25 People Reveal Their Favorite Cooking Hacks You’ll Wish You Knew Sooner

Cooking is often seen as an art that requires patience, skill, and a good understanding of ingredients. But sometimes, shortcuts in the kitchen feel almost too good to be true—like you’re breaking some unspoken culinary rule. Yet, as Reddit users pointed out, these so-called “cheats” are actually just smart cooking techniques. Here are some of the best responses to the question, “What cooking method feels like cheating, but is totally fine?” While some of these techniques may feel like “cheating,” they’re actually just efficient ways to prepare great food. Whether it’s an air fryer, a slow cooker, or a store-bought shortcut, the real trick is knowing when to embrace the convenience.

#1

Image source: kempff, Annie Spratt Buying rotisserie chickens hot off the display table right in front of the cash registers on my way home for almost the same price as a raw carcass. A stroke of genius, to cull the expired whole chickens, bake them all, and repackage them as a convenience food.

#2

Image source: omnipotentsco, Joel Kramer Bacon in the Oven.

#3

Image source: rammaunna, Wouter Supardi Salari Cooking ears of corn in their husks in the microwave. The whole husk comes right off, silks and everything.

#4

Image source: potatoaster, Larechar Keeping caramelized onion in the freezer and adding it to everything.

#5

Image source: hideous_coffee, Joanna Stołowicz A lot of my slow cooker meals consist of simply throwing ingredients into it, turning it on and forgetting it until it's done. Maybe I have to chop an onion or something but I feel like I skipped a lot of steps when that's the only work I have to do.

#6

Image source: cprenaissanceman, Jason Briscoe Just want to remind folks: if it does what need, it’s not cheating. You simply cannot make everything yourself and using modern appliances are good actually. Just because it’s not traditional doesn’t mean you should feel guilty about cooking that way.

#7

Image source: potatoaster, Fellipe Ditadi Keeping ginger in the freezer and microplaning it as needed.

#8

Image source: CandOrMD, Andy Quezada OP, you wanna REALLY cheat with that can of Pam? Spray food directly with it. Potatoes for roasting, rolls prior to baking....it's just canola oil (or whatever other kind you get). Besides adding oil for browning, it helps adhere salt or herbs to the food, if they were otherwise on the dry side. It feels SO weird and SO wrong to spray your food with Pam, but let me tell you, those rolls will be gorgeously, uniformly golden brown, and no one will ever know our little secret unless you want them to!

#9

Image source: Morning_lurk, Olia Gozha Frozen puff pastry. I don't know why anyone even makes it by hand, except to pass a culinary school exam, or as practice for a baking show.

#10

Image source: ashiepink, Maryam Sicard No knead bread. I actually prefer the flavour of slow proofed breads and the texture is superb but it does feel like I'm skipping a step.

#11

Using Thai curry paste out of a can. It's actually really, really good. Image source: beets_or_turnips

#12

If you need to boil water for something small, like mac n cheese or top ramen. Use an electric kettle to boil the water then add it to your hot sauce pan. At least for me it cuts down on the time by about 1/2. If you are missing a spice for a recipe, sometimes those seasoning blends have the spice you need in them. Even with all the other spices it usually ends up coming out pretty good. Save your veggie scraps in the freezer for making stock later on! Image source: jax4123

#13

Image source: setsurenka, Curated Lifestyle Making curry pastes in the processor instead of in a giant granite mortar and pestle the way my mother did in her teens.

#14

Image source: comfortablynomad, laura adai Microwaving potatoes instead of baking for a quick side dish.

#15

Image source: manfrombelmonty, Vincent Botta Completely skipping the cow and just having to reach for a bottle of milk. Wondrous.

#16

Image source: karateknecht, Richard Masoner (Not sure if it qualifies as a method but) using MSG to season savoury dishes. I do it all the time and still feel weird telling people when they compliment my food and ask me about the ingredients I used. Nobody cares about salt, but glutamate is expected to only be added by using foods where it's found naturally.

#17

Image source: Richard_Berg, Visual Tag Mx Steaming veggies in the microwave.

#18

Food processor for chopping and shredding. I’m never chopping an onion again. Image source: thebaddestbean

#19

Image source: jimmycoed, Frank Flores Pioneer brand packaged gravy mixes. I make excellent homemade gravy but they are as close to homemade as you can get and practically no prep time. *Don't thumb me down until you've tried them.

#20

Rice cookers. Image source: riboflavin11

#21

Oh and I buy those pre-frozen minced herbs like garlic from the store and keep them in my freezer. I HATE cleaning my kitchen tools after mincing or grating garlic. I still buy fresh garlic and use it a lot. But I’m fine popping out a cube of garlic for most basic things like flavoring meet as it’s cooked. Image source: HabitNo8608

#22

Literally any shortcut. The goal is to make good food, not to break your back trying to use a needlessly difficult method. Image source: SDM_25

#23

Image source: QuelleBullshit, Sorin Gheorghita Throwing a whole stick of butter in something to make it taste better. Obviously there's stuff this won't work for but plenty of stuff where, to a home cook, an insane amount of butter improves things.

#24

Cooking beans in a pressure cooker in 20-30 minutes feels like hard-core cheating to me, in reality tons of people do it every day in India and south/central america. Image source: theonlybabyraper

#25

Image source: GreenGemsOmally, Tool Dude8mm Butane torch to finish melting cheese when I put a sandwich in the broiler but it's taking too long. Been my favorite xmas present so far, I'm just looking for excuses to use it.