“What Are Your Special Cooking Secrets That Few People Know?” (89 Answers)

No matter if you’re a veteran in the kitchen or just graduated from being an absolute beginner, the odds are that you might have a few tricks up your sleeve. The beauty of the internet is that so many people are beyond friendly and happy to share their wisdom with others.

That’s where the r/AskReddit online community comes in. In a recent thread, sparked by user u/Aurora_Breeze, some food-savvy redditors revealed their “special cooking secrets” that they feel can help everyone out. Read on to see what they had to say. 

#1

I use carbonated water in pancakes.

Bloody_Hangnail:

I have a recipe that uses vinegar and baking soda, the best pancakes I have ever eaten bar none! You don’t taste the vinegar at all but they are so fluffy.

Image credits: sunnewuldor

#2

When cooking in a frying pan, don't turn whatever you're cooking unless it moves around freely when you wiggle the pan. If it is still stuck to the bottom, that side isn't done yet. It'll free up naturally once the crust has formed.

Image credits: peachandbetty

#3

However many cloves of garlic the recipe calls for, multiply that by at least 3x.

Image credits: lovezofo

We have plenty of cooking secrets, too. However, we feel that the most important one is (drumroll, please)—having fun, no matter what you do. Yes, it might sound a tad cheesy, but it’s true. Cooking can be incredibly stressful if you don’t know what you’re doing. Or if you’ve got a whole bunch of people you care about to impress with your gorgeous dishes.

So we find that it helps if we slow down, take a step back, and remember to enjoy the entire process. That way, instead of (just) worrying about what everyone else thinks, we also think about our role. If you feel like you’re ‘forced’ to cook or bake for everyone all the time, the results might not be as good. 

#4

To make grilled chicken more tender and delicious, marinate the meat in salt water for about 30 minutes before grilling.

Image credits: Vegetable-Magazine43

#5

When cooking rice or vegetables, use chicken or beef broth instead of plain water.

Image credits: mistyweather

#6

Add pancake mix to your omelet to make them fluffier. That's what IHOP does!

Image credits: kigam_reddit

Yours truly tends to oversalt dishes. One thing that I chronically forget is that when you’re cooking, you constantly have to taste, taste, TASTE! everything, all the time. You cannot rely purely on luck. And you can’t assume, like some people do (hi!), that just because something looks gorgeous it’ll taste the same, too. You should try to get comfortable with making small adjustments as you cook.

If your food is bland, that’s quite easy to fix. Add some salt, pepper, and spices, and see how the taste develops from there. But even if you oversalt your food, it’s not the end of the world. You won’t have to throw the dish out and start from scratch!

#7

For an instant umami blast to any dish. Grind a mix of dried mushrooms to a powder and add as needed.

Image credits: DdraigGwyn

#8

MSG is not the villain. Use it sparingly.

Image credits: TimelyEfficiency9757

#9

Use salted butter in chocolate chip cookie recipes. Game changer!

Image credits: Zestyclose-Tailor320

In our experience, adding some potatoes or something tomato-y helps neutralize the overwhelming saltiness. That’s because potatoes absorb all the saltiness while tomatoes are acidic.

You could chop up a tomato and throw it into the stew or just add some tomato sauce and stir it in. However, other acids work, too! Squeeze in some lemon, lime, or apple vinegar the next time you’ve (accidentally) added too much salt to your dinner.

#10

If you want to make a crisp and fresh salad, soak the vegetables in cold water for about 10 minutes before using.

choppylops:

Tried this the other day and the difference is insane. Brings sad leaves back to life.

CanuckBacon:

You can do the same with vegetables like carrots or celery. Let them soak in some water for a bit and they'll go from dry and wrinkly to fresh and crunchy pretty quickly!

Image credits: Ok-Neat33

#11

Okay, brace yourselves for the ultimate flavor bomb: add a dash of fish sauce to your spaghetti sauce. I know, I know, it sounds wild, but trust me, it's the secret umami weapon that'll have everyone asking for your recipe.

Image credits: lasagnaloveryum

#12

The recipe on the back of the Toll House chocolate chip bag, follow it to the letter. Everyone thinks I have the best of the best chocolate chip cookies.

