Eating delicious food is one of life’s best comforts. We probably all wish we had a personal cook who could serve us homemade ravioli and rich strawberry cheesecake every night. Yet the reality is that learning to cook and bake takes time and effort, and not everybody has that in this economy. So what are the secrets that can help you quickly up your cooking game?
Bored Panda has scoured the nooks and crannies of the internet to find you life-changing cooking hacks. Only one ingredient and your dish might be elevated to new heights. Check them out and share your favorite tips that are missing from our list!
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Anytime a recipe calls for water, I always use chicken broth instead. It makes just about anything taste richer, more complex, and better.
I add pureed or shredded carrots to my tomato sauce. It really cuts the acidity without the extra added sugar. Everyone always raves about my pasta sauce.
To be fair, you ARE adding sugar; most of the sugars in carrots are sucrose, just like table sugar. You are, however, adding more fiber and another flavor profile which is really what's helping. I suppose if you're going to add sugar, it should do some lifting other than sweetness.
You don’t have to be a professional cook to make delicious food. However, we all would love to get some tips from real chefs on how to make our dishes more tasty. CNET asked chef instructor Kierin Baldwin to debunk some of the most popular kitchen and cooking hacks.
She says that using a wine bottle instead of a rolling pin is completely okay – you just have to make sure that the bottle is clean. The chef also confirms a cooking hack that’s been debated online and among cooking enthusiasts for some time. She says that some oil in pasta water really does prevent it from sticking together. You just have to make sure to put the oil in before adding the pasta.
I add a pinch of salt to hot chocolate, and people go crazy for it. But it's only hot cocoa mix, milk, and salt. The extra sodium doesn't make it salty at all. In fact, it somehow brings out more of the chocolate flavor.
MSG
And no, it’s not “bad” for you nor does it cause headaches. That was all a complete fabrication
"You don't need therapy, all you need is MSG." -Uncle Roger (if you know you know)
Replace some of the liquid in your waffle batter with seltzer or another carbonated beverage, like ginger ale. It's the key to the fluffiest, airiest waffles ever.
Never tried, but still amazed over that the bubbles will stay in batter after the (light) mixing!
One less popular hack Baldwin shares is cutting a pizza with scissors. This hack definitely sounds strange, but you just have to make sure that the scissors you use for slicing your pizza weren’t used to cut a kid’s school project with glitter glue.
As long as they’re clean and sufficiently long, it should be fine. Culinary scissors, of course, would be the ideal choice, but who has those just casually laying around the house?
Try adding a touch of horseradish to your mashed potatoes...especially garlic mashed potatoes. It's a game changer. It adds a ton of flavor without being too noticeable or overpowering.
Might try that. Other than that, really much butter, cream and a pinch of nutmeg. Also.
If your homemade sauces or soups seem too thin or watery, try adding instant mashed potatoes as a thickener. Since I learned this trick, I've started keeping a box around for lazy days or emergencies. They're a lifesaver when you've added too much liquid to soup.
Or cornflour if you want a flavorless option to preserve the taste of the soup.
Add a little bit of soy sauce to your tuna or chicken salad. It gives it that extra salty tanginess. I worked at Jimmy John's for a while, and that was their secret. I've been making mine this way for 10 years now, and I could never go back.
Another hack you might have heard about is using dental floss to slice soft baked goods or cheese. It doesn’t add the pressure that using a knife would and results in a clean and sleek cut. One thing to remember is that the floss should be without flavor. You certainly wouldn’t want your cinnamon rolls to taste of mint, would you?
Garlic. Lots of garlic, recipes always say to use little garlic. And i mean the real deal, not the garbage they sell in those jars.
Once you get into 'loads of garlic' territory you've developed a tolerance for it, so you need more and more to get the same effect, which can then totally overpower other more subtle ingredients. I like garlic but in most cases if I can actively taste it it means there's too much, just like salt or sugar, or vinegar etc. etc. Try cooking without it for a while and try to enhance other flavours instead, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Most people use overripe bananas for banana bread, but I have another great trick. I freeze the overripe bananas first, then I thaw them when it's time to bake. Freezing them first somehow makes them taste even sweeter.
OMG Totally. I do it with my kids ALL THE TIME. When they're misbehaving I throw them in the freezer for a couple of hours and when I pick them up... Well, definitely sweeter.
Anchovy. Works wonders in pasta sauces and all kinds of dressings. I used to fear funk and now I embrace it.
In cooking I usually just add some fish sauce, Kikkoman soy sauce and chicken broth. If suitable.
From watching Gordon Ramsay, I first learned that freezing mozzarella makes it easier to grate it. What I did not know was that the same can be applied to ginger. When I was in my Asian cuisine phase, I learned that ginger can be quite difficult to dice or grate. Baldwin advises to freeze it prior to grating. That way you can even skip peeling it.
