31 Kitchen Hacks That Make Cooking Easy

Like how to cut an onion without crying. Hint: It involves bread.

By Adjua Fisher· 3/20/2015, 1:55 p.m.

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If you can barely boil water, no worries: Every single one of these kitchen hacks — from the trick to keeping avocados from turning brown, to how to peel potatoes without a peeler (genius, by the way), to how to cut an onion without crying — will get you one step closer to becoming a cooking pro.

But you’ll still have to learn how to boil water. There’s no hack for that.

1. How to cut a dozen cherry tomatoes or grapes in half at once

Your salad-making days are about to get a whole lot easier.

2. How to keep bananas from turning brown

Say goodbye to brown, mushy bananas with this simple kitchen hack.

3. How to keep avocados from turning brown

If you are a lover of avocados (Is there anyone on planet earth who isn’t?), consider this the kitchen hack of all kitchen hacks: This genius trick keeps halved avocados from turning brown for up to three days!

4. The insanely easy trick for cleaning your blender

You will, without a doubt, kick yourself for not thinking of this obvious kitchen hack earlier.

5. How to make fruit jam in five seconds flat

Making jam is the worst. You have to sanitize everything, and it’s just a pain. But this hack makes whipping up jam the easiest thing you’ll do all day. For real.

6. The crazy-simple way to de-seed a pomegranate

If you’ve never, ever purchased a pomegranate — because how the heck do you de-seed one of those things?! — this kitchen hack is about to change your life.

7. The no-brainer hack to keep tomatoes from rotting

All you have to do is turn your tomatoes upside down and voila: No more rotten tomatoes.

8. How to make fruit ripen faster

If you’ve got a serious hankering for banana bread and don’t feel like waiting for your bananas to ripen, this kitchen hack will speed up the process.

9. The super-simple way to pit cherries

All you need for this hack is a paper clip. Cherry pie, here you come.

10. The no-hassle way to peel garlic

This kitchen hack is a surefire way to never have garlic-scented hands again. Amen to that.

11. How to peel potatoes without a peeler

You can throw away your peeler because you are seriously never going to want to use it again after trying this hack.

12. The hilarious way to chop an onion without crying

Warning: If you’re steering clear of carbs, this kitchen hack won’t work for you.

13. Soften butter immediately

Who wants to wait an hour for butter to soften? No one. That’s where this kitchen hack comes in.

14. The no-flip trick for roasting veggies

There is nothing worse than flipping an entire panful of roasting veggies one by one. Good thing you never have to do it again! Just preheat you pan, and you’re good to go.

15. The trick to making the perfect poached egg

If you’ve never mastered the art of poaching an egg (me either) you need this trick. All it requires is a really fresh egg and a strainer.

16. Froth milk in a mason jar

All you need for coffee-shop-grade froth without the coffee-shop price tag is a mason jar and a microwave.

17. How to freeze anything and everything

Freezer confusion, be gone!

18. Turn your coffee mug into a knife-sharpening stone

Trying to prep food with a dull knife is seriously painful. But never again, thanks to this brilliant coffee-mug-turned-knife-stone hack.

19. The trick to making perfectly chunky guacamole

Make perfect guacamole every single time with this weird — but useful! — hack.

20. How to roast peppers in a steamer

Give your salsa a little extra oomph by roasting your peppers — on a steamer.

21. How to pit a bunch of olives at once

Making olive tapenade just got a whole lot easier thanks to this kitchen hack.

22. Make perfectly fluffy rice every single time

Rice is one of those foods: It’s so simple to make but, for some reason, it never turns out quite right. But this kitchen hack, which only requires a dish towel and a few extra minutes, will get you perfectly fluffy rice every time.

23. The effortless way to peel shallots

Why waste time peeling shallots when you can just do this instead?

24. How to make eggs three ways in the microwave

Scrambled, sunny-side up and poached — all without even turning on the stove.

25. How to make the perfect sunny-side up egg

A kitchen hack that will help you turn out the perfect sunny-side up egg every single time. Finally!

26. How to get corn kernels off the cob without making a huge mess

This kitchen hack is sure to come in handy come summertime.

27. Three ways to make toast without a toaster

Because what did people do before toaster overs? This. They did this.

28. How to replace an egg in any recipe

Not a fan of eggs? No problem.