25 Common Steps In Recipes That In-The-Know Cooks Always Skip — And Why

If you cook often at home and follow many recipes, you're probably used to seeing a lot of common cooking instructions that pop up repeatedly. And chances are, there are probably some steps you choose to ignore. So Redditor u/shr00mshoe asked, "What is a cooking step that everyone else swears by but you always skip?" Here's what people from Reddit and the BuzzFeed Community said about cooking instructions they simply don't follow.

1. "Adding garlic and onion at the same time. That's just a recipe for burnt garlic."

2. "I don't wait for the oven to preheat. I especially love to make bacon this way. I put the tray into the cold oven and then turn it on. My bacon comes out perfect every time."

3. "Unless company is coming over, I never peel potatoes or carrots. Scrub them and eat them with peels still attached."

— u/thegirlandglobe

4. "For soups, I skip the veggie amount and just use the whole thing of whatever I have. Half a cup of onion? No, the entire onion is going in. Three sticks of celery? No, I'm using however much is in the fridge. It’ll turn out just fine."

5. "I never rinse pasta after straining it because the sauce sticks to the noodles better this way. I've always felt like this is a totally unnecessary step."

6. "I rarely properly measure dried spices. Measuring ingredients, in general, has never been my strongest suit. For any of the spices I use, while cooking a dish, a teaspoon is just a bit in my palm, a tablespoon is more than that, and anything less than a teaspoon is just a pinch. People always rave about 'how well-seasoned' my food tastes."

— u/Straydapp

7. "I never whisk eggs when making scrambled eggs. I crack them right into the heated pan, and I think they come out better that way."

8. "I am never EVER boiling my tomatoes and skinning them to make a sauce. This is the very definition of extra."

9. "I don't put a horizontal cut in my onions when dicing. The layers are already a form of horizontal cut, and while it's not a huge time saver or anything, I can't tell the difference in my dice when I do or don't do the horizontal cut."

— u/Erulol

10. "When baking, I never refrigerate overnight. I understand this step helps to develop the flavor and texture, but if I'm making cookies, I want a cookie today, thanks."

11. "Washing meat before cooking it. What is that supposed to do besides spread bacteria around my sink?"

12. "Salad dressing recipes love to tell you to 'slowly mix in the oil' while whisking. No, I just throw all the oil into a jar with the rest of the ingredients and give it a good shake. It always tastes good enough for me."

13. "Sifting. Unless it's macaron or ladyfingers I'm making, I never sift! And for context, I'm a pastry chef."

— u/molliebrd

14. "I have never precooked my lasagna noodles. My lasagna has turned out great every single time for over thirty years."

15. "I never wash my rice before cooking it. I almost always cook basmati rice, but I think it always comes out fluffy and aromatic, even if I am disappointing my ancestors by not washing it first."

16. "Using room temperature eggs for baking when a recipe calls for that. I'll soften butter in the microwave when a recipe calls for softened butter, but eggs go in straight from the refrigerator."

— u/daniday08

17. "Peeling ginger. I only recently read something where people said they never peel ginger, and it made me question why I ever did. I usually use a microplane zester or the small side of a cheese grater and keep my ginger in the freezer. It's so much easier now not to worry about peeling it."

18. "When cooking ground beef, many recipes tell you to 'drain the fat.' But I never do that. Fat is flavor. I use the rendered fat to cook up the rest of my ingredients, like veggies. The results taste so much better when cooked in beef fat."

19. "I use way less water than the directions recommend when making pasta. You have to stir it a bit more, but it’s faster and makes far superior pasta water to finish it."

— u/Creative_Decision481

20. "This is like such a cardinal sin of baking, but I don't mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then combine them with wet; I just mix wet and then dump the dry in with the wet one at a time. I don't claim to be a great baker, but my stuff turns out tasty enough."

21. "I never peel potatoes for my mashed potatoes. It could just be me, but I love leaving the skin to remind me it's potatoes I'm eating rather than cornmeal porridge."

— u/TheAlbrecht2418

22. "So many soup, sauce, or casserole recipes say to add garlic early on, usually at the same time as carrots and onions, which take longer to soften. I always add it later and add at least double the suggested amount. It's so much more flavourful."

23. "If I'm cooking dry beans, I don't pre-soak overnight. I usually just cook them for longer. If I remember at all, I sometimes let them sit with some water and baking soda for about an hour while I prep other stuff, but that's it."

24. "I always break pasta in half. I'll look you in the eye and snap an entire box of fettuccine in half as I add it to the pot. No regrets!"

25. "Sorry, but I have a hard rule about buying that one exotic ingredient that costs 20 bucks and will only be used once."

— u/vnutellanutella

Do you have something to add? What is a common recipe step you choose to ignore or a piece of cooking advice you disregard? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form.

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.