26 Cooking Techniques Everyone Should Master
Sometimes it can be a little intimidating to start building skills in the kitchen, but it becomes much easier once you boil it down to the basics. These cooking methods can be used in a variety of recipes and will help make preparing meals and recipes a little bit smoother. Start simple—a delicious recipe doesn't have to be complicated! Once you have a few go-to dishes and easy skills mastered, then it's much easier to work your way up to longer, more involved recipes. These are some of the best cooking techniques anyone can know, so grab your knife, cutting board, pots, and pans and start practicing!
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1. How to Keep Your Food Safe
Food safety should always be first and foremost on your mind in the kitchen. After all, no one ever wants to get sick when it can be avoided by following just a few easy guidelines. Always be sure to avoid cross-contamination, keep everything clean (including your hands), and store and thaw food safely so you can keep yourself, friends, and family healthy.
2. How to Safely Use a Chef's Knife
Almost every recipe calls for chopping, slicing, or dicing in some way. Getting comfortable with a chef's knife will help you accomplish all of these tasks quickly and easily. Safety comes first, so learn the basics like how to sharpen a knife (dull knives are actually less safe than sharp) and how to make simple knife cuts. The more you cook, the more practice you'll get!
3. How to Chop an Onion
Onions are full of flavor, and they're the base of tons of savory recipes like soups and sauces. Compared to general knife skills, chopping an onion is almost its own art form. It might take a little practice to perfect all of the individual cuts that go into chopping an onion, but once you do, you'll get to show off your skills on tons of different recipes.
4. How to Cook an Egg (a Few Different Ways)
Hard-boiling, poaching, scrambling—it helps to know 'em all. Not only is knowing how to cook an egg essential for breakfast and brunch, but it can also be a quick dish to whip up for lunch or even dinner when you find yourself in a time crunch. Plus, keeping hard-cooked eggs stocked in your fridge makes it super easy to add one to a salad or to grab and go for a protein-packed snack.
5. How to Sauté
Sautéeing is a technique you can use for almost any food, including veggies and proteins. In fact, you can easily cook up an entire meal in just your sauté pan! Just think of all the different ways this cooking method can come in handy—sauté a chicken breast for a quick dinner, veggies to serve on the side, or chopped onions to add to another recipe. This technique is a must-know!
6. How to Deglaze a Pan
Once you finish roasting a chicken or sautéeing a steak, deglaze your pan to make a thick gravy or a yummy pan sauce—a great way to take your dinner to the next level. Deglazing incorporates the browned bits that stick to the bottom of the pan during cooking into your sauce, which adds a ton of flavor and ensures the sauce complements your meal. You'll want to know this technique for much more than just Thanksgiving dinner; it can come in handy for almost any meal.
7. How to Line a Pan
This might seem like an obvious and super-simple technique, but it's so important whenever you're baking. Lining a pan with foil before you bake brownies can save you a lot of time later on during cleanup, and properly lining cake pans is crucial for making sure your baked goods come out intact. After all, no one wants a crumbly layer cake!
8. How to Mince Garlic
There are a lot of different ways to mince garlic, so experiment with this kitchen skill until you find the one that works best for you. Chopping garlic with a chef's knife is the most classic way, but you can also try using a garlic press or a Microplane. You can even cheat on this technique by buying garlic that's already minced; it just won't have the same flavor as fresh garlic.
9. How to Make Salad Dressing
Homemade dressing is better than store-bought for a number of reasons. You can make it just the way you like it and you know exactly what ingredients went into making it. It's also super easy because you just need oil, vinegar, and a few seasonings. Once you find a combination that works for you, make a big batch and store it in the fridge to spice up all of your salads!
10. How to Roast
Whether you're roasting vegetables, chicken, or another protein, this cooking technique adds a delicious crispy, caramelized coating to everything you roast. Roasting vegetables is a great way to give them a boost from plain to mouthwatering. Not all vegetables and proteins roast for the same amount of time, so be sure to pay close attention to your recipe's instructions while you learn this technique.
11. How to Cook Chicken
Is there anything a perfectly cooked chicken breast can't do? You can add it to salads, serve it with a side of veggies, or eat it all on its own—it'll be delicious every single time. There's more than one way to do it, too, including grilling, broiling, sautéeing, and boiling. Just be sure to master at least one method that will work best for you.
12. How to Break Down a Chicken
Whether you want to save a little money by buying a whole chicken and cutting it into pieces yourself, or you're looking to impress dinner guests with a whole roast chicken, it's always good to know the basics of butchery. It's a lot simpler than you think to break a chicken into the pieces you see already portioned out at the store. As you cut, you can see the fat lines and where the joints meet, so the chicken will help guide your knife to where it should cut.