Image credits: Braseellivek

As MasterClass points out, it’s not just acid that can save your dish. You add some condiments, from sour cream and avocado to ricotta cheese if you’re making a stew or a casserole. The idea is that the creaminess of these ingredients will dilute the salt. 

You can also add dairy with a high(er) sugar content to balance out the saltiness. So, for instance, you could add a splash of milk or heavy cream. But oat and coconut milk work, too. However, in a pinch, adding some sugar or even syrup can help.

#13

Asking chocolate cake of brownies? Add a touch of cinnamon. People will taste it but not recognize it. (My experience). It amps up the flavor.

Image credits: Merky600

#14

Parmesan rind in your tomato sauces, stews, etc. It gives a little flavor boost. Anchovy paste cooked in with your aromatics is fantastic it gets nutty and delicious.

Image credits: Jerkrollatex

#15

I used to always oversalt my food if I found it a bit bland but then I read somewhere to use lime juice instead and it really does brighten up the flavors.

MonkeyCube:

Salt, fat, & acid. That and bouilleon were the trade secrets I picked up when I worked in kitchens back in the day.

Image credits: majorminus92

Which of the secrets shared in this list did you find the most useful, dear Pandas? What are your favorite cooking hacks at home? Are there any special techniques or culinary insights that you’d like to share with everyone else? Feel free to share your thoughts and little nuggets of wisdom in the comment section!

#16

A block of Philly cream cheese in mashed potatoes. You can’t taste it, but it makes the potatoes super rich and creamy.

Image credits: _aerofish_

#17

When I'm making a sauce for red meat using a red wine, I crumble up a small piece of dark chocolate in it. I don't know if a lot of people know that, but nobody in my family knew.

Image credits: dudeimjames1234

#18

The best French fry seasonings have a pinch of sugar in them. It makes the salt wake up and the paprika sing.

Image credits: mewdejour

#19

A little bit of brown sugar in a tomato base (such as chilli) doesn't really affect the flavor but will help cut the acid and make it easier on your stomach.

Image credits: BuckeyeJay

#20

Silking cheap meat before using in things like stroganoff or fajitas. In a bowl, mix some oil, spices/seasoning along with something acidic like soy sauce or port wine. Drop the sliced meat in and mix well, then sprinkle baking soda over the top... Enough to make everything start foaming, then stir all again well into a foamy stew and leave it set on the counter for at least 20 minutes. The meat once cooked will be super tender, like in a Chinese takeout dish.

Image credits: rcorlfl

#21

Cut fresh garlic cloves lengthways if you're going to fry them. They are so much more resilient to burning than cross-cut. Agitate heaps, of course. Works with chilli and ginger, too. Thanks, Bali! The best 3 things you taught me 

Image credits: notlikemyrealname

#22

Use a little espresso (powder) in your brownie batter. It doesn't give a distinct coffee flavour, but it really brings out the taste of the chocolate. Even my coffee hating friends don't notice it, but love my brownies.

Image credits: marjobo

#23

To lessen saltiness in a dish, I add potatoes, especially on broths/soup.

Image credits: Infamous_Speaker1305

#24

I use Better Than Bouillon to add flavor to many of the dishes I make - I keep jars of the chicken, beef, and veggie flavors in the fridge to use as needed. I use the beef flavor in pretty much anything that has ground beef, a tablespoon per pound when cooking the meat gives it so much more flavor than using just salt.

Image credits: No_Word_3266

#25

Add a bit of sugar to salty dishes. Add a bit of salt to sweet dishes. Perfection.

Image credits: hipdozgabba

#26

Cottage cheese in pancake batter. My late grandfather always did this and his pancakes were the absolute best. It doesn’t taste or feel like cottage cheese, but it makes the pancakes fluffy and gives a bit of delightful creaminess. I have extremely fond memories of being young and having breakfast at my grandparents house where his pancakes were the main attraction.

Image credits: FadedSirens

#27

Clean as you cook.

Image credits: APartyInMyPants

#28

When making cakes, always sift the flour before mixing to make your cakes softer and smoother.

Image credits: Cautious-Apartment77

#29

I often add a little sugar to stir-fries to balance the flavor, especially with dishes that contain a lot of vegetables.

Image credits: Standard_Dragonfly51

#30

Have a spray bottle of just water on hand to squirt into your oven before putting in your baked goods. The added moisture almost always improves the texture.

