Whether your cooking skills are worthy of those of a Michelin star chef or of an amateur, knowing a few shortcuts and cooking tips to spend less time in the kitchen can be a real game-changer!
First of all, kudos to you for cooking your own food! It means that you’re on the path to reaching your #HealthyLifestyle goal. However, we know that no one likes getting stuck in the kitchen for more than a couple of hours a day (including clean-up time).
If you’re a meal prepper, we already covered for you some basic tips to make your prepping life easier, however, if you want to take your cooking game to the next level, you will need more kitchen hacks!
Here are 25 time-saving tips that will make all the difference in your cooking!
25.) Peel Tomatoes The Easy Way
Pixabay
For mess-free peeled tomatoes, freeze them for a few minutes first, then cut an X in the top, and, finally, simmer them in a pot of hot water for less than a minute. When you run cold water over them, the skin will fall right off.
24.) Bake Your Eggs. Yep, You Read That Right!
Family Fresh Meals
If you have a few eggs to cook, you can use the same cold/hot water technique and hard boil them. However, if you’re prepping your week’s food or if you’re hosting a dinner party, you can bake your eggs in a muffin tray in the oven! Preheat the oven (350 F / 175 C), put the eggs in the muffin cups and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Finally, plunge the eggs in a bowl of ice-cold water for about 10 minutes.
Source: Family Fresh Meals
23.) Hack Your Ice Cube Tray
Mark’s Daily Apple
Instead of packing your freezer with countless jars of leftover food, use your ice-cube tray.
Pour in some leftover tomato paste, broth, oil, sauces and even coffee, and freeze them. Then put the cubes inside a Ziploc bag to store them for a longer period. They won’t take much space, and you will have even portions when you’re ready to use them!
Source: Mark’s Daily Apple
22.) Bread: From Sloppy To Crunchy
Pexels – Marianna OLE
Forgot to buy bread on your way home and stuck with yesterday’s floppy leftovers? Don’t worry, simply drizzle a light layer of water over the bread, then pop it in a pre-heated oven and wait for about 5 to 7 minutes. Your bread will become crunchy and brand-new!
And if you would like your bread to be as yummy as it can get, using a bread maker will make everything much easier. Read our full review here to discover the best-rated bread makers on the market.
21.) An Egg-cellent Technique
The first technique is using a plastic bottle: Crack your egg open in a bowl, position the water neck on top of the egg yolk, squeeze the bottle and let go little by little until the egg is sucked inside the bottle.
No bottle in sight? Use your hands! Clean them thoroughly and gently lower your hands inside the bowl. Cup the egg yolk and lift it slowly, the egg white will runthrough your fingers, and you’re done!
Source: Handimania
20.) Dry Herbs On The Spot
Health.com
For instant dry herbs, lay them on a sheet of clean paper towel while making sure there is enough space between them, and pop them in a microwave. Flip them and check on them every 20 seconds and remove them from the microwave when they’re nice and crispy.
If you’re wondering which microwaves are best for you, read our full countertop microwave ovens reviews here.
Source: Health.com
19.) Soften Butter in a Jiffy
News 24
Need your cold butter stick to soften quickly? Then heat an empty glass with hot boiling water, dump the water out and flip the now heated glass on top of your stick of butter. The heat will transfer to the butter in a few minutes and you will have nice instantly soft butter to use!
Source: News 24
18.) A Grate Way To Use Butter
Olga’s Flavor Factory
Another way to use cold butter quickly is to grate it! It could be good if you want to spread it on a baking pan, add it to your cookie dough or use it to top toast, vegetables or baked potatoes. Yummy!
Source: Olga’s Flavor Factory
17.) Bake Like a Boss with Miracle Pan Release
Veronica’s Cornucopia
Unmolding your cake from the pan without crumbling it might be one of the most satisfying sights in a kitchen! For a fail-proof, non-sticky method, Veronica from Veronica’s Cornucopia came up with a miracle cake release paste that includes vegetable shortening, vegetable oil and all-purpose flour.
Visit her website for more details and to nail your cakes, discover our selection of the best toaster ovens here.
Source: Veronica’s Cornucopia
16.) Peel Garlic The Easy Way
The Pin Junkie
Having our hands smell of garlic for more than three hours? No, thanks! To peel garlic easily and quickly, The Pin Junkie came up with a clever trick! After crunching the garlic bulb using your hands or a bowl, put the garlic cloves in a hard container. Seal it and shake. The friction and sides of the container will knock the skins off. Separate the garlic from the skins, and, voila, you will have peeled garlic ready to use.
Source: The Pin Junkie
15.) No More Sliding Cutting Board
Pixabay
To prevent your cutting board from sliding, put a damp paper towel or hand towel underneath it. No more dancing board!
