8 Easy Tips for Cooking Vegetables

Less Gas, More Beans

You don’t have to avoid baked beans because you fear they’ll make you gassy. Instead, just add a dash or two of baking soda to the beans when they’re cooking, and their gas-producing properties will be dramatically reduced.

Beat Brussels Sprout Smell

Boiling Brussels sprouts can cause a distinct sulfur odor to pervade your kitchen. To prevent this sour smell, just throw a few celery stalks into the pot with the sprouts—they’ll absorb the odor and neutralize the scent.

Cut Down on Cabbage Odor

Whether you’re braising or boiling cabbage, you know that it has a tendency to get a bit odoriferous. To reduce those unpleasant sulfur aromas, try one of these tips: add a bit of celery to the cooking pot, toss in a whole walnut in its shell, or add half a lemon to the pot.

Beautiful Cauliflower

Love the taste of cauliflower but don’t like that “off” look it sometimes gets when you boil it? Just add a small amount of lemon juice to the water to keep cauliflower white during cooking.

Save Your Celery Leaves

Don’t throw away celery leaves—while they don’t work well with dips, they still have a wonderful flavor similar to parsley. When chopping celery, set the leaves aside on a paper plate, let them dry, and throw them in stuffing, salads, and soups for great extra flavor.

Bell Peppers and Tomatoes

Baking stuffed bell peppers or tomatoes in a well-greased muffin tin will help them to hold their shape—and make sure they don’t tip over when you take them out of the oven.

Mushroom Maker

Mushrooms can be kept white and firm during sautéing if you add a quarter teaspoon lemon juice for every two tablespoons butter or olive oil.

Slice Onions with Ease

As much as we love sliced onions in everything from salads and sandwiches to soups and stews, slicing them is always a messy, stinky chore—and we often end up with chunks rather than thin, delicate slices. To get slim onion slices with less hassle, we’ve discovered that another standard culinary tool does the job even better than the fanciest of kitchen knives: the potato peeler! Simply shave an onion with the peeler to get restaurant-quality slices.

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