Image credits: hai_lei

#31

Add food coloring to your food, or turmeric, to make people not want to eat your food when they see it in the fridge.

Unless you're my grandma, who saw a bright orangey yellow gloppy tuna salad in the fridge and went "Time to scoop this with my bare hand onto my baloney sandwich."

Don't be like grandma.

#32

If you’re baking and want something to be really tender but stable (like a cake), try reverse creaming. Instead of creaming your butter and sugar and then adding in ingredients, add your softened butter (or shortening or what have you), to your flour mixture first. Essentially, it limits the development of the gluten which is what can make baked goods tough. It’s a good way to closely mimic store-bought mixes while still being home made. 

#33

Always let meat rest for at least 5 minutes after cooking. This helps the meat retain its juices, making it more tender and delicious.

#34

Before using the sauce in dishes like pulled beef, take the cooked meat out and pour the sauce over a bowl of ice cubes then back into the pan (sans ice cubes). The fat will stick to the ice and the sauce will be much less greasy.

#35

Okay, this is coming from a professional chef who specializes in baking, so listen up! If you cook anything cake-like and the ridge of the pan is higher than what the thing rose to, then you can add a layer of icing immediately after it comes out of the oven. Yes, it'll melt, but then the texture will change to a midway point between ganache and normal icing after it's cooled back down again! Also, the seal it creates is so strong, that it preserves the moisture of the thing underneath. *Perfect* for making brownies that aren't hard as rocks, like most people's! Especially because, after they've cooled, if you cut the brownies up, wrap them individually in plastic wrap, and then freeze them, then they'll have retained enough moisture and crumblyness to end up with a taste and texture that's nearly indistinguishable from an ice cream sandwich! *Try it if you don't believe me*!

#36

I guess it's no secret, but Medium heat and liquid. Beginners like to cook fast and throw the temperature on max, but if you toss the stove on medium heat and don't let all of the liquid boil off by using a lid you will avoid the burned food disasters that happen when you are learning. It also keeps many meats more tender cooking at a lower temperature for longer and gives you longer to respond to issues.

#37

When I cook pasta, I boil water in barely enough water to cover the pasta (and I use correspondingly less salt), but I stir it for the first couple of minutes to prevent the pasta from sticking together. I do this because the resulting pasta water is really starchy, and this starchy pasta water works great for thickening sauces and emulsifying oil-based sauces. Boiling your pasta in much less water also means the water comes to a boil much faster because there's less of it to boil. For some of my pasta dishes, I cook the pasta "risotto style", where all the pasta water gets absorbed or boiled off. The resulting concentration of starch is particularly useful for emulsifying in oils. I do spaghetti aglio e olio this way, and it turns out great.

#38

Bacon is best cooked in the oven and not a frying pan. I worked in a college cafeteria and we made it in the oven on parchment lined trays. I like to put it on a cold oven then put the oven to 375. When it indicates it’s preheated K flip the pan and in 15 minutes you have a batch of perfectly crunchy chewy bacon. If you remove the fat before it cools it’s easy clean-up as well.

#39

Roast your canned diced tomatoes on a baking sheet. Slow and low concentrates the sugars and evaporates most of the liquid. A bit hotter and you start to get a nice little bit of char which adds complexity. This absolutely will elevate your soup, sauce and chili game.

Add herbs like thyme or rosemary early, like after sauteing the onions/garlic but before adding other ingredients. This will allow them to "bloom" and release more flavor.

Buy a decent microplane and use the hell out of it. Orange or lemon zest works in a whole lot more recipes than people think and can give you a "signature" style with a little practice. Also, if you have the time, grate that garlic.

#40

Every baked good is even better when you add more salt & vanilla (and less sugar) than the recipe calls for.

#41

When making deviled eggs mustard powder is better than regular because it doesn't make it watery. Thanks betty crocker!

#42

If you’re cooking a Latin American dish — add Mexican oregano. It’s different from your usual oregano and it the flavor profile is earthy, warm, and slightly spicy.

#43

Add and stir in a quarter to a half teaspoon of vegemite in brown gravies.

