TikTok Cooking Hacks We'd Actually Try

May 03, 2024

Are you tired of scrolling through endless TikTok cooking hacks that promise to revolutionize your kitchen skills but end up leaving you disappointed and hungry? Well, you're not alone. Today, we're going to change things for you by diving into a treasure trove of TikTok cooking hacks that are actually worth your time and effort.

If you've ever found yourself entranced by mesmerizing videos of folks whipping up delicious dishes in under a minute, only to feel overwhelmed when you try to replicate their magic in your own kitchen, this article is for you. We've scoured TikTok and weeded out the fluff to bring you a curated list of genuinely useful and easy-to-master tricks that can elevate your cooking game.

From time-saving techniques to tips for keeping food fresh, we've got you covered with hacks that real home cooks can actually embrace. Whether you're a seasoned chef looking for a few new tricks up your sleeve or a kitchen newbie eager to impress your friends and family with your culinary prowess, we promise these TikTok cooking hacks are the real deal. So, grab your apron, get your phone ready to record your own culinary feats, and let's dive into the delicious world of TikTok culinary creativity.

We love bell peppers for their crunch, color, and fresh flavor. But let's be real — deseeding them can be an absolute pain in the pepper. Who came up with this seed-filled madness in the first place? How many times have you been all excited to whip up a delicious stir-fry or stuff those vibrant peppers with a mouthwatering filling, only to slice open that pepper, and bam — seeds everywhere. They cling to the flesh of the pepper like it's their life's mission to frustrate you. You end up wasting precious time picking them out one by one, and no matter how careful you are, you still find a sneaky seed hiding in your meal later on.

Well, this TikTok from drbcook shows you an easy way to deseed peppers without the mess and effort. First, you slice off the stalk of the pepper, leaving just a little nub. This makes it easier to turn the pepper upside down and have it stay put. The next thing you do is turn your pepper upside down. Then, you simply cut it in quarters lengthways, stopping before you cut all the way through. Finally, you pull down on each quarter and it snaps off, leaving the seeds behind. We can't believe how simple it is and that we didn't think of it ourselves.

Few things in this world are more frustrating than waking up in the morning ready to indulge in some heavenly toast, only to realize your butter is frozen rock hard. It's like the universe is playing a cruel joke on us, right?

You try to spread that cold, unyielding butter on your warm, toasty bread. You press, you push, and you practically break your knife in the process. But does that butter budge? Not a chance. There's something so satisfying about biting into a perfectly buttered slice of toast, and when that simple pleasure is taken away from us by a stubborn stick of butter, it's downright infuriating.

Of course, the easier option is to take the butter out of the fridge in advance, but sometimes you want toast on a whim and don't have the time or patience to wait for butter to soften. We hear you — and, luckily, krisslovesfood on TikTok has got a hack for that. It's super simple, too. You just grab a grater — ideally a fine grater or Microplane grater — and grate your hard butter on warm toast. It may sound a bit unusual, but it works like a charm. The grated butter quickly softens and is instantly spreadable. This way, there's no more toast-related disappointment in your future.

Hulling strawberries can be one of those tasks that seems so simple yet manages to leave us sobbing into a kitchen towel every time. Who would have thought that something as innocent as a strawberry could hide such a stubborn little secret?

You try to pull the stem off with your fingers, but it clings on for dear life. You attempt to use a paring knife to cut it out, but then you end up losing half the strawberry in the process, and your once-beautiful berry is now mutilated beyond recognition.

Thankfully for our time and patience, we've found a hack on TikTok that's actually worth trying. It comes from deanedwardschef on TikTok. All you do is grab a trusty straw and position it at the bottom of the strawberry. With a gentle push, you slide the straw right through the berry, pushing out the stem and core with minimal effort. It's like magic. Ideally, try this with a reusable stainless-steel straw. However, it will also work well with a plastic straw. Paper straws are a bit too flimsy to get the job done, especially if you're intending to hull a lot of strawberries in one sitting for a pie or a cobbler.

So, now you don't have to let those pesky green stems dampen your berry bliss. Armed with this hulling hack, you'll be zipping through your strawberry prep like a pro.

Stripping herbs from their stems can be frustrating and time-consuming. I mean, we just want those flavorful leaves without the hassle of those pesky stems, right? You know how it feels to pick up a beautiful bunch of fresh herbs that seem all ready to add their aromatic magic to your dish. But as soon as you start plucking those leaves, the stems seem to have a mind of their own. They play hide-and-seek amidst the leaves, making the simple act of cooking with herbs feel like an insurmountable task.