13. How to Cook Steak
Enjoying a great steak is a delicious way to mark a special occasion, but you don't have to go to a steakhouse to do it. One of the simplest ways to enjoy a tender, juicy steak at home is to learn how to cook one in your oven. Knowing how to broil a steak can help you sink your teeth into a celebratory meal in hardly any time at all, and it's just as easy to learn how to pan cook or grill a steak.
14. How to Bake Fish
There's no doubt that fish can be a healthy, easy dinner you can make any night of week. Baked fish is a good-for-you protein that's a tasty choice for the starring role at dinnertime. Another skill is knowing when fish is done baking, so be sure to learn the flaking test while you're at it!
15. How to Measure Flour
Measuring flour seems like it should be obvious, but there's a trick to making sure your measurements are actually accurate. The right way to measure flour is to spoon it into the measuring cup (don't use the cup to scoop it out of the container, because it can pack the flour down and leave you with too much), then level it off with the straight side of a knife. If you're not measuring flour correctly, your baked goods can come out dry, so this technique is super important. You can also use a kitchen scale to measure your flour (and other ingredients) by weight.
16. How to Bake Bread
A lot of people experimented with sourdough as a hobby during quarantine, and with good reason–baking bread is a great skill to have in your culinary repertoire. There's a lot more out there than sourdough, too. You can learn how to make simple quick bread that doesn't require yeast, crusty focaccia, or classic sandwich bread. There are lots to try, so start by mastering one recipe, then decide if you want to explore more.
17. How to Bake a Cake
Even if your go-to is a boxed mix, there are lots of occasions that call for cake. Whether you're planning for a birthday party or just a small dinner party, a good cake is never out of place. There's no need to memorize the whole recipe or even all of the ingredients, but it'll come in handy to have a classic, easy recipe in your back pocket that you know will come out fluffy and delicious every time.
18. How to Make Frosting
Every cake needs a topping, and the frosting is something you can whip up without a recipe once you've done it a few times. You can start simple with an easy powdered sugar glaze, or learn how to make the best-ever buttercream. Plus, as you become an expert in making frosting, you'll also get a chance to practice plenty of decorating techniques too!
19. How to Make Broth
Sure, store-bought might be easiest, but homemade broth is definitely the most delicious option. Plus, making chicken broth is a two-in-one recipe—not only do you end up with tasty broth, but also cooked chicken that's great for making chicken noodle soup, pot pie, or a casserole. All of your future soups and sauces will be much better once you learn how to make broth.
20. How to Cook with Fresh Herbs
Leave the dried herbs on the grocery store shelves and use fresh instead. You'll be surprised how much more flavor fresh herbs can add to a dish. They won't keep as long as dried herbs, so make sure you know how to store them correctly, too. Fresh herbs might take a little extra time to chiffonade, snip, strip, and more, but the end result will be well worth your effort.
21. How to Bake a Potato
Whether you need a simple side dish or even an easy lunch, knowing how to bake a potato is a skill that will definitely come in handy. There's nothing better than pulling one out of the oven to enjoy a fluffy baked potato with all of the fixings. But if you've found yourself questioning how long to bake them, or whether or not to wrap them in foil, now is the time to learn!
22. How to Pit and Slice an Avocado
Avocados are good for much more than just spreading on toast, but you have to know how to slice and pit them. If you're not careful, it's easy to accidentally cut yourself when trying to remove the pit, so learning the proper technique is crucial. With this trick in your repertoire, adding avocado slices to salads and making your own homemade guacamole and even avocado toast will all be within your grasp.
23. How to Cook Rice
Rice is an easy, healthy addition to mealtimes, so knowing how to cook it properly is a must. It can be a little intimidating to know how long to cook it and how much water to add, especially since rice can be overcooked or undercooked so easily. If you use a lot of rice, it might be worth investing in a rice cooker. But once you master cooking it on your stove top, this technique is hard to beat.
24. How to Cook Pasta
Quick dinner? Check. Get a salted pot of water boiling, and start a pot of your favorite sauce (or heat some up in the microwave), and there's a meal on the table before you know it. You can even serve it up with just a little bit of butter and cheese, or chill it and add veggies and your favorite dressing for a lunch pasta salad. With so many uses, perfecting al dente noodles is a must!
25. How to Use an Instant Pot
There's not much that this one-stop pot can't do, including pressure cooking, slow cooking, and sautéeing. Whether you already have one for yourself or it's on your wish list, mastering the basics of pressure cooking and slow cooking can absolutely help you save time and energy in the kitchen.
26. How to Use an Air Fryer
The current king of quick dinners, the air fryer is the best appliance for quickly cooking crispy, crunchy foods. It can handle French fries, chicken, fish, vegetables, and even desserts in less time than your oven. It's also a healthier alternative to deep-frying, so if you love quick, good-for-you recipes, knowing how to use this countertop appliance can make cooking a meal much easier.
