10 Of The Best Viral Cooking Tips Of 2025

Whether it’s finding the secret to fluffy, crispy roast potatoes or working out why restaurant scrambled eggs taste so much better, we love a cooking trick here at HuffPost UK.

And so do the netizens of Reddit’s r/Cooking, a forum devoted to sharing cooking queries, hacks, and facts.

So, we thought we’d share some of the most useful and viral submissions of the year (we’re taking notes).

“For the love of God, just buy the rice cooker. It’s [cheap] (do not get an expensive one, it just needs one button), but I guarantee the increased amount of cheap rice you will make [ensures] a positive [return on investment].

″[It] will be one of the best culinary decisions of your life. So many healthy, easy, weeknight recipes can be made. So just please, make the investment.”

Credit: u/Traditional_Fish_504

“I see people on here frustrated all the time about what to do with extra tomato [puree]. I struggled with this for years. Sure, you can buy the squeezy tubes instead, they’re great, but sometimes the can is what you have.

“Just use the whole can! It’s really not adding that much to whatever you’re probably making with it anyway, and if anything, it’ll probably be more delicious. ‘Oh no! My chilli is packed with too much savoury tomato goodness!’ You will never hear people say this. It is a nonsense phrase.

“I’ve started doing it every single time, and I haven’t had a problem yet. They have been lying to us. Join me in casting off our shackles.”

″[I add] a splash of soy sauce to chocolate desserts. I know it sounds absolutely insane, but a teaspoon in brownies or chocolate cake batter… makes the chocolate flavour deeper and more complex.

“Something about the umami. My friends have been trying to figure out my ‘secret ingredient’ for years.”

“Every time I watched a cooking video where the cook added lemon juice to a hearty soup or a pasta sauce, I cringed. ‘That can’t be good…’ I thought.

“I was a fool. Today, I was making a Turkish-inspired lentil soup, one of my favourites. Well, I accidentally burned the onions and garlic.

“I looked online and learned that apparently, lemon juice can offset some [of the resulting] bitterness… I added just about a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice and simmered it on low for a bit longer than I usually would. It worked.

“When I tasted it once it was finished, I couldn’t believe it. The bitterness was gone. So, lemon juice… I’m sorry. I now respect you in hearty recipes.”

Credit: u/Reverting-With-You

“I let myself buy the fancy butter for my holiday baking this year, and now I can never go back. My butter ignorance has been shattered. I just spend a lot on butter now, I guess.”

Credit: u/guthriethecasita

“Consider me converted. [I] marinated the chicken in pickle juice for a few hours, [and] added a sprinkle of MSG directly to the meat and in the flour mixture. [I also] rubbed bits of buttermilk into the flour to create crispy bits to stick to the chicken.

“MSG is my new secret ingredient.”

“This doesn’t get mentioned enough to beginner cooks. If you are adding garlic or onion powder to something that isn’t already wet, like a soup or stew, you should re-hydrate it with a few drops of water before adding it to the dish.

“For example, garlic bread. Just mixing the powder with butter doesn’t give it any liquid to hydrate, and the garlicky taste is muted and thin. Instead, try mixing a little bit of fish sauce (for bonus umami) into the powder and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

“Mix that with softened butter and spread it on the bread. It will have exponentially more garlic flavour.”

“I used to think rice was ‘just rice’; I’d dump it in water and hope for the best. Half the time, it came out sticky or mushy.

“Then a friend told me to rinse it *really* well and to let it sit for a few minutes after cooking before touching it. Holy hell, that changed everything. Now it’s fluffy, separate, and actually tastes like something instead of paste.

“If anyone’s struggling with rice, this is your sign to stop guessing and start rinsing.”

“I tried it for the first time ever last night, and now I feel like I’ve wasted decades in the kitchen.

“Holy HELL… What a fucking difference, I will never go back. Forgive me.”

Credit: u/ineffectivveMilkshake

“For whatever reason, this idea just won’t die. I cooked professionally for 15 years (Italian restaurants included), and I’m here to tell you: adding oil to pasta water does nothing. It actually does more harm than good.

“The claim is that a couple of tablespoons of oil keeps pasta from sticking. Pasta simply needs to be stirred regularly so it cooks evenly. Doing this will also prevent sticking. You also want to use a large enough pot so the noodles have space to move.

“All adding oil really does is make sure your sauce won’t stick to the pasta.”

Credit: u/Prestigious_Tap_6301