We all want our meals to be a little better. But without taking cooking classes or spending hours in the kitchen, becoming a better cook can feel like a daunting goal. Fortunately, thanks to social media, professional chefs and home cooks are sharing their best tips for free. Here are some cooking tips that will upgrade your meals today.
Sear Meat the Safe Way
@gidsgids I need y’all to use your imagination for this one. Lol cook safely. #TikTokTaughtMe #TikTokPartner #Saute #cookingtips
Kitchen safety tips are just as important as cooking tips. Avoiding cuts and burns will let you focus on the meal you’re making and not on how much pain you’re in from your mistake.
This tip comes from @gidsgids on TikTok, who shares with viewers how to safely sear steak without getting splashed by oil. The advice is simple enough: when you place the steak in your hot pan, place it away from you. This means that any oil splashes will happen on the other side of the pan and won’t hit your hands.
Slice Mint Leaves
@masterclass “Roll that leaf nice and tight.” 😎🌿 @gordonramsayofficial on using the “@snoopdogg Technique” for extra fragrant mint. #learnontiktok #knifeskills #gordonramsay #snoopdogg #cooking #mint #herbs #cookingbasics #fyp #foryoupage #foodtok #foodtiktok #cookingtips #cookingtiktok #cheftok #cheflife
Adding fresh herbs to a dish can elevate it immediately. For that extra oomph, you can chop herb leaves in an aesthetically pleasing way that will look beautiful on any plate.
Gordon Ramsay (yes, the Gordon Ramsay) shared this tip on the @masterclass TikTok account. When slicing mint, basil, or other herbs that come in a leaf shape, layer the leaves on top of each other and roll the pile tightly. Then, starting at one end of the roll, slice the herbs thinly. The end result will be beautiful, even strips of herbs that look like they belong in a restaurant.
Fix Messed-Up Recipes
@zoebarrie Replying to @nevertrustaskinnycook1 #greenscreen i can promise this information comes in handy when balancing the taste of all dishes (even desserts) 😃 #cookingtips #seasoning #kitchenhacks #cooking
We’ve all found ourselves realizing we added too much salt, sugar, or vinegar to a recipe after it’s too late. Well, not always too late, according to TikToker @zoebarrie.
This food content creator explained how to fix every major seasoning problem. If your dish is too salt, add something acidic or water it down. The same goes for something that is too sweet—a little acid (like lemon juice or lime juice) can counteract the sweetness and save the meal.
If something is too sour, add something fatty or creamy, like heavy cream or butter. If your dish is too bitter, throw in something sweet, like sugar or honey. Finally, if something is too spicy, add some dairy to the recipe, like milk, cheese, or yogurt.
Figure Out What Your Recipe Needs
@kellyscleankitchen Cooking hack for knowing what your soup or sauce needs #cooking #cookinghack
Sometimes we know we messed up a recipe, but we aren’t sure exactly how. If this is the case, Chef Kelly Scott of @kellyscleankitchen shared an easy way to figure out what your recipe needs without further ruining the dish.
Instead of filling your entire dish with salt, sugar, and vinegar until it tastes right, experiment with smaller portions by taking a spoonful and adding something to that. This works best with soups and sauces. If you think your dish needs salt, add a sprinkle to your spoonful and see if that helps.
If it doesn’t, try something else with another spoonful. This will allow you to experiment with small portions of your dish until you find what it really needs, without risking causing even more damage.
Save Time With Broccoli
@sidneyraz changed the broccoli process #todayilearned#tipsandtricks#cooking#cookinghacks#lifehack
Chopping raw broccoli before cooking it can be annoying and messy. But as TikToker @sidneyraz recently discovered, it doesn’t have to be.
If you’re boiling broccoli, wait to chop it until after it’s been cooked. While raw broccoli needs to be chopped into small pieces, cooked broccoli will fall into pieces on its own once the stem has been cut off. Plus, no little broccoli bits to clean up.
Quickly Peel Garlic
@edeneatsreal Works every time. #garlichack #kitchenhack #cookinghack #cookingtip #tipsandtricks #garlic #garlictrick
If you use a lot of garlic in your recipes, you understand how tedious it can be to peel all those garlic cloves. Eden Grinshpan, the woman behind @edeneatsreal, shared her best tip for quickly peeling a lot of garlic cloves at once.
Chop off the bottom of a head of garlic and put it into a plastic Tupperware container. Seal the container tightly and shake it aggressively for about 20 seconds. When you open the container, you’ll find all your garlic cloves separated from their peels and ready to be chopped.
Flip Eggs Perfectly
@mealsandmunchies Egg flip hack! #breakfast #eggs #hack #kitchen #cooking #morning #food #fyp #tip #trick #cookingtip #TeamUSATryout
Love your eggs over-easy but hate the suspense of nailing the perfect flip? The TikTok account @mealsandmunchies offered the perfect solution to avoid broken yokes every time.
When you’re ready to flip your eggs, flip the lid of your pan upside down and slide your eggs onto it. Then, flip your pan upside down, line it up securely on top of the lid, and flip. Cook a few more minutes and you’ll have perfect over-easy eggs for breakfast.
Want to upgrade your meals without going to culinary school? These easy tips will bring your cooking to the next level.
