The Savory Spice Journal: An American Classic, Reimagined

We’ve been making our own version of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt for years, but until now it has only been available to our food service customers.

That story goes back to my Chasing BBQ road trip, where I spent six weeks traveling more than 7,000 miles visiting 88 barbecue joints across America. Along the way, I noticed something surprising. Many of the Texas pitmasters making some of the country’s best brisket reached for seasoned salt as the foundation of their rubs. It wasn’t there to steal the show. It was there in a supporting role.

Built from an American Classic

When we eventually began developing custom rubs for barbecue restaurants and competition teams, I knew we needed our own version. We certainly weren’t going to bring another company’s seasoning into our kitchen, so we built a clean-label seasoned salt that captured everything we appreciated about the originals while using ingredients we were proud to put our name on. That blend has quietly been part of our food service lineup for years.

When it came time to develop our new Texas Brisket Rub, I pulled that seasoned salt recipe back into our test kitchen for one final round of refinement. For me, that meant reducing the celery notes that, to my palate, lingered just a little too long.

I also wanted to brighten its signature golden color without adding more turmeric, whose earthy bitterness would have thrown the flavor out of balance. Instead, I turned to riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, a naturally occurring vitamin that delivers a bright yellow color without changing the flavor.

After tasting the finished blend, I was happy to know I’d honored the familiar flavor of this American classic while giving it a modern update. I felt it was finally ready to become part of our Savory Savings line.

Now it’s available on its own as Everyday Seasoned Salt.

Use as a Flavor Builder

While many people think of seasoned salt as something to shake over french fries or popcorn, that’s only scratching the surface. The best seasoned salts do much of their work before the food ever reaches the table.

Pitmasters have known this for years, using seasoned salt as a foundational ingredient in their highly prized barbecue rubs. That’s exactly how I think about it in my own kitchen.

When a recipe calls for salt, try substituting Everyday Seasoned Salt for some or all of it. Because about one-quarter of the blend is made up of herbs, spices, and other flavor-building ingredients, you can reduce the salt you add by up to 25% while adding another layer of savory flavor.

It’s a simple trick that works especially well in soups, stews, roasted vegetables, burgers, meatloaf, potatoes, and countless weeknight meals.

It’s also a great starting point for creating your own barbecue rubs. Build from there with black pepper, chile powders, paprika, brown sugar, herbs, or other spices to create a blend that’s uniquely yours. And when it’s time to serve, don’t forget the classics. Sprinkle it over fries, eggs, popcorn, or avocado toast, or stir a dash into your next homemade Bloody Mary for an extra layer of savory flavor.

In the end, that’s the real beauty of a great seasoned salt. It isn’t meant to be the star of the dish. It’s there to quietly help everything else taste just a little better.

A Permanent Place in the Kitchen

Every generation seems to have a handful of seasonings that become permanent fixtures in the kitchen. Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, there was a good chance you’d find a jar of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt tucked somewhere in the spice cabinet.

Right next to it might have been Accent, Mrs. Dash, and Old Bay. You might say they were the Mt. Rushmore of seasonings from that era. Whether you sprinkled them on fries, baked potatoes, hamburgers, or scrambled eggs, they became part of the rhythm of everyday home cooking and backyard grilling.

Looking back, it’s interesting how much our relationship with food has changed. We pay more attention to ingredient labels, appreciate cleaner formulations, think differently about sodium, and have access to spices and seasonings from around the world that many of us had never even heard of growing up. Our palates have evolved, and thankfully so have many of the products in our kitchens.

That got us thinking about which seasonings have earned that kind of permanent place in today’s kitchens.

As we’ve been working to expand our Savory Savings collection, Janet and I found ourselves talking about the seasonings that never seem to stay in our own pantry for very long. Not necessarily the most exotic or specialized blends, but the ones we keep refilling because they’re the ones we reach for most often in everyday cooking. That’s exactly where our new Everyday Seasoned Salt fits in, and it’s in good company.

Everyday Seasoned Salt is our newest addition. Inspired by an American classic, it’s become one of the easiest ways to build another layer of savory flavor into everyday cooking. Sometimes the best new products aren’t entirely new at all. They’re thoughtful updates to the ones we grew up with.

In Good Company With Savory Savings

Salt & Pepper Tableside Seasoning has become one of our quiet superstars. I’ll admit, when I first introduced it, my dad thought it was a silly idea. “People already have salt and pepper,” he reminded me. He wasn’t wrong, but he underestimated how much people appreciate having the balance done for them. Many years later, it’s still one of the top-selling seasonings in our shops, proving that sometimes the simplest ideas turn out to be the best ones.

Onion & Garlic Everyday Seasoning answers one of the most common questions in cooking: “What should I add next?” When a dish tastes good but feels like it’s missing something, this blend usually fills the gap with just the right amount of savory depth.

Italian Herbs reminds me that sometimes the simplest blends earn their place through versatility. Pasta sauces, roasted vegetables, chicken, vinaigrettes, pizza, garlic bread…it’s one of those jars that somehow finds its way into dinner several nights a week.

Mt. Elbert All-Purpose Seasoning has become my “I don’t want to overthink it” seasoning. Whether it’s chicken on the grill, roasted vegetables, burgers, or potatoes, it delivers a balanced blend of herbs, spices, garlic, onion, and pepper that simply makes dinner easier.

None of these seasonings are trying to steal the spotlight. Like the best pantry staples, they’ve earned their place in our kitchen by consistently making everyday meals just a little more delicious.

The best part? Every one of these pantry staples is available in a jar from our Savory Savings collection for under $7. And don’t forget, if you bring in any competitor’s spice jar to our stores and purchase any Savory Spice jar, we’ll take $1 off. Yes, we’ll gladly accept those old Mt. Rushmore jars, too.

Everyday Sheet Pan Chicken Recipe

For generations, seasoned salt has been the spice jar families reached for when dinner needed to be simple and flavorful. This easy sheet pan chicken carries on that tradition with our Everyday Seasoned Salt, delivering bold, balanced flavor to chicken and vegetables in one pan with minimal cleanup.

Roasted sweet potatoes, crispy kale, and juicy chicken make it a wholesome, weeknight-friendly meal that’s as satisfying as it is easy to prepare.