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35 Cooking Hacks That Are So Smart Yet So Simple I Just Really Can't Stop Thinking About Them

You're going to want to try some of these in your kitchen.

No matter how much or how little you cook at home, it's always fun to have some new tricks up your sleeve. So I rounded up some of the best food-related tips and hacks I've seen lately from the subreddit r/FoodHacks. Some of these are actually really smart, and I can't wait to try them in my own kitchen.

1. "Wrap a piece of lettuce around one side of your sandwich or burger to keep the ingredients from falling out the other side."

A sandwich with the ingredients folded in a piece of lettuce.

2. Use chopsticks to hold beaten eggs in place while you turn the pan to create a tornado omelet.

3. "If you're out of breadcrumbs, just grate a piece of toast."

Someone grating a piece of toast to make breadcrumbs.

4. "Cook spaghetti in a skillet rather than in a large pot. The water boils faster and the residual pasta water is super concentrated and starchy, perfect for sauces."

Pasta and sauce in a skillet.

5. "Pour coffee into ice molds, freeze them, and use the coffee cubes instead of regular ice cubes in your iced coffee so it doesn't get watered down."

Coffee ice cubes in glasses.

6. "Make s'mores indoors with the help of your toaster oven."

Roasting marshmallows over a toaster oven.

7. "Make a chicken shawarma cone in your own kitchen by sticking a few skewered into a halved onion."

A homemade chicken shawarma cone turned into a shawarma pita.

8. "You can thicken soups and stews quickly with instant potatoes. I find it easier than adding flour or corn starch because there's no need to make a roux or slurry. Just pour some in and stir until you reach a consistency you like."

A ladle full of seafood chowder.

9. "Use a bundt pan to slice corn off the cob. I don’t bake, but I have a Bundt cake pan just for this. Just plunk the corn on the cob in the middle hole facedown, and the pan catches everything as you slice through the corn. It prevents a giant mess from all the kernels rolling around your counter."

Someone slicing corn off the cob.

10. "Slice straight through a pint of ice cream, peel off the paper, then place the ice cream slabs between cookies for DIY ice cream sandwiches."

A process shot of making ice cream sandwiches by slicing a pint of ice cream.

11. "Turn any frozen pizza into deep dish. Thaw it for 20 minutes, drop it into an oiled cast iron skillet, add any toppings, and bake it for an extra 10 minutes."

A process shot of turning frozen pizza into deep dish.

12. "If you're out of cooking twine, use bacon."

A whole chicken with its legs tied together by bacon.

13. "When grilling fish, place the fillet on a bed of sliced lemons so you won't have to scrape salmon skin off of the grates."

Salmon grilling on a bed of sliced lemons.

14. "For the easiest, laziest lasagna, layer frozen ravioli with tomato sauce and mozzarella and bake it in the oven."

15. "Upgrade boxed mac 'n' cheese by adding cream cheese."

Creamy mac 'n' cheese shells.

16. "Put boiled eggs through a potato ricer to make awesome egg salad. It improves the texture and takes the dish up a notch."

Creamy egg salad.

17. "You can easily re-grow scallions. Save an inch of the white part and rest it in water, using a toothpick to keep it upright. Refill the water when it starts to dwindle. Scallions grow quickly."

Two photos of scallions growing in water, one when they are small and one when they are mature.

18. "Use aluminum foil to make a divider when your baking pan is too large for what you're cooking."

Tin foil creating a divider in a baking pan.

19. "Put a little mayo on the outside of your bread before you place it in the pan. It makes a perfectly golden and crispy grilled sandwich."

Two halves of a crispy grilled sandwich.

20. "You can cut an uncooked frozen pizza and put the slices in the air fryer for a quick slice."

Frozen pizza and two slices that were heated up in the air fryer.

21. "The bottom of a wine bottle makes a great press for homemade ravioli."

Homemade ravioli pressed with a wine bottle.

22. For the easiest minced garlic, put peeled garlic cloves in a plastic bag and hit it with a meat tenderizer."

Minced garlic.

23. "I swear by making grilled cheese in a waffle iron. It's faster, less greasy, and gives you yummy pockets for dunking in soup."

Grilled cheese made in a waffle iron.

24. "The spice packet in instant ramen makes an awesome popcorn seasoning! Mix the powder with some melted butter or margarine and then toss with the popcorn."

Popcorn tossed with ramen seasoning.

25. "Or use the powder that comes in boxed mac 'n' cheese to season popcorn."

Popcorn seasoned with the cheese powder from mac 'n' cheese.

26. "Empty, cleaned ketchup bottles make excellent batter holders and dispensers."

Pouring pancake batter onto a skillet from an empty ketchup bottle.

27. "Use a mason jar lid as a ring to make perfectly round eggs. It's perfect for a breakfast sandwich."

An english muffin toasting and egg coking inside a mason jar lid.

28. "Or to form perfect burger patties."

Two perfectly shaped hamburger patties.

29. "Or cook eggs in onion rings for perfectly shaped fried eggs ready to be placed on a sandwich."

Three eggs cooking inside of onion rings.

30. "Add two eggs and 1/2 cup of oil to any boxed cake mix to turn it into cookie dough. turn any cake mix into cookie dough."

Chocolate cookies on a plate made from cake mix.

31. "Oil your hands liberally when making meatballs or burgers. The meat won't stick, and you get a uniform, smooth texture that crisps nicely in the oven, frying pan, or skillet."

Perfectly shaped meatballs on foil.

32. "Turn tortillas into crunchy hard taco shells with the help of your oven rack."

Tortillas crisping up by hanging on an oven rack.

33. "When you don't have a cheese grater, use a vegetable peeler to shave Parmesan."

Parmesan grated with a vegetable peeler.

34. "Put paper towels inside your salad containers to absorb excess moisture and keep greens fresher for longer."

A salad container with a paper towel inside.

35. "Pour warm milk into an almost-empty Nutella jar and shake to make Nutella hot chocolate."

Milk being poured into a Nutella jar.

Do you have a genius food hack you think other people should know about? Leave 'em in the comments below!