Acids. Started when I was making a sauce that just...it needed something. I added a squeeze of lemon, even though it seemed odd, and it was magic.
Another is shallots. I had thought they were the same as onions. Then I had a recipe for saltimbocca from Maggiano's and the sauce was shallot based. Oh. My. God. They're one of my favorite ingredients to cook with.
For dark sauces, broths, gravies, soups... use balsamic vinegar. Choose good quality ones, these have umami and other flavour layers in addition to the right level of acidity. A few drops are enough to enhance the flavour, so even a small bottle will last a long time.
Adding almond extract to baked goods that have vanilla extract. I usually double the vanilla and then add a capful of almond extract. Gives cakes and cookies that bakery taste.
Refinery29 also has some one-ingredient cooking hacks. They recommend putting some miso paste in your baked sweet potato. Depending on what kind of miso you use – white, yellow or red – the taste of the filling will be progressively intense accordingly. Miso paste has the combination of all five basic tastes: sweet, sour, umami, salty, and bitter. It’s guaranteed to elevate your simple baked potato to new heights.
Fish sauce. Used properly, it doesn’t make anything taste like fish, and it’s a huge flavour boost in almost any kind of cuisine.
I use it in almost anything savoury I make.
Basil can do a lot of heavy lifting in a dish and isn’t easily replaced, flavor-wise.
Basil: "Listen, don't mention the war! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it alright."
Cardamon. Add it to any dish that uses ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves to round out the flavor. It makes snickerdoodles taste elegant.
Sorry, cardamom is to me what coriander is to some people. Just can't abide the taste.
Another cooking tip from Refinery29 that involves only a single ingredient is a budget version of a chicken soup. You can make canned chicken soup taste better if you add a dash of freshly chopped dill. It gives the soup a fresh-veggie flavor that might trick your mind into thinking you’re eating the real deal.
I always add a dollop of sour cream to my boxed mac 'n' cheese when it's time to add the milk and cheese packet. It makes it creamier and so rich.
When I was really starting out with home cooking in college and was making cottage pie and I added Worcestershire sauce for the first time. I have to admit that I probably overuse it at this point but I’ve found few savory dishes that can’t be improved with a few drops.
Place an ice cube on any leftover food you're microwaving to add moisture while reheating. The ice won’t melt, but it adds steam to your food. It's especially useful for rice.
Ever had a hard time peeling a garlic clove? This hack is backed up by both Kierin Baldwin and the Martha Stewart. They advise to crush the garlic first with a knife or a small pan, then put it in some kind of container with a lid – a saucepan will do. All you have to do then is shake it until the peels come off. No more hard work with your fingernails!
Bay leaf or two.
Adding a pinch of baking soda to grits or polenta cuts the cooking time in half. It's my favorite dinner time-saver.
Asparagus is a tricky veggie that many people have trouble preparing. Do you boil it? Do you fry it in a pan? Can you air fry it? NYT Cooking claims the best way to cook asparagus is to fry it for 3 to 4 minutes with a little bit of olive oil or butter. You’ll know it’s cooked when it turns bright green. And don’t forget salt and pepper!
The secret to incredible tomato sauce is butter. Try putting a decent amount of butter into your red sauce and let it simmer. It will taste so much better, but no one will be able to guess the secret.
I use Kraft Macaroni & Cheese packets to season my popcorn. It's life-changing
Reddit is a great source for finding simple cooking tips. Some years ago I came across a self-proclaimed chef there who said that a bit of lemon juice makes everything taste better. Apparently, it isn’t bogus, because even the VA Nutrition and Food Services claim that tart flavors help stimulate taste and saliva.
If you're making cookies from bagged or boxed mix (like Tollhouse), substitute whatever butter you usually use for Kerrygold butter. Something about salted Irish butter will take your cookies to the next level.
Sumac. I love the ability to add an strong sour note without adding additional liquid like you get from citrus juice or vinegars.
Sumac. Use it for fish
Present in Worcester-sir-shire-ire-sause? (Don't know spelling,so making it obvious that I'm not trying...)
What are some of your single-ingredient cooking tips, pandas? Share them with us in the comments. And in the meanwhile, let’s go try out that garlic peeling hack. Just don’t forget to put the lid on, so the garlic doesn’t fly out and about across the kitchen.
Vinegar! More broadly, acids. They add that extra something I was always looking for.
Usually, if what you are cooking tastes a bit bland or flat, add an acid. My favorite dish is literally comprised of a protein, a fat, and an acid (chicken pounded flat, olive oil, lemon juice). So simple. . SOOOOO GOOD! But you CAN'T flake on the quantity of oil, it's not a spritz. Finish with a bit of salt and pepper.
