Top 10 Essential Cooking Tools

Enthusiastic home chefs often seek out the latest high-tech cooking gadgets. From slicers to choppers, the new tools on the market promise to outdo the competition, and before long, their kitchens are overflowing with food processors, juicers, and items with names like Mandoline, Microplane, and Silpat.

While having an assortment of cooking tools is beneficial and allows for greater culinary creativity, it's easy to forget about the basics – the key utensils that are essential for preparing everyday meals. Without these, preparing many common dishes would be a challenge. Continue reading to explore the 10 fundamental kitchen tools every cook should have on hand.

10: Colander

Even if your cooking skills are limited to basic tasks like preparing instant macaroni and cheese, a colander is still a must-have. These kitchen tools are essentially bowls with perforations that allow liquid to pass through while retaining solid foods. They're crucial for draining pasta, rinsing canned beans, and eliminating excess liquid from many other ingredients. They're also ideal for washing fruits, vegetables, beans, and even leafy greens.

Colanders come in different shapes, sizes, and materials, and the holes can range from large to small. A traditional colander, with its larger holes, is great for straining bigger items like pasta or vegetables. However, some people prefer finer mesh strainers for smaller ingredients, as they can separate finer particles that a colander might miss.

Mesh strainers function like colanders to drain liquids, but their fine holes allow for additional tasks. You can use them to separate fat from gravy, strain seeds from raspberry puree, or filter chunks out of sauces. They're also excellent for sifting flour or powdered sugar when needed. While a colander may serve your basic needs, investing in a fine mesh strainer provides extra versatility. Alternatively, since they're affordable, you might just consider getting both.

9: Wooden Spoon

Stirring is one of the most frequent tasks in the kitchen. Whether you’re blending cake batter or mixing ingredients for a hearty chili, if you love cooking, you’ll find yourself stirring often. And how could you stir without a reliable spoon?

There are many types of kitchen spoons—plastic, silicone, stainless steel—but experienced cooks and chefs often prefer the timeless qualities of wooden spoons. Why? They won’t scratch nonstick cookware, so your pots and pans stay intact. They don’t conduct heat, meaning you won’t burn your hand or tongue when handling them. Additionally, they don’t react with food acids, unlike metal spoons, ensuring the true taste of your dish isn’t altered.

Some people simply enjoy the rustic charm that wooden spoons bring to the kitchen, particularly the character of a well-used spoon that’s been part of many memorable meals over the years.

8: Food Thermometer

It’s Thanksgiving Day, and the whole family is eagerly gathered around the table, anxiously awaiting that first bite of golden, juicy turkey. You open the oven door, and everything seems perfect—the turkey’s crispy skin signals it’s ready. But once you carve it, disaster strikes: the meat is undercooked, ruining the meal!

Certain foods can be tricky to judge when they’re fully cooked, especially if your oven is temperamental or unfamiliar. Undercooking meat is especially problematic, as it can harbor harmful bacteria. Proper cooking is essential for avoiding foodborne illnesses, which can be prevented by ensuring food reaches the correct internal temperature before serving.

Unfortunately, even if food looks fine on the outside, it can still be undercooked inside. That’s when a thermometer becomes essential. An instant-read thermometer provides an accurate internal temperature reading. The USDA states that using a thermometer is the only reliable way to ensure meat is cooked to a safe temperature, making it a must-have tool in every kitchen.

7: Vegetable Peeler

If you’ve ever had to peel a whole bag of potatoes with just a knife, you know how time-consuming and frustrating it can be. Plus, unless you're highly skilled, you’ll likely end up wasting more of the potato than necessary. Not to mention the risk of accidentally cutting yourself with the knife.

That’s where peelers come in. They’re faster and more efficient than a knife, and they remove just a thin layer of skin, meaning more of your vegetable is left for cooking and less is wasted. Peelers are designed for safety, with a comfortable grip that ensures you have the right leverage and a blade that minimizes the risk of cutting your fingers. It’s the perfect tool for peeling an apple, shaving carrots, or removing skin from eggplants.

6: Hand Whisk

Whisks serve multiple functions: blending ingredients into a smooth consistency, infusing air into mixtures, and emulsifying ingredients that don't naturally combine. As the whisk moves through a liquid, its wires stir in air, which makes whipped cream fluffy and meringues light. Whisks are also ideal for emulsifying substances like oil and water, or oil and vinegar. For example, whisks can help create mayonnaise or a tangy salad dressing by combining these two elements.