#44

I once put some cut orange ? juice on my steak while preparing it. I put some butter and garlic on the pan before putting the steak. My wife first time trying my cooking wasn’t expecting a juicy flavorful steak and began crying. Ever since than I use it on the steaks I cook.

#45

If you’re making homemade mac and cheese, you could add as much cheese as you want and still get a relatively bland dish. How do you fix that?

Add a little bit of yellow mustard to your roux. You don’t need a lot and it’s easy to overdo, but it’s essential. Mustard helps cheese taste cheesier, and every time I see a mac and cheese recipe without mustard, I know it’s going to be bland as hell.

#46

Do not throw away chicken skin. Air fry it until crispy to make pork rinds, but chicken.

Learn a roux. Oil and flour heated and browned to cook your vegetables in. When water is added to this and brought to a boil and let to cool it will thicken into a delicious sauce(this what gravy mixes do, powder+boiling water). This is the basis for many many "traditional" foods. Especially ones that go over rice. Gumbo, jambalaya, shrimp etouffe, Indian butter chicken etc. You can cook a meal for 100 with enough rice and a good roux.

I'm pretty sure Jesus could have served those 5000 people some gumbo and had left overs after.

#47

For great chicken wings, salt them a couple hours ahead of time. If you want them extra crispy, mix salt and baking powder to season them. To cook, put them on a baking sheet on a wire rack at 400 degrees. Flip them over after 40 minutes and let them go another 20-25 until they seem crispy. If you're using a dry rub to season them, put it on AFTER they come out of the oven just like you would if you are tossing them in a wing sauce. Cooking the with the spices on the wings at that heat will lose a lot of flavor.

#48

broken cheese sauce? slowly whisk in a beaten egg. (add it slowly so you don't get a blob of scrambled eggs floating around).

#49

When I make a cheesecake, I separate all the eggs and beat the egg whites until they are very stiff. Then I fold them back into the rest of the batter. Gives the finished cheesecake a fluffy texture while still being dense and rich. Huge improvement.

#50

Fine. I’ll give you my secret to perfect French fries.

Cut potatoes and wash/agitate and submerge ice cold water, dumping and repeating until the water runs CLEAR. This removes starch and will make your fries extremely tasty and crisp.

Pre cook the fries in peanut oil (or your oil of choice, I prefer peanut) preheated to 350-375F. This is best done with a basket setup because you’re going to need to lift, shake, and submerge again regularly. Every 15 seconds. Keep an eye on them because this stage is important. This helps the fries cook evenly without being stuck together and gives them a break from the hot oil. Precook takes about 2-3 minutes.

After precooking, let them cool for about 15 minutes, until the inside of the potatoes has steamed and they look slightly translucent and a pale golden color. No crispy or golden brown yet. If they are, your oil is too hot or you cooked them too long.

After the potatoes are squishy to the touch and cooled to room temp, submerge in oil again, repeating the same process as before. Some prefer to raise the temp of their oil to around 400-425 here, but I find that unnecessary as adding another variable like oil temp change makes it easier to f**k up.

Lift and shake fries every 20-30 seconds until the edges of the fries are a deep orange and the rest of the fries are golden brown. Salt while hot and fresh. Crispy af outside, full, fluffy mashed potato inside.

The amount of cooking videos I’ve seen on YouTube where the creator has an otherwise great video, yet f***s up the fries, has me so annoyed. I’m just some 30 yr old white dude with no restaurant experience past Five Guys when I was 19 yrs old. Hell even Five Guys employees f**k up the fries 9/10 times, as do most restaurants, but I made those fries my pride and joy for the year I worked there. Was constantly told by regular customers that my fries were the best.

#51

Chocolate powder in chilli. Mayonnaise in choc cake. Add some refried beans to your chilli and watch it transform into something amazing. Finish all your sauces with a knob of butter. Remember kids, you can always add more but you can never add less. Season in stages and taste, taste, taste.

#52

Put a couple cloves of garlic in the water with the potatoes you’re going to mash. They get soft enough to blend in. Perfect garlic mashed potatoes.

#53

Don’t rinse your raw meat! It’s actually a really good way to spray bacteria all over the place!

#54

Cut brussel sprouts in half, spice, oil, salt and add 1/2-1 cup of water to the fry pan. Cutting in half gets rid of the bitter flavor, adding water lets them soften as they saute. Once the water is gone let the brown on the edges before completion. I’ve changed a lot of peoples minds on Brussels sprouts.

