36 Little Cooking Habits You Should Actually Ditch ASAP

A crowded pan is a recipe for soggy disaster. While it may be tempting to fit as many veggies as possible on one sheet tray, doing so will increase the moisture — and food is more likely to steam instead of brown. When roasting, pan-frying, sautéing, or pan-searing food, give your ingredients room to breathe. That way, they can get perfectly golden brown.

When adding pasta to boiling water, the pasta will absorb part of the water as it cooks. If you don't salt the water, the food will remain bland. But if you do, it'll be seasoned from within, which is a sure-fire way to achieve pasta greatness. If you're wondering how much salt you should add to the water, the answer is: more than you think! Italians will tell you it should be "as salty as the sea," and while that's a charming overstatement, it's not that far from the truth. Most of the salt you add will get lost in the water, so to make sure some of it gets in the pasta, you need to be generous.

Rinsing the pasta will strip it of its starch, which is something you need if you want to make your sauce super silky and yummy. The only times when it's fine to rinse pasta is if you're making pasta salad or using it in a stir-fry.

Salt gets most of the attention when it comes to properly seasoned food, but acid is just as important. Acidity is often what separates a good dish from a great one. Finishing a dish with a splash of lemon or vinegar at the end is enough to make savory dishes — like chili or stew — that much more delicious. The acid adds a subtle (yet invaluable) layer of depth and flavor.

Some cuts are great for slow-cooking, while others need to be cooked quickly on high heat. Make sure you're buying the right cut of meat for what you want to do (this beef cuts guide is very useful) and when in doubt, ask your butcher for tips.

It's worth repeating: You shouldn't use olive oil for everything. That's because olive oil has a low smoke point (between 365°F and 420°F), which means it'll start smoking if you try to use it at high heat — to deep-fry or sear meat, for example. Learn more about smoke points and the right oils to use depending on what you're cooking here.

If you leave warm food out at room temperature for a very long time (over two hours), the food could start developing bacteria. But there's also danger in placing hot food immediately in the fridge — it can bring the temperature of the fridge up and put other food at risk. To avoid that, refrigerate your warm-but-not-hot food in small, air-tight containers and leave room next to them in the fridge. That will let air properly circulate and cool the food down faster.

We've all been there: You're super excited to make a recipe, you get all the ingredients, you start working on it, and halfway through it, you realize...the chicken you're making has to marinate in the fridge for at least 5 hours??? The solution: Read the recipe all the way through. It takes only a few minutes but can save you hours of work.

Just as with reading the recipe, prepping the ingredients is key to a less stressful time in the kitchen. Sure, chopping and dicing isn't the most exciting thing ever, and I know that you really want to get to the heat of the action, but mastering the art of mise en place is what separates rookie cooks from the pros.

The first thing you should do before starting to cook is prep all your ingredients. That means measuring out the quantities, chopping what needs to be chopped, and organizing each ingredient in their own space. This way, when you're in the middle of making a risotto, you won't have to stop to measure out the wine while stirring constantly at the same time. This means: less stress and fewer mistakes!

Some will tell you to listen to the meat in the pan. Others might say to look at the color of the juices, or just use your thumb to check the doneness of a steak. But none of these are fully accurate ways to tell if meat is cooked to your liking. (Or fully cooked at all, when it comes to poultry.)

The best — and most accurate — way to cook meat to perfection is to use an instant-read thermometer to check its doneness. Oven temperatures can be flimsy, and grills can overheat or underheat — but a meat thermometer can solve all of that. If you're able to, invest in one.

Letting meat rest for 10–20 minutes after it's done cooking will allow its internal juices to redistribute and ensure a super juicy steak, roast, or whatever it is you're making. If you cut into it straight away, the juices will pool and run out before they've had the chance to get reabsorbed by the meat. So the next time you're finished cooking meat, cover it with foil so it doesn't cool down, and let it rest for a while before digging in.

