9 Kitchen Hacks You Need to Know Now

1. Forget frying—bake your bacon! Place a wire rack on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Cook bacon in a single layer on the rack, and let the pan catch all the drips. No splatters, and no need to watch the pan the whole time. | Try it: Balsamic and Brown Sugar Bacon | Peppered Brown Sugar Bacon
2. Cover an open cookbook with plastic wrap to keep pages clean during messy recipes. Simply remove and toss after you’re done. | Try it: Grands! Monkey Bread | Grands! Unsloppy Joes
3. Place a damp kitchen towel or paper towel underneath cutting boards to keep them from slipping around while you prep food.
4. Save ketchup and mustard bottles for icing cookies and cakes. The wider spout of a ketchup bottle is great for flooding cookies with icing; the narrow spout on a mustard bottle is ideal for outlining.| Try it: Iced Holiday Sugar Cookies
5. Keep your counters cleaner and prevent spills around cutting boards by placing inside a rimmed baking sheet. This is a great tip for messy foods like watermelon, and any raw meats.
6. Why use a knife when scissors will do? Use scissors or kitchen shears to quickly and easily cut bacon, herbs, dough, pizza, chickens or lettuce. There are lots of applications depending on your preferences. | Try it: Maple Bacon Breakfast Rolls
7. Making a recipe that calls for crushed cereal or flattened protein? Use an unopened can to do the job! | Try it: Chicken-Fried Pork Chops
8. Get uniformly sized cookies every time by using an ice cream scoop or melon baller for portioning dough. Spray scoop with cooking spray before portioning so it scoops easily onto pans. | Try it: Cup o’ Joe Chocolate Cookies | Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
9. Did the cooking spray bottle just run out mid-recipe? Wipe down a pan with a paper towel and canola/olive oil for a thin non-stick coat.

Smartcuts are Pillsbury’s smartest kitchen shortcuts. Read them all here.