#55

Add sour cream when scrambling eggs, it gives you these pillowy tangy eggs. I learned this at a resort.

Add a squirt of lemon juice to spaghetti sauce, and a pinch of sugar. It really ties it together.

Also if you simmer a tomato sauce all day for richer flavor, do your guests a favor and just go ahead and add some baking soda to help reduce the heart burn that’s gonna hit later.

If you have the time to take 15 minutes to roast garlic in the air fryer, do it. Roasted garlic elevates everything.

Never cook meat straight from the fridge, pull it from fridge at least 30 min before cooking.

#56

To get chicken skin crispy, scald it with boiling water. This actually works, even if you follow the scalding step with a wet cooking method such as sous vide. Even after a wet cooking method, just pat the skin dry, and dry heat such as searing on a pan or roasting in an oven will cause the skin to crisp up. 

#57

I don't know if it's a secret or not, but my 'secret' to making amazing mac and cheese out of the box is to put a little bit of garlic powder in it. Just a little. Too much and its garlicky mac and cheese. But juuuust the right amount and the cheese is so much cheesier than normal.

Every time I do it, people LOVE it.

I'm almost certain plenty of other people have done the same or something like it. But that's my 'thing'.

#58

35 years in the restaurant biz.

Prep, patience and timing. Few people realize how much time restaurants spend in prep. Prep as much as you possibly can ahead of time. It will make things go SO much easier. Be patient with your cooking. If you get in a hurry, things can go south really fast. Low and slow is usually better, depending on the recipe. And be realistic about how much time things take. Good example is bacon. I never fry it. I bake it in the oven on a cookie sheet with foil. Takes longer, but comes out evenly cooked and most importantly I don’t have to stand over it pretty constantly.

#59

There’s a reason genuine San Marzano tomatoes are triple the cost of other canned tomatoes.

If you’re making quality sauce, buy them and don’t second guess it.

#60

When whipping cream, add a tiny bit of lemon juice to help keep it from softening. Also add some lemon juice to the water if cooking slightly-browned cauliflower to whiten it. 

#61

Add a little nutmeg to asparagus. Sounds weird but tastes good!

#62

I add a spoonful of sour cream when I make brownies.

#63

I got some butter that I made by mixing bacon grease with the oil/butter leftover from making caramelized onions. 10/10 and fantastic on a grilled cheese btw.

#64

Don't use flour to thicken something after it's done cooking, it'll just make it gluey and bloat you. Use corn starch slurry.

#65

If you coat your burger buns in olive oil before you grille them ... they will give you the greatest homemade burger ever.

#66

The secret to my cooking is adding a little bit of everything more than the recipe videos show on youtube. Add 1 spoon of honey? No, I shall add 2 spoons. Add 1 pinch of cocoa? No I shall add an entire bucket. Thank you very much.

#67

Adding nutritional yeast to pretty much every savoury dish. It's popular with vegans but not as much otherwise, but everyone should be using that s**t - it just makes things taste so much better.

#68

Worcestershire sauce in any beef stew/ beef mince dish.

#69

Use a meat thermometer. That stuff is expensive and you want it cooked just right.

#70

Chop with the rear part of the blade, not the tip, in a rolling motion.

#71

Took a cooking class with a chef who worked for the US Olympic team at the Bejing games. His instructions for pasta:

Salt the hell out of the pasta water. It should taste like seawater. The pasta will absorb some of that salt and taste amazing. Don’t bother with oil in the pot, the oil will float on top and not touch the pasta anyway.

Reserve a splash of pasta water for the sauce. It helps thicken it. But since it’s super salty, plan the salt in the sauce accordingly.

Don’t oil the pasta. You want the sauce to stick to the pasta and it’ll slide right off if you use oil. Select a good quality olive oil for a finishing touch. Good quality olive oil will taste grassy and peppery in the back of your throat.

#72

Mayo on the bread instead of butter for grilled cheese.