Of course, there are many different recipes for pie dough. But if you want a foolproof one, the secret is 3-2-1: Three parts flour, two parts fat, one part ice-cold water. (So, for example, 12 ounces of flour means 8 ounces of butter or butter-shortening mix, and 4 ounces of water.) Keep that in mind and you're on your way to pie greatness.

If you're baking cookies, pies, or anything that requires precision (remember: baking is a science!), scooping and packing the flour out of the bag with a measuring cup isn't ideal. That's because doing so tends to pack the flour too much, giving you more than you actually need.

If you don't own a food scale (which is always the most accurate method!), here's what you should do: Fluff the flour with a fork to let it breathe a little, scoop it out with a big spoon and fill the cup a spoonful at a time, without pressing down, then use the back of a knife to level the top of the cup and make sure it's even.

Read more about the fluff, sprinkle, and scrape method of measuring flour here.

As mentioned, the best way to achieve accuracy when baking is to invest in a food scale. It's roughly a $20 purchase that you won't regret if you seriously want to get into baking.

On top of buttering your pan, you should also line it up with parchment paper to make sure your cake comes out without any trouble. Follow the step-by-step above to measure out the perfect circle for your pan.

Once your cake batter is ready, you'll want to pop it into the oven ASAP so the leavening agents can do their work properly. That's why you should always prep your pan and preheat your oven before anything else so you don't waste precious time — even if it's just a few minutes — at the end.

Sifting dry ingredients isn't always necessary, but if a recipe does call for it, don't skip this step. This will ensure you get a perfectly lump-free batter, and who doesn't want that?

Baking is all about precision and accuracy. You didn't put all this effort into measuring every single ingredient precisely to then leave half of the batter — or at least several floury bits — on the side of the bowl. So make sure you scrape the bowl properly (a silicone spatula will work wonders here) at each step throughout the recipe.

Just as preheating the oven is vital when baking a cake, refraining from opening the oven door when your cake is in there is crucial. Otherwise, you will let some cooler air in which could stop the raising process and prevent your cake from achieving its full potential.

If you have to look, flip on the interior oven light and peek through the clear window in the oven door if you have one. (Or, if you don't, just be extra patient.) Once you reach the end of baking time, you can open the door to check if the cake is done, but not before then.

If you try frosting a warm cake, you're in for a disaster. Not only will the buttercream or frosting likely start to melt, but the cake will also be crumblier, making it harder to achieve a smooth result. It can be frustrating to have to wait before decorating your masterpiece but trust me on this one: You want your cake to be cold, and not even room temperature, before you give free rein to your artistic skills.

While it might seem counterintuitive, salt is an essential ingredient in sweet bakes. That's because it actually works as a sort of flavor enhancer which underlines and balances the sweetness of the baked good. So the next time you're making a cake, don't forget that pinch of salt the recipe calls for.

When a recipe asks for room temperature butter, your butter shouldn't be cold, it shouldn't be melted, it should be at room temperature. That's because the butter should still be solid but soft enough to be whipped so you can cream it with sugar.

If you don't have the patience or time to leave the butter out for a few hours before you start baking, warm up a bowl and place it over the butter, cut in pieces, making sure there is no actual contact between the butter and the sides of the bowl. Wait a few minutes until the butter is soft enough to be used, and you're good to go.

Contrary to popular belief, oiling up the grates won't prevent your food from sticking to the grill, and the oil will smoke and carbonize once it reaches smoking point, which could give a nasty aftertaste to your food. The solution? Brush the food with oil, instead of the grill.

This is a low effort, high reward step that can make the difference between a good dish (or cookie) and a great one. You can toast the nuts and seeds stovetop in a cast-iron skillet or in a sheet pan in the oven and it only takes about 15 minutes. The result? Nuts that have a much greater depth of flavor and that are even crunchier.

To make sure you pasta doesn't clump and stick together, you need to give it room to cook and move around in the pot — so use a large one.

Also, there's no need to add oil to the pasta water, as that's actually counterproductive. But make sure you stir the pasta very often, especially at the beginning of cooking.