Over the years, I’ve picked up all kinds of kitchen hacks that make life a little easier. You know, the kind of tips that make you wish you would have known them sooner.
From making fresh herbs last longer, to fixing a soup that accidentally came out too salty, I’ve got the hacks that help solve your regular kitchen woes!
Related: Brilliant Kitchen Cleaning Hacks That Actually Work
Wash Less Dishes After Cooking
When following a recipe, do you end up dragging out all kinds of measuring cups and spoons? After all, you want to make sure you have the right amount of ingredients. Give your dishwasher, or your hands, a break next time by eliminating all those measuring tools. How? Measure your ingredients by weight instead of volume using a kitchen scale. You’ll only have a single bowl to wash!
Keep Cheese From Sticking to the Grater
Freshly grated cheese is infinitely better than the bagged stuff, but it’s kind of a pain to prep. I always end up with little bits of cheese stuck all over the grater. For a much easier cleanup (and getting to use more of what you shred!), give your cheese grater a quick spritz of cooking spray first.
No Bread Crumbs? No Problem
Let’s say you’re cooking a dish, and all of a sudden you realize you’re out of breadcrumbs. You could just skip it, or you could make a really quick and easy replacement. Traditionally, you would preheat the oven, dry slices of bread for a while, let them cool, and then throw them in a food processor. But hear me out – just grate a piece of toast.
Put Onions in the Fridge to Save Your Eyes
If cutting onions makes your eyes water, try chilling them first. If you stick them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes before you start chopping, it might save you some tears. Chilling slows the release of irritating enzymes. Just don’t leave the onion in the freezer for too long, because a frozen onion is pretty hard to cut!
Take Boxed Mac n Cheese to the Next Level
I know we should be avoiding processed foods, but sometimes you just can’t help but make a box of mac and cheese. It won’t taste like homemade from scratch, but you can bump it up to the next level with a simple addition. Just add in a half cup of sour cream.
Make Store-Bought Frozen Rolls Taste Homemade
While we’re on the topic of dressing up store-bought foods, let’s talk about frozen dinner rolls. After you’ve let them thaw (as per directions), brush the tops with an egg wash and sprinkle your chosen seasoning blend on top. Personally, I like Italian seasoning, but get creative if you like.
Make Boxed Cake Taste Homemade
Okay, one more. You can also doctor up a box cake to make it taste homemade. When looking at the directions, add one more egg than it calls for, replace water with milk, and then replace the oil with melted butter and double the amount. Voila! It’s like magic.
Extra-Large Cooling Rack
This one comes in handy especially around the holidays, when you have a ton of baking to do. If you find yourself running out of space on the cooling rack, grab your ironing board. Remove the cover, and now you have a makeshift cooling rack – and it even stands on its own without needing counter space.
Minced Garlic Without a Knife
Mincing garlic without a garlic press is tedious, and it’s exponential when you need a lot of it. Instead of doing it with a knife, I’ve got two different solutions. You can simply run a clove along a grater to get fine pieces of garlic. Or, you can put peeled cloves inside a plastic bag and smash them with a meat tenderizer.
Fix Tomato Sauce With a Carrot
If your tomato sauce has gotten too acidic, you don’t need to throw it out and start over. Peel a whole carrot and drop it into the sauce. Let the whole carrot simmer for a while, and then remove before serving. The carrot will balance the acidity with a subtle sweetness.
Fix Salty Soup With an Apple
Similarly, you can fix a soup that has gotten too salty, too. This time, you’ll want to slice an apple into wedges. Throw a few wedges into the soup and let it simmer for ten minutes or so. Remove the wedges before serving.
Removing Stems From Strawberries Like a Pro
To quickly remove the stems from fresh strawberries, grab a drinking straw. It can be a reusable stainless steel one! Insert the straw into the tip of the strawberry, and then push it through the other end, taking the stem with it. This is especially helpful when you’re using a lot of strawberries at once.
Keep Salad Fresh Longer
Pre-cut salad in a bag goes bad faster than an avocado, it seems like. To help your salad last longer, add a dry paper towel to the bag with the lettuce leaves. It will help absorb extra moisture in the bag and keep it off of the lettuce. Replace the paper towel every day or so.
Prevent That Mixing Bowl From Sliding
This one is so simple, you’ll wonder why you’ve never thought of it before. Keep your bowls in place while you mix and whip. Put a damp dish towel under your mixing bowls to prevent them from sliding all over the counter as you work.
Make Fresh Herbs Last Longer
Fresh herbs are wonderful, but they sure do get wilty – and fast. This will help them last much longer. Snip the ends of the stems, and place them into a small glass of water (almost like a tiny bunch of flowers!). Place a plastic bag over top and secure it to the glass. Or, if you have tall enough mason jars, you can add a few inches of water in the bottom and place your herbs inside. Simply add the lid on top, instead of a plastic bag.
Swap Butter for Mayo When Making Grilled Cheese
If you want to make the best grilled cheese sandwich, skip the butter. Instead, slather mayonnaise on your bread before putting it down in the pan. It may sound odd if you’ve never done it before, but anyone who does it never goes back to butter. It results in the perfectly golden crunch.
Keep Cookies Soft
Freshly baked cookies are so soft, but they can harden up quickly. When you pack them into a container or a storage bag, toss in half a slice of bread with them. The cookies will absorb moisture from the bread, which will keep them nice and soft.
Take Butter to the Next Level
Butter by itself is great, but this simple hack will take any recipe to the next level. Add a little lemon juice, fresh chopped chives, and fresh chopped parsley to a softened stick of butter. From here, you can put it into molds, or spoon it onto a piece of wax paper and roll it up into a log. Place it in the fridge to chill until firm. I bet you didn’t know making compound butter would be so easy!
Proof In the Oven
The ideal temperature for proofing bread varies depending on what kind of bread you are making – but if your kitchen is too cold or drafty, it won’t work very well for any of them. Professional bakers often use a proof box, but most of us home bakers don’t have one. Instead, use your oven to create a consistent environment. Leave the oven off, and place the dough on the middle rack. Then, put a baking dish of hot water on the bottom rack and shut the oven door.
Cutting Cheesecake Like a Pro
After you spend all that time baking the perfect cheesecake, no one wants to butcher it trying to slice it. To cut your cheesecake into tidy, clean slices, run a sharp knife under hot water to heat it up, and then wipe it dry. It will glide through the cheesecake with ease.
Keeping Appetizers Cold
The next time you’re hosting a get-together, keep your hors d’oeuvres chilly without letting them, or your table, get too soggy. Put crushed ice inside a resealable bag, and then place it into a bowl with large lettuce leaves on top. Ice won’t melt all over the place, and the table will still look Insta-worthy.
Soften Butter Quickly
Whether you forgot to take butter out of the fridge, or you didn’t realize you were going to need softened butter, this will help you soften up a stick of butter quickly. Just cut the needed amount of butter into small cubes. The much smaller pieces will soften up much faster than a whole stick.
Use a Fork to Slice Tomatoes
I am… slightly accident prone, so I’m always nervous about holding tomatoes while I cut them. I like to use a fork to get uniform slices without worrying about my fingers. Just stick the fork into the tomato, and slice between the tines.