Fresh Coriander, opened up the whole Asian cuisine for me.
Homemade stock. It improves everything it goes in. I haven't bought the stuff from the store in years.
Crossover from Indian cuisine -- yogurt, in bread, in marinades/sauces. Adding a bit of sodium citrate prevents splitting/grainy under heating.
Brown butter for baked goods containing butter.
You can also substitute more interestingly flavored flours for up to a quarter of the total AP flour. I like brown rice flour in Toll House cookies, or spelt flour in oatmeal cookies. (I wouldn't substitute more than a quarter of the AP. If the gluten is reduced further, it'll affect the texture of the finished product.)
Apple cider vinegar. Add it to any bean related dishes and it makes all the difference in the world. Red Beans and rice and black beans and rice are dynamite with a splash of vinegar.
Red Boat N40°. Before I tried it I thought all fish sauce was pretty much the same. I was wrong. Now I look for excuses to use it.
Butter. I had really only used it as a spread prior to taking cooking more seriously.
My grandma always told me - cook with butter use oleo (margarine) for baking.
White wine in sauces.
I was making a cream sauce for pasta once and when the white wine hits the hot pan that already has butter, garlic and other seasoning it just gives off an intoxicating aroma. The whole house smelled like a fancy restaurant.
I worked in a high-end restaurant that was very well known for its cheesecake. The secret to the cheesecake: just cream cheese and marshmallow fluff blended together and set in graham cracker crust.
I’ve got a news for you : you’re not working in a high end restaurant if you’re serving cheesecake and especially if you’re using « marshmallow fluff » and « graham cracker crust ». Might be an expensive pretentious place, but definitely not high end. Real pastries are not made with this stuff.
Butter instead of oil. Butter instead of oil! Bacon grease i stead of oil elsewhere
The trick to life-changing mashed potato gravy: the spice packet from your instant ramen. I make my gravy with butter, flour, water, and a packet of beef or chicken ramen seasoning.
I put extra yolks in my scrambled eggs. It makes them so much more decadent. So, for example, if I'm making eggs for two people, I'll use four whole eggs and two additional egg yolks.
It'll sound dumb, but grapeseed oil. It's got a higher smoke point and really upped my meat-searing game. I used to smoke out my college apartment trying to fry steak in butter. Then I realized I could sear my steaks in grapeseed oil and rub them down with butter before they rest.
Chicken stock, not the canned/boxed stuff but homemade. I use it constantly now
People may think it's hard to make homemade chicken stock but it's easier than you may think. Here's how my family does it. Easy easy way, not super fancy, using a pressure cooker/instant pot. But a rotisserie chicken. Break it apart, set aside bones and skin and some of the meat on a pan. Put some onion, carrot, celery, garlic, whatever really (or none! your preference) , and put that bad boy in oven for like 45min at 350 Put the roasted goodness in the instant pot and fill to just cover, put it for an hour at least. Drain and all done! Most of the time is just waiting.
Larb. The lime juice/ fish sauce combo made my head explode. I went looking for all the Laos, Cambodian, Vietnamese food I could find.
Roasting spices!
Another key is buying fresh spices from ethnic stores or health food stores, not the old sub par c**p in those jars...what a difference in flavor..I recently went to my local health food store and bought a few spices and omg u really only need a little compared to those spice rack containers
I like to add a bit of cardamom into recipes, it makes everything a lil oomphier!
It's a flavor that not everyone is familiar with, so a lot of folks know they're tasting something 'different' but they don't know what.
Saffron. Can turn regular rice into the food of the gods.
I substitute half the sugar I put into boxed cookie, cake, and cupcake mix for a packet of Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding powder. It keeps baked goods super soft and moist for days.
I've never seen a box mix ask for sugar, usually just egg, water/milk or oil/butter.
Grains of Paradise. I use them in place of black pepper all the time. They're a huge staple in my house now
Nutmeg, I have to be extra careful when adding this. A literal pinch, then taste (add or not). Coz sometimes even a tsp of ground nutmeg can be overpowering.
If you run out of bread crumbs and are in a pinch, just toast a slice of bread and grate it into fine pieces
Chipotle chili flakes instead of regular
Mushrooms in almost any savory dish
I can not stand the texture of mushrooms but love the taste, so I always keep dried mushrooms around and pulverize them into a powder - then sprinkle them in. My magic mushroom powder recipe is salt, pepper, chili flakes, and powdered porcini. I also experiment with the types of pepper and salts I use - there are so many kinds!
