If you enjoy cooking, you probably sometimes find yourself looking for kitchen hacks for cooking to try out. But even if you’ve spent lots of time looking for these tips, there are probably many kitchen tips and tricks that you still don’t know about. Here are 15 to try out.
Stop food from drying in your microwave
Microwaving food can sometimes cause it to become dry. If you don’t want to ruin your foods, simply fill a microwavable cup of water and place it next to your plate.
The water will keep plenty of moisture in the air while your food is cooking. Just make sure you don’t fill it too high, or it may overflow!
De-crystalize your honey
This is one of the easy food hacks that you have not heard yet.
If your honey has become so crystallized that it’s essentially just one big block of sugar, don’t throw it out – it’s not the end! Just put it in a bowl of hot water and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes. It’ll reverse the crystallization and you’ll have drippy liquid honey once more.
Easy food hacks to prevent freezer burn
After opening your ice cream tub and taking a scoop out of it, add a layer of wax paper over it, then place the lid on as usual.
This will prevent your ice cream from getting ruined by freezer burn. You can also wrap your ice cream tub in plastic wrap as an extra barrier against the cold air.
Prevent dishes from setting
Dishes like risotto and cheesy, creamy pasta tend to set up quite quickly. To keep them nice and loose, microwave your plates for a minute before adding the dish to them.
You’ll find that the warmth from the plates prevents any clogging or congealing.
Prevent plastic wrap ripping
Plastic wrap is something of a lifesaver, but it doesn’t always behave how you want it to. To prevent yours from sticking or ripping, simply store it in your fridge between uses.
This should make it much easier to manipulate.
Prevent water from boiling over
If you didn’t know about this hack, it’s an absolute game-changer!
To prevent water from boiling over your cooking pot on the stove, place a wooden spoon across the top of the pot. This will cause the water to stop when it hits the spoon. No more messy clean-ups!
Microwave fruit before peeling
Sure, fruits like oranges and lemons aren’t impossible to peel, but aren’t we all looking for a simpler way to handle everything in life?
Put your fruit in the microwave for 20 seconds or so before peeling. The skin will come right off without any major tugging or pulling on your part.
Speaking of putting fruits in the microwave before peeling, you might ask, can you microwave frozen fruit? Yes, you can, too. If you’re a fan of placing bananas or lemons in the freezer, the good news is you still can use them by thawing in the microwave for around 30 seconds so you can peel them easily.
Easiest way to peel garlic
If you still spend valuable time peeling away garlic skin from the clove, you need to rethink your technique. Here’s the easiest way to peel garlic.
After removing the cloves from the bulb, press down on each of them with a knife (or whack them if you prefer!). The skin should fall away from the clove with virtually no effort on your part.
Extract more juice from fruit
How many of us actually take the time to get all the juice out of our lemons? To prevent waste, this simple hack makes it easier to get all the juice out of your lemon. Just stab it with a fork, squeeze it, and move your fork up and down to extract as much juice as possible.
But can you juice frozen fruit? Yes, you can. You don’t have to worry about throwing out frozen fruit anymore. Just thaw the fruit and juice it as you would any fresh fruit.
Bring butter back to solid
You know how to quickly soften butter, but what about if you want to bring it quickly back to solid form? The simplest thing to do is to place your butter in a small bowl, then put this bowl inside a large bowl filled with cold water and ice cubes.
Make sure the water from the large bowl doesn’t spill into your smaller bowl, of course.
No need for flipping
Flipping over your foods in the oven isn’t essential if you simply pre-heat your baking tray in the oven in advance. Veggies and french fries will cook evenly when the tray is already warmed up.
Spoon out your fat
To get rid of fat in a pot, place an ice cube on a spoon and skim the spoon along the surface of the liquid.
The fat will rise to the surface and begin to solidify, making it easy for you to scoop it right out with a spoon or a ladle. It works just like a magnet.
Quickly deseed your vegetables
Pumpkin and squash are delicious, but it takes so long to deseed them with a spoon that they’re almost not worth eating!
Luckily, you can speed up the deseeding process with an ice cream scoop. You’d be surprised at the difference this makes.
Kitchen hacks for cooking your own foam milk
Everyone loves frothing milk, and it’s surprisingly easy to make at home. Just fill a cup half full of milk and pop it in the microwave for a minute, which will heat it to the right temperature.
Then froth your milk with a frother – if you don’t have one of these yet, they’re super cheap and a life-changing tool for coffee lovers.
Reheat your pasta the right way
Reheating a bowlful of pasta is difficult. It always ends up sizzling around the edges and getting stuck to the bowl while the very inside of the dish is still stone cold.
For more even cooking, mold your pasta into a donut shape in its plate or bowl, with a hole in the middle. This is one of the simple kitchen hacks for cooking that’s always helpful.
Takeaway
We all like a few tips and tricks to make our life easier, don’t we? These kitchen hacks for cooking are sure worth the try. Tell us which is your favorite one!
Source: Shareably, Greatist, Cooking Light