Piquant Post is a monthly subscription box that offers a variety of freshly ground, small batch spice blends with their very own chef developed recipes that feature a new region each month.
This is a review of the $11.99 monthly plan.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: Piquant Post
The Cost: $11.99 a month, $65.94 for 6 month pre-pay, or $119.88 for 12 month pre-pay.
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ACTIVE DEAL: First Order 10% off. No coupon needed - just use this link.
The Products: 4 spice blends from a single region or country, 4 chef-developed recipes showcasing each of the spice blends, plus online access to recipes and ingredient substitutes.
Ships to: Worldwide with free U.S. shipping
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Each box comes with four spice blends and coordinating recipe cards. Let's get into this month's spices!
Chipotle Spice
The first blend for November is a Chipotle Spice. This was packed full of so many flavors, I loved it! There was the right amount of spice and a really nice smokey flavor. You get a little salt which comes from the porcini mushroom powder that is the main ingredient. Other spices that make up this blend include chipotle, sage, paprika, cumin, Mexican oregano, onion, garlic, and marjoram. I decided to use this spice as a dry rub on chicken breasts, allowing the rub to marinate the chicken for almost 5 hours. I baked the chicken in the oven with some oil and water for, what I think, is perfectly baked chicken breasts. The flavors from the spice blend filled the house and made the chicken so flavorful.
Chipotle Sourdough Stuffing Recipe
This recipe will help you create a Southwestern stuffing that will be unlike anything your Grandma made, or at least unlike anything mine made! The ingredients are most everything that you would see in a traditional stuffing like onion, celery, and garlic. What makes this unique is the use of sourdough bread and adding that yummy chipotle spice blend that will give you hints of sage and porcini mushrooms. The perfect recipe to use with your next turkey dinner!
Peppermint Chai Spice
The minute you open this spice packet you are hit with an amazing smell that reminds me of the Holidays! Dried peppermint leaves are added to this traditional chai blend to really add that lovely mint flavor that is great for a cold winter day. A fun fact that I learned from the Piquant Post Blog is that Chai in Hindi means tea, so when we think Chai tea it is actually Chai Masala meaning, tea spice blend. This Chai Masala blend contains freshly ground cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, and black pepper. I sprinkled this spice to the top of eggnog for a flavorful taste of the holiday, what a way to kick off the season!
Peppermint Chai Loaf Recipe
This is another remake of a holiday classic recipe that is great to make for your next family gathering. The chai masala spice blend and peppermint will bring out a bold flavor to this holiday loaf. What I love about this recipe is that most of the ingredients were in my pantry and the four steps seem super simple to follow. While I am on the world's best baker, I am going to give this spicy loaf a go closer to the holidays to see what my family thinks!
Curry Powder Spice
I cook curry dishes all the time and I am so excited to see a pre-made spice blend that I can use for one of my many meals. This all-purpose blend was made with coriander, cumin, turmeric, black pepper, cardamom, ginger, curry leaves, fenugreek, Ceylon cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. The Piquant Post Blog notes that this was expertly blended to ensure authenticity without too much of the heat that many curry dishes have. You can really tell when you open this packet that the blend won't be too spicy, but has that warm scent from your favorite curry dish. I can't wait to cook with this blend!
Cranberry Curry Lentil Soup Recipe
This recipe is meant to use after Thanksgiving with your cranberry leftovers, so fun! This recipe is packed full of ingredients like lentils, cranberry sauce, pumpkin puree, onion, and garlic. The tartness of the cranberry sauce is meant to complement the all too perfect curry spice blend, but do note that if you want your soup to pack a little heat feel free to add a jalapeno. I haven't cooked this soup just yet but will be adding it to my weekly dinner plan in the coming weeks as the nights get colder. You better believe I will be adding all of that curry spice blend and an extra jalapeno pepper!
Herb Vinaigrette Blend
This blend was inspired by the classic French herb medley called "Herbs de Provence." The traditional blend contains lavender and tarragon which were removed from this particular blend to give a more subtle flavor. This particular blend contains oregano, marjoram, basil, thyme, parsley, mustard seed, fennel seed, black pepper, and tangerine peel. For me, this blend was so light, refreshing, and natural like something that was ground straight from a garden. The smell was incredible and the flavors are even more beautiful. I had a lot of this blend leftover which I will be using for oil to dip bread in.
Green Beans With Shallot Vinaigrette Recipe
This recipe will take your traditional green beans to a whole new level! I love green beans and so does my son, but this vinaigrette might be how I need to make them from now on - he gobbled them down! The recipe was very quick and easy with simple ingredients that I mostly had in my pantry. Let's see what all you need to make this delicious green bean dish.
To make your beans, simple bring a bot of water to a boil and let cook for five minutes. That's it! While the beans cook, add your chopped shallots, garlic, dijon mustard, olive oil, white wine vinegar, and your herb spice blend. Whisk together well until everything is combined and fragrant. All done!
I decided to add my vinaigrette to my green beans while they were still on the heat to let the shallots cook a bit (I don't love that straight onion flavor). I left them on the heat for maybe three minutes and stirred it all together to ensure each green bean was coated with the vinaigrette.
Time to serve! This was that chipotle spice blend chicken with the herb vinaigrette green beans. The green beans had a wonderful tart flavor from the mustard and vinegar mixed with that natural herb spice blend. The vinaigrette mixed with the crunch of the green beans was so delicious I could have eaten a whole bowl on my own. What a delicious meal these two spice blends made!
Verdict: Piquant Post really delivered the flavor this month! With the overall theme being Thanksgiving, I loved that each blend and recipe focused on remaking traditional recipes to be a bit more out of the box. I love trying new recipes, but I struggle with adding the right amount of different spices or just knowing what spices to use. Piquant Post delivers exactly what you need in the perfectly developed spice blend packet. If there is a recipe that you don't feel comfortable cooking or just don't have the time to make right away, most recipe cards offer alternative ideas of what to do with each blend right away. I loved that I was able to use the peppermint chai as a topper to eggnog, and that I was able to make the herb green beans with chipotle spice chicken. This month really brought a whole variety that I loved cooking with!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No. Order by the 15th of each month to get that month's box.
Coupon - For a limited time, use code HOLIDAY20 to save 20% off! Or, use code MSA15OFF to save 15% off your first box!
Value Breakdown: This box costs $11.99 with free U.S. shipping, and I received a total of 4 spices. That means that the average value for each of those items is around $3 (not counting the recipe cards). While I did love this month's spices and recipes, I still feel that the overall value is a bit high. Even though the recipes include a lot of items that you might have in your pantry, there were a lot of ingredients that I needed to buy for each recipe. Overall though, I think that this box is a great way to help introduce different spices into your cooking in a fun and easy way!
Have you received the Piquant Post box? What did you think of the November spices?
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