There are various types of whisks, but the most versatile and commonly used is the balloon whisk, which resembles a wire bulb. Other options include the flat whisk, ball whisk, and gravy whisk, each serving a specific function in the kitchen.

5: Kitchen Scissors

Whether you're cutting up a chicken, trimming herbs, slicing pizza, snipping twine, or shaping parchment paper, kitchen scissors are indispensable. They’re built tougher than your average pair of scissors, meaning they can handle small bones without issue. Sharp and easily sharpened, they are ready for even the most demanding cutting tasks. Available in various shapes and sizes, kitchen shears offer a range of options for different tasks and comfort levels. You’ll find yourself reaching for them often, whether it’s for a simple task like opening a bag of salad or something more involved.

4: Measuring Cups and Spoons

If you're into baking or experimenting with new recipes that require a variety of spices and other unique ingredients, measuring cups and spoons are essential. They help you follow recipes to the letter, ensuring the right proportions for the best outcomes, but they also let you get creative with ingredient quantities for your own experiments.

Measuring cups come in two primary types: dry cups and liquid cups. Dry measuring cups are typically stackable and come in sets, often with sizes for 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 2/3 cup, and 1 cup. These are designed for dry ingredients like flour or sugar, which can be easily leveled off. Liquid measuring cups, on the other hand, are usually larger (1-cup or 2-cup sizes) and made from clear glass or plastic. With measurement marks on the side and a pour spout, they're ideal for measuring liquids as they prevent overflow.

Measuring spoons typically offer measurements for 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon, and 1 tablespoon, but some sets also include a 1/8 teaspoon spoon for even more precision.

3: Mixing Bowls

When using measuring cups to combine a variety of ingredients, it’s helpful to have a container to hold them before you start your cooking or baking process. A reliable set of mixing bowls, available in different sizes, makes it easier to prepare a range of meals without too much mess. Plus, if you have leftovers, they serve as handy storage containers.

You can choose from a variety of mixing bowls, such as stainless steel, plastic, silicone, wood, ceramic, or glass. Some of them come in bright colors, while others, like silicone bowls, offer flexibility to make pouring ingredients a cleaner process. When working with these bowls, especially stainless steel, it's best to use plastic spoons or spatulas to avoid leaving visible marks and scratches.

2: Cast Iron Skillets and Pans

Skillets and pans are essential kitchen tools for cooking food over heat, and a must-have for any cook. While non-stick cookware is a common choice nowadays, professional chefs often opt for cast-iron skillets and pans. These pans lack the chemical coatings of non-stick varieties, offer more even cooking, and with proper care, can last for generations.

With proper care, cast-iron cookware can function just like non-stick pans. This involves seasoning and reseasoning your skillet or pan, a straightforward process of cleaning and coating the cookware with oils or fats before use. To do this, first clean the cookware with soap and water, preheat the oven to 250–350°F (121–176°C), and coat the cookware’s interior with oil, shortening, bacon grease, or lard. Place the cookware upside down in the oven, with an ovenproof tray below it to catch any drips. After about an hour, turn off the oven, remove the cookware, and allow it to cool. The oil or fat will be absorbed into the pores of the cast iron, making the surface more non-stick. This process can be repeated multiple times for optimal results, with the pan turning black and charred once it’s well-seasoned.

1: Knives

A knife is one of the most fundamental and versatile tools in the kitchen. Whether it's for chopping meat, dicing onions, or slicing cheese, a knife does it all. It's no surprise that knife sets come with a variety of styles, ranging from five to 15 different types.

Many chefs agree that if you were limited to just one knife in the kitchen, a good chef's knife would be the ideal choice. This all-purpose kitchen tool excels in chopping but can handle a variety of other tasks as well. Its medium size offers excellent leverage and control, while its long, tapered blade (usually around 8 inches or 20 cm) is designed for smooth rocking motions as you cut.

A few other knives worth keeping in your kitchen are a paring knife and a serrated bread knife. The paring knife is perfect for precision tasks like de-veining chicken or peeling fruit. Meanwhile, a serrated bread knife makes slicing fresh bread much easier.

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