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TikTok’s influence is both real and powerful, inspiring trends, ideas, and purchases that are so viral they lead to retail shortages. The social media site is also riddled with cooking hacks, but not all of them pan out, so to speak, as promised. There are, however, some hidden gems that are so useful they should become staples in kitchens everywhere.
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We can't guarantee you won't shed a tear when slicing onions with this hack, but the tears will be limited to the fumes coming from the chopped onion, not the chore itself. All you need is a fork and a high-quality vegetable peeler, like TikTok user @casa_tips, who illustrates by sticking a fork in the side of an onion and rubbing a vegetable peeler along the edge, creating thin slices. A sharp peeler is essential, or you'll get nowhere, like @sarahs.day, another TikTok user, chronicled in her own video responding to the suggested hack.
Related: Food Storage Tips to Make Your Groceries Last as Long as Possible
TikTok user @justinmschuble suggests cutting a watermelon in half and using a melon ball scooper to scoop out balls of watermelon, then putting them on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Freeze the watermelon balls overnight and add them to a glass the next day, pouring water or sparkling water over them. The result? One cold glass of refreshing and delicious watermelon-flavored water. You won't be alone in shoving trays of watermelon in your freezer — the hashtag #watermelonice has gotten 723,900 clicks.
Related: We Tried 9 Water Flavorings and These Are the Best
Sick of the leftover half of your avocado turning brown before you get the chance to enjoy it? The hashtag #avocadohack has a whopping 26 million views on TikTok, but there are a variety of hacks encompassed in that category and some just miss the mark. Putting your leftover avocado upside down in a bowl of water might keep your avocado from browning, but it also makes it mushy and takes up unnecessary space in your refrigerator. TikTok user @blogilates shares that if you squeeze a little bit of fresh lemon juice over the flesh of your leftover avocado and wrap it in plastic wrap before storing in the refrigerator, your avocado’s integrity won’t be compromised and neither will your precious fridge space.
From bacteria build-up to transferring funky tastes, grilling a fresh meal on a dirty surface never ends well, and based on the 28.9 million clicks #grillcleaning has gotten on TikTok, it's an issue for lots of people. There are tons of cleaners, special brushes, and scrapers you can buy, or you can try this hack from TikTok user @maddisonskitchen. All you need is a grill fork, a lemon, and kosher salt. Cut the lemon in half, pierce it with the grill fork so you can handle it safely and easily, and coat it in kosher salt. From there, you just rub the salt-covered lemon over the grate of your heated grill and watch the residue disappear.
With a staggering 50.2 million views, a video by TikTok user @raising.wildlings on how to easily shred chicken is groundbreaking in the world of food hacks. The best part about this hack? All you have to do is put warm chicken breasts in a bowl and use a hand mixer to shred them. Simple, yet so effective.
Many cooks have felt the panic of seeing a pot of water about to boil over on the stovetop. The next time you find yourself in this predicament, TikTok user @lifehack has you covered: just throw an ice cube into the pot and watch the water calm down right before your eyes. This hack is so tried and true that the video has an astonishing 5.1 million views.
Broccoli has got to be one of the messiest vegetables to chop. From the first slice, little fragments of broccoli begin covering the cutting board. TikTok user @monmackfood offers up a super easy hack to transform broccoli prep: blanch the broccoli head in a pot of boiling water for a few seconds before chopping and everything holds together. This tip is so useful that the video has an impressive 43,100 likes.
For those of you who have the occasional eggshell shard sneak its way into your brownie batter, try this tip. TikTok user @sidneyraz shares that you can use the larger part of the eggshell as a makeshift tool to scoop the piece of eggshell back out. About 225.9 million people have searched the site for #egghack, so you can bet there are other tips to be found there, too.
Need to juice a lemon but you don’t have a juicer? No need to use your hands. Just do what TikTok user @howdoesshe suggests and grab a pair of tongs, place the lemon half in them, and push them together, squeezing all the juice out quickly and easily. Need other ideas? Try #lemonhack to find out what 13.2 million people discovered on the site.
Honey is sticky, sweet, and a great addition to a variety of recipes. However, when following a recipe that includes honey, you’ll find that its unique texture doesn’t bode well for coming out of a measuring spoon easily. TikTok user @purewow knows the perfect way to get out of this sticky situation: simply coat your measuring spoon or cup with a dab of cooking oil before adding the honey and it will slide completely out. A scan of #honeyhack, which has been searched by 380,200 people, reveals there are plenty of other ideas for adding the sweet stuff to your recipes.
The next time you cook a dish with a variety of different vegetables, don’t throw out the scraps. Instead, do what TikTok user @stoveandgarden recommends and put the scraps into a pot of boiling water to make a homemade vegetable stock. It's just one idea you'll find if you search #foodwastesolution, which has gotten 8.8 million views.
Have herbs in your refrigerator that are beginning to wilt? Don’t worry, TikTok user @themodernnonna has the perfect suggestion. Chop up your herbs, place them in an ice cube tray, and fill each pocket with olive oil. After you freeze them, you can pop them right out of the tray and keep them in a storage bag or container until you’re ready to add them to your next recipe. A search of #plantrescue, which has gotten 22.6 million views, will unearth saves for everything from herbs to houseplants.
TikTok user @stoveandgarden has so many amazing cooking hacks that we had to include him on our list twice. Most of us have had trouble opening a jar at one point or another (the hashtag #openthejar has 1.2 million views). To get a better grip on the lid and open the jar with ease, all you need to do is put a rubber band around the lid.
If you use a wooden cutting board, you probably understand the annoyance of the lingering smell of garlic or onion after washing it. TikTok user @mama_mila_ shares some useful ways to use lemons for cleaning. In her viral video, she suggests sprinkling sea salt on your wooden cutting board and rubbing a lemon half all over the surface to both clean and deodorize it. The hashtag #cuttingboardhack has 120,300 views, so caring for these boards is something more than a few home chefs have considered.
Coffee is a drink we love to hack (the hashtag #coffeehack has gotten 61.1 million views on TikTok). To get rid of the bitterness in your coffee, TikTok user @softpourn says that adding a little bit of salt will counteract the bitter taste and make your cup of joe taste better. He adds that you should add the salt right to your coffee grounds rather than putting it directly into your prepared cup of coffee.