And don't even get us started on the amount of time it takes. We could be spending that precious time actually cooking or enjoying our meal, but nope, we're stuck in a never-ending herb-stripping loop. That's why we were astounded to see this simple but ingenious hack from anet_shevchenko on TikTok.

All you need is a standard box grater — yes, like the one you use to grate cheese. First, you poke your fresh herbs down one of the grater's holes, stem first. Once the stem is through the hole, grab it from the other side and pull. The leaves of the herb are miraculously stripped in just seconds without any fuss. It's close to miraculous. This works best with soft herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, basil, and dill.

Whenever you slice open a perfectly ripe avocado, it's a thing of beauty — bright green, smooth, and ready to be the star of your meal. But you don't always need a whole avocado in one sitting. So, you wrap up the leftover half, put it in the fridge, and think everything is under control. But, a few hours later, you open the fridge to find your once-glorious avocado half has transformed into a sad shade of brown. In this situation, you may have wondered, "Why, avocado, why must you betray me like this?"

There's nothing wrong with a browned avocado — that's just what happens when the oxygen in the air reacts with enzymes in avocado flesh. This chemical reaction, known as oxidation, causes the fruit to brown. But, even if your avocado is fine to eat, it still looks kind of gross and unappetizing.

Now, if you're anything like us, you've probably tried a number of methods for keeping avocados from browning. Maybe you've rubbed the cut side with citrus or oil or you've stored them with onion. These tips sound hopeful but they never truly work.

Happily, we've found this TikTok hack from alacocinaconjacobina that's a modern-day marvel. It's in Spanish, but the gist of it is that you place your avocado half cut side down in a Tupperware with a little water in the bottom. Seal up that container, stick it in the fridge, and your avocado will stay beautifully green for much longer.

When it comes to juicing lemons, the struggle is real. They sure know how to put up a fight to avoid giving up their precious juice too easily. It's like they have a secret agenda to make our lives juicier, but not in the way we want.

Juicing lemons can get messy. Most of us do it by hand, ensuring that we'll be left with sticky hands. Not to mention that if you have any tiny cuts or nicks in your hands for fingers, they'll end up stinging. And don't even get us started on the seeds — they're like little ninjas, hiding in the pulp, waiting for the perfect moment to surprise you. You're left picking them out one by one, wondering if juicing a lemon is really worth all this effort. You can squeeze lemon juice through your fingers to catch the seeds, but then your hands are left even stickier and prone to stinging.

Enter this incredible lemon juicing hack from wholeapproachnutrition on TikTok. You start by rolling a whole unpeeled lemon on a countertop or table, pressing firmly to break up the fibrous parts inside so the juice flows more easily. Then you stick a skewer into the non-stem end, making a hole. Remove the skewer and squeeze. Juice comes out without seeds or mess, and you don't have to worry about any leftover lemon drying out.

Cherry tomatoes may be adorable and delicious but slicing them is time-consuming and tedious. When you have to slice a large number for a salad or other recipe, the time it takes soon adds up, leaving you hangry.

Plus, those juicy little devils have a habit of squirting their juices all over the place, leaving your kitchen looking like a tomato crime scene. Not to mention the struggle of trying to cut multiple tomatoes at once, only to end up with uneven halves that look more like tomato shards than slices.

It doesn't have to be this way once you learn the clever hack contained in feelgoodfoodie's TikTok. Grab two plates or plastic container lids of the same size. Place the cherry tomatoes between the plates or lids, and with one hand pressing down gently, use your other hand to slice through the tomatoes with a knife. All your tomatoes will be evenly halved instantly. For the best results, use a serrated knife, as it cuts through tomato skin more easily without tearing it. This hack also works for grape tomatoes.

Follow this tip and you'll soon be halving those little red gems like a pro. No more rolling tomatoes, no more messy crime scenes — just perfectly sliced cherry tomatoes in seconds.

Every now and then, you wake up with that pancake craving, excited for a scrumptious breakfast. But then reality sets in as you start gathering the ingredients. Measuring out flour, baking powder, sugar, salt — it's like performing a culinary science experiment while you're still half asleep. And let's not forget the inevitable mess — flour dusting your countertop, batter splattering on your clothes. It hardly seems worth it, so you end up eating a bowl of cereal or slice of toast.

