I love a good shortcut as much as anyone, and there are plenty of nights when a store-bought ingredient is exactly what I need. But there are also a handful of things I have learned are worth making from scratch because they do not require much extra effort and can completely change the finished Blackstone meal.

I have never believed that everything in a recipe has to be homemade for the food to be good.

There are times when I am perfectly happy opening a bottle of sauce, using pre-shredded cheese, grabbing prepared dough, or taking advantage of any other shortcut that gets dinner on the table faster. Cooking is supposed to be enjoyable, and turning every meal into an all-day project is a pretty good way to make it stop being enjoyable.

At the same time, there are certain components I keep coming back to because making them myself gives me a noticeably better result.

Sometimes the difference is flavor. Sometimes it is texture. Sometimes making something from scratch gives me more control over how sweet, spicy, creamy, or salty the final dish becomes. And sometimes it simply turns a familiar recipe into something that feels uniquely ours.

That is especially true with Blackstone cooking because the griddle, pellet grill, and pizza oven often handle the main part of the meal extremely well. Adding one homemade component can be the thing that takes an already good cook to another level.

The trick is knowing which things are actually worth the effort.

These are seven of the homemade extras I find myself making again and again.

1. Homemade Ranch

If you have followed Blackstone Cooking for any amount of time, you have probably seen ranch show up more than once.

Chicken bacon ranch sliders are an obvious example. Ranch also works with wraps, sandwiches, tacos, fried foods, vegetables, wings, and plenty of other things coming off the Blackstone.

Could I use bottled ranch?

Absolutely.

But homemade ranch is one of the easiest examples of a from-scratch ingredient giving you a big payoff for very little work.

A basic ranch can come together with ingredients such as mayonnaise, sour cream or buttermilk, herbs, garlic, onion, lemon juice, and seasonings. Once you make it yourself, you can also adjust it to the meal.

Want it thinner for drizzling?

Add a little more buttermilk.

Want it thicker for dipping?

Keep the base heavier.

Want more garlic?

Add it.

Want some heat?

A little cayenne, hot sauce, or jalapeño can take it in a completely different direction.

That flexibility is one of the biggest advantages of making sauces yourself. You are no longer adapting the meal to whatever came out of the bottle. You can adapt the sauce to the food.

For something like chicken bacon ranch sliders, where ranch is one of the primary flavors, I think that difference matters.

2. Homemade Cheese Sauce

There is absolutely nothing wrong with putting sliced cheese directly onto a Blackstone sandwich.

I do it all the time.

But sometimes a recipe needs something different.

A homemade cheese sauce gives you the ability to coat ingredients instead of simply laying cheese over them. That can be especially useful on cheesesteaks, loaded fries, nachos, burgers, breakfast dishes, or anything else where you want cheese distributed throughout the food.

My Korean barbecue cheesesteak is a good example.

That sandwich already has a lot happening with thinly sliced steak, onions, peppers, and gochujang-inspired Korean barbecue flavors. A homemade cheese sauce lets the cheese work its way through the sandwich instead of becoming one separate layer sitting on top.

It also gives you control over the flavor.

You can change the cheeses.

You can make it sharper.

You can add garlic.

You can add spice.

You can thin it enough to drizzle or keep it thick enough to cling to meat and vegetables.

A cheese sauce takes a little more effort than opening a package of sliced cheese, but when the sauce is actually part of the identity of the recipe, I think it is worth it.

3. Homemade Pizza and Calzone Dough

This one requires more commitment.

Making dough from scratch means measuring ingredients, mixing, kneading, and giving the dough time to rise. It is certainly not as convenient as buying dough that is already prepared.

But for me, this is one of the homemade components where the extra work has a much bigger impact.

When I make calzones in the Blackstone pizza oven, the dough is not just something holding the filling together. It is a huge part of the finished food.

The exterior needs to brown properly in the high heat of the pizza oven while the interior remains tender and slightly chewy. The dough also needs enough structure to hold sauce, cheese, meat, vegetables, or whatever else ends up inside without falling apart.

Making my own dough gives me control over all of that.

It also means I can adjust it over time.

If I want it slightly softer, I can make changes.

If I want more fermentation and flavor, I can give it more time.

If I know the dough will be used for calzones instead of pizza, I can account for how it needs to stretch, fold, and seal.

Store-bought dough can absolutely make a good meal.

But if pizza or calzones are something you make regularly, learning to make your own dough is one of those skills that keeps paying you back.

