How to Organize Spices In A Deep Drawer: My Indian Spice Drawer

It’s true what they say about Indians and their love for spices. We grow up on a complex cocktail of spices of all spectrums. Earthy, tingly, heady. Tip-of-the-tongue-spicy. Back-of-the-throat-spicy. And my favourite kind – tastes-super-mild-but smells-heavenly. My husband and I love spending time in the kitchen and experimenting with different recipes, so naturally, my spice drawer was a WRECK. And I mean, chaos central. Stuff spilling, open packets – the works. Which I why I can tell you I have come a LONG WAY. I am now officially a ‘proper-liddy’ with the nicely labelled spice jars. Which is also why I can tell you – I know a thing or two about how to organize spices in a deep drawer.

If you are someone whose spice drawer has gone past the point of no return, if you are someone who wants to keep some semblance of order when it comes to spices, I could just show you how I did mine. I mean, maybe that would give you some ideas? I could also share with you my learnings on what to do if you’re wanting to organize your spice drawer from scratch.

The Before

Okay so this is kind of embarrassing, but I didn’t take a ‘before picture’.

But you know, I could still paint a picture.

You ready?

Think half-open cardboard boxes & packets of Indian masalas, dearly held together by over-stretched rubber bands.

Sneaky, powdery spices leaking through gaps and corners – creating a never-before blend of spices that doubled as my drawer liner.

Broken rubber bands (whose sacrifice shall always be remembered).

Plastic jars with fading labels – a rather-sweet memory of a time when I tried (I was quite proud of myself).

Can you see it yet?

Yep. It was a mega mess. Fun times.

The Process

Here’s the simple process I followed to organize spices in my deep drawer:

• Empty your drawer
• Clean up every corner
• Add a drawer liner
• Save spices that are unspoilt & fresh
• Throw away the ones that are expired or smell weird
• Transfer your good spices into steady, heavy jars (buy or upcycle)
• Label the lids for best visibility

The After

Here are a few of my ‘after’ pictures! (I did remember to take those)

Not super-aesthetic or highly uniform, really – but it has given me SO much piece of mind.

My Top Tips To Organize Spices in a Deep Drawer

Find a No-budge System

If you have a deep drawer you are organizing your spices in, the number one thing you want to avoid is stuff rolling around or shuffling when the drawer is opened or closed. This was one of the biggest reasons for mess in my spice drawer. I had a few flimsy plastic containers for spices but they would topple over, Indian masalas often come in cardboard boxes and these would shuffle around and spill over.

What you need are reasonably heavy glass containers or jars that won’t move around too much. These should ideally be the right height so they are standing up. 

You could lay them flat too but avoid that if your jars are cylindrical. Those would roll around.

Select the Right Containers

Speaking of which, the big one when it comes to spice organization is the kind of container you pick. You could upcycle what you have or buy a set of uniform-looking containers. I did a mix of both. As you can see we Indians can never have enough spices.

So I got a set of square glass jars (with round lids). They’re not available on Amazon anymore and these are the closest ones currently available on Amazon.

I also repurposed some pickle and condiment jars that had the right height for the drawer.

As a general guide, I’d say, consider these things before deciding on your spice containers:

• Type and size of mouth

Sprinkler type or scoop type? If you’re the sprinkler type you get these sprinkler-style jars on Amazon that have a narrow mouth. 

We Indians generally are very generous with our spices while cooking so I went for a wide-mouth jar that makes stuff easy to scoop out with a spoon.

• Shape 

Generally square shaped jars save more space overall because they lock in together better. But if you don’t have a space concern you could go for cylindrical jars too.

• Airtight

Obviously go for airtight lids. Preserves the freshness of the spices for longer.

Pick the Right Labels – Visibility

Add a label to the top of the lid if your jars are standing up, in the center if they are lying flat.

Make sure they are nice and visible. 

You could get blank labels and write with a chalk pencil.

Or you could get one of the pre-typed labels. These ones come in various shapes and colours.

I actually went with the handwritten ones (thought they’d look cuter and I’d have more control) – only to change to typed ones later because the ink started to fade and compromised visibility.

Frequency of Use

I like to arrange spices by the frequency of use. Most used in the front, least at the back.

Some folks like to do alphabetical. If you want to go alphabetical, I am not judging you (okay maybe a little).

Choose Practicality Over Perfection & Aesthetics

I mean all my spice jars don’t look super curated and pin-worthy. They are not all uniform with minimal labels straight out of boujee coffee shop.

But they MORE THAN do the job.

I can find stuff easily. Nothing is spilling over. It looks neat. It looks organized. It makes me feel calm and less stressed.

And I guess that’s all that matters.

Sometimes we hold ourselves back from starting to organize, because things don’t look just right and we don’t have all the bells and whistles. But just getting things done in a functional way is what counts more than anything.

Also, white boujee labels would not have survived a day with stain-prone Indian spices 🙂

Leftover Spices: What to do with spices that did not make the jar?

Okay so you have cute jars. But not all the spices can fit in sometimes and stuff gets leftover in random packets and spice boxes.

What now?

So here’s what I do: I arrange all my leftover spices in a deep bin and stash it in the fridge.

The fridge did you say?

Yes, the fridge.

This actually helps spices last longer. Also they are neatly tucked away instead of floating around taking drawer space.

These bins also use the depth of my fridge really well, white taking very little space width-wise.

I can just pull out a bin and pick out a spice box/packet anytime I need to refill a jar.

So that’s a peek into how I organized my spice drawer!

There is no one right way to organize spices in a deep drawer, but this is what worked for me.

As long as you have the broad plan in place – you’ll find what works best for the space that you have.

I do find organizing spices in drawers the most convenient, since it keeps everything neatly tucked away yet easily accessible.

If you don’t have enough drawer space, you could check out this ingenious space-saving spice holder for your cabinet or even this magnetic fridge spice rack.

If you are struggling with lack of drawers in your kitchen, you might want to check these storage ideas for a no-drawer kitchen.