And in case you want to automate the whole slicing and cutting business, discover the best food processors.
14.) Make an Easy Ice Cream Substitute
One Good Thing By Jillee
Want to make a quick, healthy homemade frozen treat? One Good Thing By Jillee concocted an easy alternative to ice cream. Simply slide a Popsicle stick inside an individual yogurt cup through the cover, and freeze for a couple of hours. The result is a refreshing and guilt-free dessert!
If you want to make real traditional ice cream (or a family recipe with a twist), we have the perfect ice cream makers to help you unleash your inner chef.
Source: One Good Thing By Jillee
13.) Substitute, Substitute, Substitute
Pixabay
Did you know that you can swap buttermilk with regular milk mixed with lemon? You can also substitute sour cream with plain yogurt, and lemon juice with apple cider vinegar! Neat, right?
Thanks to Just A Pinch’s chart, you won’t panic next time you run out of the 17 ingredients they listed!
12.) Chop Your Herbs Like You Slice Your Pizza!
Home Hacks
To chop your fresh or dry herbs quickly, use your pizza cutter! Roll and cut, and repeat!
Source: Home Hacks
11.) Juice Out Your Fruits
Pixabay
For juicy lemon slices, roll the fruit on a hard surface before cutting and juicing them. It will be easier to get the juice out after you’ve squeezed it.
You can also use a juicer for better results. You can read all about our favorite juicers here.
10.) Easy-Peasy Cut Cherry Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes, as well as other small fruits and veggies like grapes, take quite some time to be cut. How about cutting them in half in one slice? You only need to gently press them between two plates, and run your knife!
9.) Peel a Mango with a Glass
It’s easy, and it takes only a few seconds: To get the most out of your mango, peel it with water glass!
8.) Become a Taco Shell and Taco Bowl Whiz
Mr. & Mrs. Vegan
Taco shells and bowls are often fried or contain partially hydrogenated oils, this is why Mr. & Mrs. Vegan decided to make their own healthier version!
For the taco shells, you will need to wrap the tortillas in a barely damp cloth or paper towel and microwave on High until steamed, for about 30 seconds. Get them out and coat both sides with cooking spray. Then carefully drape each tortilla over two bars of the oven rack. Bake at 375 F (190 C) until crispy, 7 to 10 minutes.
Follow the same directions for taco bowls, but nestle them into the back of muffin tray to create the bowl shape instead.
Source: Mr. & Mrs. Vegan
7.) Reheat Leftovers The Right Way
The Kitchn
Create a small empty circle in the middle of your leftovers before reheating them in the microwave so they’ll heat more evenly.
Also, put a glass of water in the microwave with your leftovers as well. The water will keep your food from overcooking, and your pizza will stay crunchy!
Source: The Kitchn
6.) Let an Apple Cutter Come To Your Rescue
Craving some fried potatoes? Slice your potatoes into wedges quickly using just an apple cutter!
Or you can use it for a bunch of other fruits and veggies like in this video by HandiMania!
5.) Don’t Let Things Boil Over
Mommy Minutes Blog
How many times did you leave your water boiling only to come back to an overflowing puddle? To prevent your water from boiling over, simply lay a wooden spoon on the pot.
Source: Mommy Minutes Blog
4.) No Scale in Sight? Know How To Convert!
Pixabay
Instead of running back and forth between your recipe and the scale-converting website, always have this kitchen cheat sheet from Everest close to you! We advise you to print it and stick it to your fridge – cooking tips like this keep on giving!
Source: Everest.co.uk
3.) Hull Strawberries with a Straw
Barefeet In The Kitchen
Cutting the tip of the strawberries takes time and isn’t that pretty-looking. To get rid of their green tip, hull your strawberries with a straw from bottom to top.
Source: Barefeet In The Kitchen
2.) Win Every Morning with Smoothie Kits
The Kitchn
For quick daily beverages, prepare your smoothie kits once, and enjoy them for the rest of the week! You will need to prepare your fruits by cutting them, freezing them on a tray, zipping them into bags and finally labeling each one of them.
We are in love with the cooking tips from The Kitchn. For more info, visit their website.
P.S.: You can make this process even smoother by choosing the right smoothie blender for you.
Source: The Kitchn
1.) Let Lemons Do Double Duty
Pixabay
With this cooking tip, you’ll kill two birds with one stone! When grilling fish, put a layer of lemon slices first. This will keep the fish from sticking to the grilling pan (which means less time scrubbing the tray clean), and it will also add that smoked lemon flavor that goes so well with fish and seafood!
How about you? What are your favorite time-saving cooking tips? Let us in the comments and share this article with any amateur chef you know!
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