4. Homemade Ricotta

This may be one of the more unusual things I make from scratch.

Most people who make calzones probably buy ricotta.

And honestly, that is completely reasonable.

But once I started making my own, it became part of what makes our homemade calzones feel special.

Fresh ricotta is surprisingly simple compared with what people sometimes imagine when they hear “homemade cheese.” You are essentially heating dairy, introducing acid so the curds separate, and then draining them until you reach the texture you want.

The biggest advantage is freshness.

Homemade ricotta has a soft, creamy texture that is noticeably different from many versions that have been sitting in a container at the grocery store.

I can also control how much moisture remains.

That is particularly helpful with calzones because overly wet ricotta can create problems. Too much moisture inside the dough can make the filling watery and interfere with the crust.

Making it myself allows me to drain it until it reaches exactly the consistency I want.

Is homemade ricotta something I expect everyone to make every Tuesday night?

No.

But when I am making fully homemade calzones with scratch dough, sauce, and ricotta, it becomes part of the experience.

Those are the cooks where I am intentionally choosing to make the project a little bigger.

5. Homemade Pizza Sauce

Pizza sauce is another place where relatively little effort can make a big difference.

There are plenty of good jarred sauces available, and I use convenience products when I need them. But homemade pizza sauce gives me control over something that affects almost every bite.

I can decide how thick it should be.

I can control the garlic.

I can adjust the herbs.

I can decide how sweet or acidic it should be.

Most importantly, I can make it work for what I am cooking.

A sauce for pizza does not necessarily need to be the same consistency as a sauce I want inside a calzone. If the filling is already fairly moist, I may want a thicker sauce so the dough does not become soggy.

That is one of the things I appreciate about learning basic sauces.

Once you understand the foundation, you stop treating the recipe as fixed.

You start making the sauce fit the cook.

6. Au Jus and Cooking Liquids

Au jus is one of those things that can look like a small side component until you taste a sandwich without it.

Then you realize how much it matters.

When I cook chuck roast low and slow with onions and liquid, I am not only thinking about the meat. I want all of those flavors to build together so that the liquid becomes useful too.

That au jus may eventually become the dipping liquid for a smoked beef sandwich or French dip.

The same principle applies whenever you have flavorful cooking juices.

Do not automatically throw them away.

Sometimes the best “homemade sauce” is already sitting underneath the food you just cooked.

Strain it if necessary.

Reduce it.

Adjust the seasoning.

Remove excess fat if needed.

Then use it.

When I made French dip sandwiches with leftover beef tenderloin, the au jus was not just an optional cup sitting beside the sandwich. The act of dipping the toasted bread into that warm, savory liquid is part of what makes a French dip a French dip.

It is worth treating that component with the same attention you give the meat.

7. Slaws, Corn Salads, and Fresh Taco Toppings

Not every homemade upgrade needs to be rich.

In fact, some of the most useful things you can make from scratch are the fresh components that balance everything else.

A smoky shredded beef taco is delicious, but rich beef can become heavy if everything on top of it is equally rich.

That is where something like a fresh corn salad can completely change the dish.

The same is true for slaw on pulled pork tacos or coconut shrimp tacos.

Fresh cabbage, lime, herbs, onions, corn, jalapeños, or other crisp ingredients bring acidity, crunch, brightness, and temperature contrast.

They make the meal feel more balanced.

These are also some of the easiest homemade components because they usually do not involve much cooking.

Chop.

Mix.

Season.

Taste.

Adjust.

Done.

For coconut shrimp tacos, the contrast between hot, crispy fried shrimp and cool slaw is part of what makes the taco work.

For shredded beef tacos, a fresh corn salad helps cut through the richness of the smoked meat.

Sometimes the component that upgrades the meal is not another layer of cheese or another sauce.

Sometimes it is the thing that keeps all of that richness under control.

Homemade Does Not Automatically Mean Better

There is an important point I want to make here.

Making something yourself does not automatically make it superior.

I have eaten plenty of homemade sauces that would have benefited greatly from somebody opening a bottle.

There are also excellent prepared products available.

The goal should never be to make something from scratch simply so you can say you did.

If the store-bought version tastes great, works perfectly in the recipe, saves you an hour, and lets you enjoy the cook more, use it.

I think homemade ingredients are worth the effort when at least one of three things is true:

The homemade version tastes noticeably better.

Making it yourself gives you important control over the recipe.

The process itself is something you enjoy.

If none of those applies, I am probably taking the shortcut.

Decide Where to Spend Your Effort

This is how I approach larger cooks.

