Useful kitchen gadgets that will save you so much time
Whether you’re an advanced chef, sous chef, or a newly minted quarantine chef, we’re all looking for ways to simplify our hours spent cooking and baking. There are some problems we've all experience—like keeping avocados fresh, peeling garlic, defrosting meat, and distributing even batter—that can easily be solved with a handy kitchen gadget. The best part? You can find all these top-rated gadgets right on Amazon for some quick shipping action.
When thinking about saving time in the kitchen, the Instant Pot is the first gadget that comes to mind. Just throw your ingredients in, press a button, and come back in less than 30 minutes to a delicious hearty soup, meat, risotto, or steamed vegetable. It's incredibly user-friendly, and more than 30,000 reviewers love how it’s multifunctional as it functions as a pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer, slow cooker, and saute pan. Since you can make different portion sizes, it’s perfect for single people or your whole family.
Have you ever had trouble peeling, pitting, or slicing your avocado? If the answer is yes, then a 3-in-1 avocado slicer is an easy solution. You can easily peel, pit, or slice avocados, and reviewers love it because it helps prevent them from getting injured and can be cleaned with a little soap and water. One reviewer boasted that they were able to peel and slice an avocado in just under twelve seconds with this tool.
Regardless of whether you want to save time frying or achieve the crispiest french fries with little to no effort, an air fryer will definitely save you time in the kitchen. As the best air fryer we’ve ever tested, the Phillips XXL is extremely user-friendly and makes incredibly crunchy french fries, fried chicken, and egg rolls in a snap. Reviewers also love it for its large capacity that can fit an entire family meal and its ability to cook quickly without needing to preheat.
If you find yourself spending endless amounts of time chopping, slicing, cutting, or spiralizing vegetables, it may be time to invest in a multi-use vegetable tool. More than 19,000 reviews rave about this one for its ability to cut vegetables in different thicknesses and large collection bin. It also comes with four interchangeable blades that make cutting any vegetables—like tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and carrots—as simple as can be. One reviewer mentioned that they were able to cut ten plates of vegetables in less than ten minutes using this gadget.
Best Cookware Sets, According to Food Network Kitchen
We’ve been sautéing, frying and simmering in our test kitchens all day, every day for years. Using our pro experience, we’ve picked the perfect cookware sets for all kinds of cooks.
Pots and pans are available in a wide array of materials, with and without nonstick finishes, and there are distinct differences between the various offerings when it comes to how they cook and their ease of use. While sets are sold at a huge range of prices, you don’t have to spend top dollar to get a dependable one that you’ll find a pleasure to cook with. Before you shop it’s important to get a handle on what you like to cook and for how many people, as well as your tolerance for scrubbing and the size of your budget.
Copper cookware heats the most evenly and is the most responsive (meaning, take your pan of hollandaise off the burner and it stops cooking immediately so there’s no danger it will curdle). But copper is super pricey and requires a lot of upkeep if you want to maintain its bright, shiny finish.
Next-best at heat distribution is aluminum. However, when you cook directly in aluminum some of the metal leaches into your food, giving it a gray-ish cast. The vast majority of aluminum cookware has some kind of finish, either enamel or nonstick, to prevent this from happening and also make it easier to clean. Some aluminum pans are hard-anodized, which means they’ve undergone an electrochemical process that strengthens and darkens the metal, protecting if from denting and stopping it from interacting with whatever you’re cooking. Aluminum cookware can’t be used on an induction burner unless it has a layer of stainless steel in the base.
Stainless steel is prized for its beautiful appearance and durability. However, it’s a poor conductor of heat. Any stainless cookware “worth its salt” will be either clad, meaning it has an interior core of aluminum that extends through the base and up the side, or will have a layer of aluminum in the bottom to give even heating. Cookware made of stainless steel is pricey and grease splatters can be difficult to clean off.
Nonstick cookware sets offer easy cooking and cleanup, especially for new cooks in the kitchen, but the coatings don't last forever and some have concerns about their safety. Read on for how to choose the right nonstick cookware set for you.