#73

I have a method for making mashed potatoes that takes less effort (because there's no peeling involved) and yields fantastic results:

# Easy mashed potatoes method:

Wash your potatoes and cut them into chunks (8 pieces per potato should suffice) and rinse off the starch from the cut surfaces, then pressure-steam the potato chunks in an electric pressure cooker (such as the Instant Pot), with their skins on. The only thing you might want to do before this is to cut out any bruises and discolored spots and any eyes that show signs of sprouting. 12 minutes of pressure steaming, followed by 10 minutes of natural release, and they're ready to be mashed.

When you pressure-steam stuff, you only need a little bit of water covering the bottom of the pot (3 cups to 1 quart of water suffices), so it comes to a boil really quickly. I use a steaming rack to hold the potatoes off the bottom of the pot. I don't want the potatoes to be waterlogged, and pressure steaming is perfect for avoiding waterlogged potatoes.

Then in a bowl I dissolve some salt into warmed up heavy whipping cream for the most even salt distribution, and I use a potato ricer to press the pressure-steamed potatoes into the bowl. Place the steamed potato chunks skin-side up into the ricer before pressing them through. The skins won't go through the perforated plate, so they can be picked off easily.

Then, gently stir the pressed potato into the salted cream until everything is smooth.

This method is super fast because pressure steaming just goes way faster than boiling the potatoes since there's minimal water to bring to a boil, while the cooking temperature is something like 240˚ in a pressure cooker. And the no-peel ricer trick is much less labor intensive than peeling all the potatoes and mashing the by hand. On multiple occasions, this method let me make mashed potatoes where the traditional method would not have fit my limited time available.

#74

You can rehydrate a baguette by getting it super wet and putting it in the oven for 10ish minutes at 350 but you need to watch it.

#75

Steak keeps cooking off the grill. Plan accordingly.

#76

I don't think it's that big of a secret if you regularly cook chili but I won't make it without coffee, bitter chocolate and a bottle of dark beer.

#77

Don’t over mix your pancake batter. It should NOT be smooth.

#78

My tip is to always use fresh herbs instead of dried. The flavor will be much fresher and stronger!

#79

I have a few hacks for making Hasselback potatoes better and faster.

I use mini potatoes for this, about the size of eggs. After cutting the cuts into the back of the potato, I roll the potatoes over a steel straw to open up the cracks just a bit, and I sprinkle coarse black pepper or granulated garlic (or whatever granulated seasoning blend I was intending to use) over the potatoes. The granules fall into the cracks, and hold them open. Then I rub the potatoes with compound butter or a flavored olive oil, being sure to rub the butter or oil into the cuts, and place them in a braiser (or a dutch oven) and bake them at 400˚F / 205˚C with the lid on for half an hour. When the potatoes bake with the lid on, the trapped steam helps cook them through substantially faster than if you were to bake them the whole time uncovered. Then I remove the lid, butter them up some more, and bake for another half an hour to 45 minutes, and then they're ready to serve.

I top them with home made sour cream and onion, and crispy toasted bread crumbs for some texture.

#80

Add Tabasco sauce to your eggs before you scramble them & to your omelette mixture. They just taste better.

#81

The recipe on the back of the oven-ready lasagna noodles is the most amazing thing and I’ve never had more compliments on any recipe.

#82

If you are making a cream sauce, add mustard to the cream.

#83

Use a basting lid to melt the cheese on your cheeseburger quicker without overcooking the Patty(s). Especially smash burgers, smash them flat with a burger press, flip the 2 patties and immediately stack the 2 patties with the 2 slices of cheese and cover about 30 seconds. Slide them onto prepared already toasted buns.

Also, for smashes, keep ground beef in the fridge formed into 3oz balls. Take them out and immediately into a very hot flat top and smash them as thin as you can, like 1/4-3/8" max

#84

Mayo and green relish (the kind for hot dogs) makes a good tartar sauce when in a pinch.

#85

Letting some things, like potato and macaroni salad rest covered overnight in the refrigerator. The flavors meld to add so much more flavor. Also same with Chili.

#86

(This is mainly for my fellow Europeans)

Dry yeast is JUST as good as active. AND it stores for forever.

I bake ahelluvalot, sourdough, ryebread, french bread, etc., and I will never go back to active yeast (well the sourdough is kinda active hahaha)

#87

Use sour cream when making banana bread. Not mayo. SOUR CREAM.

#88

Griddle cooking makes most food taste better.

#89

A pinch of cayenne to nearly everything helps.

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