I do not try to make every component from scratch.

I decide where homemade is going to matter most.

If I am making chicken bacon ranch sliders, the bread may be purchased, the bacon may come straight from the package, and the cheese may be sliced at the grocery store.

But I may make the ranch.

That one homemade element becomes the signature piece.

If I am making calzones, I may decide that this is one of those cooks where I want to go all the way with homemade dough, ricotta, and sauce.

If I am making tacos on a weeknight, the tortillas may come from a package, but I can make a fresh slaw or corn salad in a few minutes.

It does not need to be all or nothing.

Pick the part that gives you the biggest return.

From-Scratch Ingredients Can Make a Recipe Yours

This is probably my favorite part.

Once you start making some of these components yourself, your recipes become harder to duplicate exactly.

Not because they are complicated, but because your version begins reflecting the choices you make.

Your ranch may have more garlic than mine.

Your cheese sauce may use a different blend of cheese.

Your pizza dough may ferment longer.

Your slaw may be more acidic.

Your au jus may be richer.

That is where a recipe starts becoming personal.

You can follow somebody else’s basic idea and still end up with something that feels like your own because you have made decisions along the way.

That is part of what I enjoy most about cooking.

Start With One Thing

If you rely mostly on prepared ingredients right now, I would not suggest suddenly deciding that your next dinner needs homemade bread, cheese, sauce, pickles, mayonnaise, and butter.

That sounds exhausting.

Pick one thing.

Make ranch.

Try a simple cheese sauce.

Mix a fresh slaw instead of buying one.

Make pizza sauce.

See whether the result feels worth the effort.

If it does, keep it in your rotation.

Then learn something else.

Eventually, you end up with a collection of small techniques that you can pull out whenever a recipe needs them.

That is much more useful than trying to become a completely from-scratch cook overnight.

It Can Also Become Part of the Fun

There is another reason I sometimes choose the longer route.

I enjoy it.

When I make calzones and start with flour instead of prepared dough, the entire cook feels different.

Making the ricotta is part of it.

Making the sauce is part of it.

Stretching the dough is part of it.

Then everything finally goes into the Blackstone pizza oven and all of those separate pieces come together.

That kind of cooking is not about convenience.

It is about the process.

Other nights, I need dinner in 30 minutes and have absolutely no interest in making cheese.

Both kinds of cooking are valid.

Knowing which kind of night you are having may be one of the most important cooking skills of all.

Homemade Ingredients Are Great Content Too

There is also a content-creation benefit.

People may come to a Blackstone Cooking video expecting to see what happens on the griddle, but showing the homemade elements gives them something extra they can use elsewhere.

A homemade ranch recipe is useful whether somebody owns a Blackstone or not.

The same is true for pizza dough, cheese sauce, ricotta, slaw, and au jus.

Those techniques can travel into other meals.

That makes them worth sharing because the recipe becomes more than, “Put this food on the griddle and cook it.”

It teaches something.

And I think the best cooking content gives people something they can take into the next meal too.

My Personal Rule: Make the Things That Matter Most

If there is one principle behind all of this, it is simple.

Spend your effort where people will taste it.

Nobody gets extra points at dinner because you spent four hours making an ingredient that tastes exactly like the one you could have bought.

But if five extra minutes making homemade ranch makes everyone ask what is in the sauce, that was probably five minutes well spent.

If homemade ricotta completely changes your calzone, make it.

If your family loves your pizza sauce, keep making it.

If nobody can tell the difference between your homemade version and the shortcut?

Use the shortcut and spend that time enjoying the cook.

That balance keeps cooking fun.

Final Thoughts

Cooking from scratch does not have to mean cooking everything from scratch.

For me, it is about identifying a few components where a little extra effort gives the meal something it would not otherwise have.

Homemade ranch can transform chicken bacon ranch sliders.

A scratch-made cheese sauce can become the thing people remember about a cheesesteak.

Homemade dough, ricotta, and sauce can turn calzone night into an entire cooking project.

A good au jus can make leftover beef worth looking forward to.

And a fresh slaw or corn salad can provide exactly the contrast a rich taco needs.

None of these things are required.

That is what makes them fun.

You get to decide when convenience wins and when the meal deserves a little more effort.

I use plenty of shortcuts.

But when I know a homemade component is going to make a noticeable difference, I am willing to spend the extra time.

Because sometimes the thing everyone remembers about a Blackstone meal is not actually what came off the griddle.

It is the little extra thing you made to go with it.