15 Best Cooking Tips for Beginners that Will Make You an Expert

In this article are 15 Best Cooking Tips for Beginners that Will Make You Go from Beginner to Expert

I remember when I made my first meal. It was boiled white rice. One of the most exciting times in my life. I can’t remember what age I was but I was very young. 

It came out really great for a first-timer because I had a lot of help. I didn’t just get up one morning to cook rice, so many things led up to that moment. 

We had an older cousin living with us then who could cook really well—she cooked for the family. So, I went to meet her with my pen and paper and asked her to teach me how to cook—starting from the simplest of all—white rice.

She laughed but I didn’t really care, I wanted to learn. To her, it was a simple meal that didn’t need writing down, but I knew I needed an instruction to follow, so I wrote every word down. 

She said the main ingredients were rice and water, I wrote it down.

She said I had to add salt, I wrote that down too, and a lot of other things.

But, I am not here to teach you how to make rice. I am here to teach you some fundamental cooking tips for beginners that will make you seem more like an expert even though you have never cooked a day in your life before now. 

This article is an important one because I know there are people who do not know how to cook, regardless of their age. And I know there are people who will like to learn. If you are reading this, that must be you.

It is important to learn how to cook, no matter who you are or what age you are, or what gender you are.

Cooking is a life skill everyone should know. You need to eat to live. Learning how to cook is a self-preservation skill. 

If you are a beginner, I will be sharing 15 cooking tips for beginners that will help you love cooking even more and will also help you become an expert cook. Are you ready? Let’s go!

1-Use a recipe book/an online recipe

The first and most important basic cooking tip for beginners is using a recipe. Buy a recipe book online or at a bookstore. Ensure this recipe book contains the type of meals you will like to eat or learn how to cook. You can also get free recipes online by typing “recipes for (name of food).”

Recipes make cooking easier for you because they contain the list of ingredients used, the measurements for these ingredients, and the step-by-step process of cooking. 

You can check out these posts for smoothie recipes or this one for shredded chicken recipes, if you will like to make them.

2-Get the necessary and best ingredients

After getting the recipes for the meal you want to cook, go to the market or food stall to buy these ingredients. When cooking a new meal, it is important to get all the listed ingredients. Especially if you have never cooked that meal before. This is not the time to decide to exclude some ingredients. Get all the listed ingredients and ensure to get the best too. Get fresh veggies, fresh tomatoes, quality vegetable or groundnut oil, and so on.

3-Buy seasonings and spices

No meal is complete without seasonings and spices. They add flavor, scent, and sweetness to your meal. If you want your meals to taste nice and smell nice, ensure to fill your cart with lots of seasonings and spices. However, understand that not all meals should contain all spices and seasonings. Ensure to use the right seasoning and spice for each meal. Check the recipe book.

4-Get measuring tools

Measuring tools are essential when cooking. Especially when baking or even when adding salt or other seasonings. Some cooks have found a way to put just the right salt or seasoning in their meal, however, it is not a perfect way to cook. Mistakes can happen. You might also put too much salt and end up ruining the taste of your meal. 

When baking, measuring tools are even more important because most baked foods need the exact measurement.

5-Prepare the ingredients ahead

To make cooking easier, faster, and less frustrating, ensure to get your ingredients prepared ahead of time. Measure your seasonings and put them in little bowls. Cut and wash your veggies even before you start cooking. So that when you start cooking, you will just put the already prepared ingredients into the pot or pan with ease. 

6-Use bread to prevent teary eyes when cutting onions

Another cooking tips and tricks for beginners you should know is this onion hack. I’m sure you know by now that cutting onions can be quite tearful. However, you can try this hack that worked for me. 

Put a slice of bread in your mouth while you cut the onion and your eyes won’t tear up.

7-Tidy up the kitchen as you cook

If you don’t want to end up with a messy kitchen after cooking, you can reduce the mess by cleaning as you go. Each time you use a cutlery, utensil, or appliance, clean it before doing the next thing. 

When you finish sieving dirt from your vegetables, clean the sieve, dry it, and keep it in its rack. Also, wipe counter surfaces while cooking.

8-Get the right kitchen cookware

If you want to enjoy cooking, then you should invest in the right cookware. There are different types of cookware and it can sometimes get overwhelming. However, I simplified the journey for you in this post – Guide on How to Choose the Best Cookware Set

Here are some essential cookware your kitchen needs:

9-Invest in quality knives

The most important knife you should have in your kitchen is the chef knife because it is useful for almost everything in your kitchen.

• For cutting meat
• For cutting fruits
• For cutting vegetables
• For cutting bread

However, there are also some other knives you should have in your kitchen like the boning knife, utility knife, cleaver, steak knife, fillet knife, etc.

You can get all of them for one price with this high-quality knife set. 

10-Get these kitchen tools

Here are some kitchen tools that you need in your kitchen to go from beginner to expert:

11-Stick to the recipe at first

As much as you want to be flexible and try new things, it is important not to do this while cooking for the first time. If you are cooking a meal for the first one or two times, especially as a beginner, it is important to stick to the recipe before trying out new ingredients. 

12-Taste your meal

Taste your meal every time you add seasoning and spices while following the recipe. It not only helps you know when to add or stop adding seasonings. It also helps you know how each seasoning and spice affect your meal.

13-Invest in your kitchen aesthetic

My best cooking tips for beginners will be to invest in your kitchen aesthetic. An aesthetically pleasing and beautiful kitchen will always keep you coming. You will feel drawn to your kitchen. You will feel like cooking. And this might also help you fall in love with cooking. You can read this article on how to organize your kitchen like a pro to get tips on how to make your kitchen aesthetically pleasing.

14-Learn as you go

The beautiful thing about life is human’s ability to learn. The way my cousin taught me how to cook white rice many years ago is not the way I cook it now. I have learned new ways over time. This is what you should also do as you grow in your cooking skills. Learn new ways to cook your meal, and check out other recipes for that same meal. You can also improvise as you go.

15-Be Creative

The last cooking tips for beginners you should know is “Be Creative.” Check out better ways to make a meal. Be creative about the presentation of your meal and learn new meal accompaniments like smoothies, juice, fruits, dessert, and so on.

You should also know that you get better the more you do, so if you don’t do so well at first, don’t give up. If the final result doesn’t come out as nice as the recipe says, go through the process again to note where you went wrong and do it again and again. With time, you will definitely get better.