Calabrian chili's in oil. There us a reason why Bobby Flay wins so many cooking competitions, it is this and quick pickled red onions.
man i love cooking but i hate that any online discussion on food immediately becomes classist/ableist because people insist that using any kind of shortcut or processed product is "gross" or "fake" or "not really cooking". fresh ingredients and the time it takes to prepare and cook them are a luxury for healthy and/or wealthy people depending on the country you live in. the ability to use what you have and can afford to make something tasty is a fantastic skill to have. being up in arms about "real" food doesn't address cost, availability, training, or sometimes literal physical strength it can take to prepare a completely fresh ingredient meal. can't we just acknowledge that?
Full agree, there are so many reasons one can want or need shortcuts when it comes to cooking, heck in Home Ec we even had a module that incorporated convenience foods into meals. And I know usually it's used in the BF/formula argument, but FED IS BEST. I love cooking, but as a single person without a dishwasher I'm not interested in doing both the cooking and cleaning for a fully from scratch meal every day.
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I use 0% Greek yoghurt in place of sour cream in most dishes (tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, beef stroganoff, and spinach dip specifically off the top of my head). Tastes the same, if a little "lighter" (in a good way), and is far healthier!
Yes, you can and I have also, but sour cream still has its uses and isn’t terrible for you. Fat is not your enemy - it’s sugar.0
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#38 then #39...seriously? Doesn't BP team read up its own articles before posting them? This makes me think your lists are just made up of anything you come across, no coherence needed. So sad, you could easily do far better than that.
Come on! Get your sh1t together, Bored Panda. Half of these articles don't work
Article mentions using dental floss to slice baked goods; fishing line is also a great option.
Chipotle Tabasco sauce. It isn't as spicy and heartburn inducing as the original and adds a nice smokey quality to dishes.
Hmm. Good suggestion - I shall try that next spring when my garden full of chives I forget to use much is beckoning me. Maybe I’ll even make my own butter too for the occasion.
Load More Replies... When making boxed cake mixes, replace the oil with equal amount of butter and use an extra egg. It makes the cake richer and moister (is that a word?).
Look - I’ve studied the English language in university, have read much of the major classic works of literature, have done copy editing and worked as a photojournalist and a communist (okay autocorrect- that’s some funny stuff so I’m leaving it - but I meant columnist, of course), and I used to be a spelling Nazi, but I say, sometimes making up words that work is fine. Shakespeare did it. I always think of MacBeth - the multitudinous seas incarnadine…
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man i love cooking but i hate that any online discussion on food immediately becomes classist/ableist because people insist that using any kind of shortcut or processed product is "gross" or "fake" or "not really cooking". fresh ingredients and the time it takes to prepare and cook them are a luxury for healthy and/or wealthy people depending on the country you live in. the ability to use what you have and can afford to make something tasty is a fantastic skill to have. being up in arms about "real" food doesn't address cost, availability, training, or sometimes literal physical strength it can take to prepare a completely fresh ingredient meal. can't we just acknowledge that?
Full agree, there are so many reasons one can want or need shortcuts when it comes to cooking, heck in Home Ec we even had a module that incorporated convenience foods into meals. And I know usually it's used in the BF/formula argument, but FED IS BEST. I love cooking, but as a single person without a dishwasher I'm not interested in doing both the cooking and cleaning for a fully from scratch meal every day.
Load More Replies... I use 0% Greek yoghurt in place of sour cream in most dishes (tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, beef stroganoff, and spinach dip specifically off the top of my head). Tastes the same, if a little "lighter" (in a good way), and is far healthier!
Yes, you can and I have also, but sour cream still has its uses and isn’t terrible for you. Fat is not your enemy - it’s sugar.0
Load More Replies... #38 then #39...seriously? Doesn't BP team read up its own articles before posting them? This makes me think your lists are just made up of anything you come across, no coherence needed. So sad, you could easily do far better than that.
Come on! Get your sh1t together, Bored Panda. Half of these articles don't work
Article mentions using dental floss to slice baked goods; fishing line is also a great option.
Chipotle Tabasco sauce. It isn't as spicy and heartburn inducing as the original and adds a nice smokey quality to dishes.
Hmm. Good suggestion - I shall try that next spring when my garden full of chives I forget to use much is beckoning me. Maybe I’ll even make my own butter too for the occasion.
Load More Replies... When making boxed cake mixes, replace the oil with equal amount of butter and use an extra egg. It makes the cake richer and moister (is that a word?).
Look - I’ve studied the English language in university, have read much of the major classic works of literature, have done copy editing and worked as a photojournalist and a communist (okay autocorrect- that’s some funny stuff so I’m leaving it - but I meant columnist, of course), and I used to be a spelling Nazi, but I say, sometimes making up words that work is fine. Shakespeare did it. I always think of MacBeth - the multitudinous seas incarnadine…
Load More Replies... 