But what if you could whip up pancakes in the morning in minutes? Not having to make the effort to mix batter makes the notion of pancakes even more appealing and totally stress-free. This pancake hack from dliciouslyinspired on TikTok is the answer to your pancake woes. You simply whip up your favorite pancake batter ahead of time and freeze it in an ice cube tray. You can add toppings of your choice to each cube before freezing, such as berries, slices of banana, or chocolate chips.

When it's pancake time, just pop out a few cubes, and you're moments away from flipping some fantastic pancakes. All the hard work is done in advance, so there's no more measuring and mixing on a sleepy morning. Ice cube trays provide perfect portion sizes for mini pancakes and it's nice to be able to customize each one with different toppings.

Maybe you've brought home a beautiful bunch of broccoli and gotten all excited to include it in your meals for the week. But then, before you know it, it starts to go limp and sad, losing its vibrant green hue faster than you can say "eat your greens." One moment it's crisp and fresh, and the next, it's all droopy and lifeless.

And let's not forget the guilt trip that comes with it — you bought the broccoli with the best intentions, but life got in the way, and now you're left with a wilted reminder of your veggie ambitions.

What you might not know about broccoli is that it's actually a collection of tiny little flower buds. So, if you treat it as a bouquet of flowers, like in this hack from TikToker shazoshop4u, it will stay fresh for longer. After you get your broccoli home from the store, simply trim a half-inch or so off the end of the stalk and store it upright in a glass or other vessel with a little water in the base. Put it in the fridge, topping up the water as needed, and it will stay fresh for significantly longer. You can use the same trick to store fresh herbs.

Let's talk about kitchen shears — those trusty little tools that often don't get the love and attention they deserve. They're often woefully underutilized. Yours are probably lurking at the back of a kitchen drawer right now, when you could be using them to make your life easier in multiple ways.

This TikTok from testkitchen gives us a number of idea for making better use of our kitchen shears. One of our favorites is for cutting herbs and leafy greens. When it comes to soft herbs — like parsley, cilantro, basil, or chives — kitchen shears are the secret weapon in your cooking arsenal. No more struggling to finely chop those delicate leaves with a knife, only to end up with a mess of unevenly cut greens. Just trim them evenly with kitchen shears and you've got yourself perfectly chopped herbs without having to mess up a cutting board. You can also use them for leafy greens, such as chard and kale.

But there are more areas where kitchen shears excel. This video suggests you use them for cutting dried chilis and shiitake mushrooms, and for cutting broccoli into florets. You can also get your kitchen shears into a can of whole tomatoes and go wild to easily chop them up.

Chopping onions can feel like a rollercoaster of emotions. You start with enthusiasm, ready to whip up a delicious meal, and then the moment those onion layers are sliced, it's like an emotional floodgate opens and the tears start flowing. Onions can turn us into a sobbing mess, and we can't help but wonder why such a small vegetable has such a big impact on our tear ducts.

When you chop an onion, it releases a chemical compound. When this compound comes in contact with the moisture in our eyes, it creates a chemical reaction that produces sulfuric acid — that's what irritates our eyes and makes them water like crazy.

Thankfully for our eyes, we came across a hack from mamma_y on TikTok that's designed to take the tears away from chopping onions. It's super simple. You just wet a paper towel or a fabric kitchen towel and place it on the cutting board next to the onion you're chopping. This chemical compound is then attracted to the moisture in the towel rather than the moisture in your eyes, so you've got nothing to cry about. Even if it's not completely foolproof, it could reduce the number of tears we have to shed over onions, which can't be a bad thing.

Let's say you decide that you want to add some fresh green deliciousness to your pasta dish in the form of wilted spinach. And why wouldn't you? Wilted spinach is tasty and packed in nutrients, making it the perfect partner for your noodles. But it's frustrating having to make another pan dirty just to wilt your spinach. Not to mention the time and effort involved. Can't we just skip this step and get straight to the pasta party?

Well, with this tip from TikToker healthykel you absolutely can. No more wilting spinach in a pan — there's a much simpler way to do it. Before you drain your pasta, simply add the amount of spinach you want to wilt into the drainer. When your pasta has reached its perfect texture, drain it over the spinach, pouring all the hot water over those vibrant green leaves before dumping the pasta into the mix. This wilts the spinach nicely, while retaining its green hue and freshness. Then, you just have to mix the spinach and pasta into the sauce of your choice and you're ready to chow down on some delightful noodles.

We love how quick and easy this hack is and how it means you have fewer dishes to wash when you're done. With this trick in your culinary bag, you'll be mastering the art of wilting spinach in no time. No more frustrating pasta prep, just delicious, tender spinach adding a healthy touch to your pasta creations.