color was golden brown. It tasted warm and smoky with a citrus undertone. Some cumin is bitter, but this one was not.

I tested this spice with salt on fajitas. Usually, I would also add some pepper, garlic, and lemon, but I really wanted to taste the cumin. Even without my usual spices, the cumin made this recipe incredibly flavorful.

I also took the opportunity to grind a bit of whole cumin in my kitchen and compare it to this pre-ground product. The scent of the freshly ground cumin was far more complex; it was nutty with a hint of pine and citrus. Even though I prefer to grind whole cumin for most recipes, I think Target's version is still a great buy. The even grind would make it perfect for a homemade curry spice mix, for example. It would also taste amazing in cumin rice and cumin potatoes.

If you regularly use ground mustard, you will probably appreciate Target's version of this spice. It's light yellow and smells sweet, tangy, and bitter. Its flavor has a bite to it; it's a bit spicy and a little bitter.

To test out the mustard, I mixed it with vinegar, olive oil, and salt and ate it with lettuce. The flavor was intense and contrasted well with the sweetness of the lettuce. I thought this ground mustard was slightly spicy and pleasantly bitter. I will definitely be using it again in my homemade dressings in the future. It would also be great in a dry rub or in deviled eggs as an alternative to yellow mustard; it could add extra color without making the yolk mixture too soft.

The price of this Target product is very attractive. Other major store brands either don't offer ground mustard or offer organic ground mustard for a higher price. As a whole, name brands cost significantly more than it.

I based my recommendations on the smell, taste, and color of each of these Good & Gather spices. I tried to select the spices that most people stock and use, rather than more unique spices that couldn't be used in as many recipes.

While I could look at the spices in their jars to see the color and open the lids and take a whiff for the scent, assessing their flavor was more challenging. Eating them by the spoonful wasn't practical, which is why I picked recipes that featured just that spice. I evaluated how the spice impacted each dish. Did it change the dish visually? What flavor did it add? Did the spice perform the expected role?

The most important point I considered was product satisfaction. Some spices I tried, like the paprika and cayenne, I personally didn't like.  In the end, I recommended Target's paprika because it was on par with other brands of sweet paprika and did what it was supposed to do: add color. The cayenne, on the other hand, just didn't add the heat that I assume most people would want, so I don't recommend it.