Professional Chef-Approved Cooking Hacks

Depending on how you look at it, cooking can be a chore, a burden, or a gift. For Jing Gao, professional chef and founder of Fly By Jing, it’s unequivocally the latter. She views preparing a meal as an opportunity for connection and celebration — and as a daily reminder of who she is and where she’s going. It’s this mentality, along with a desire to change the narrative surrounding Chinese food, that led her to bottle what she considers to be the platonic ideal of a condiment: Sichuan chili crisp. 

But experience has taught Gao that cooking doesn’t always need to be a long, drawn-out affair to taste good. In fact, she regularly employs gadgets (like rice cookers) and prepared ingredients (like Fishwife x Fly By Jing smoked salmon) to save time and add flavor.

Read on to shop more of Gao’s recommendations for easy, elevated weeknight meals. Her picks start at just $6 and run the gamut from tools to help you cook more efficiently to spices that will take your dish from ordinary to extraordinary in seconds.

Chef Jing Gao’s Favorite Cooking Hacks

• Our Place Spruce Steamer, $30 
• Zojirushi Micom Rice Cooker and Warmer, $140, originally $233  
• Gir Mini Silicone Spatula, $8 
• Fly By Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp, $10 
• Diaspora Co. The Trio Spices Gift Box, $36 
• Donxote Extra-Long Cooking Chopsticks, $6 
• Fishwife’s Smoked Salmon with Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp 3-Pack, $41
• KitchenAid Citrus Juice Press Squeezer, $19 
• Ghia Non-Alcoholic Le Spritz Variety Pack, $60 
• The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp, $20, originally $35 
• Blueland Multi-Surface Cleaner, $23 

Our Place Spruce Steamer

“I’m of the mind that a good steamer can level-up healthy weeknight meals in such a simple, impactful way,” says Gao. She uses her Our Place Spruce Steamer to gently prepare a multitude of ingredients, including gyoza, bao, fish, vegetables, and rice. It’s one of the quickest, unfussiest cooking techniques out there, and the basket itself will only set you back $30 to boot. 

Zojirushi Micom Rice Cooker and Warmer

The utility of a rice cooker is undeniable: It will not only cook white and brown rice perfectly every time, but also keep your food warm until you’re ready to eat, steam a cake, make porridge, and so much more. Gao considers it to be “one of the most game-changing tools” in her kitchen, an opinion shared by the nearly 11,000 Amazon shoppers who gave this Zojirushi cooker a perfect rating. 

Gir Mini Silicone Spatula

Another of Gao’s favorite hacks for mixing up a quick dinner (and scooping out every morsel of mixture from her bowl) is Gir’s mini silicone spatula. It’s small enough to fit easily in your cluttered kitchen drawer but functional enough to have a big impact on your cooking. Whether you’re using it to stir together cake batter or dumpling filling, this dishwasher-safe tool is definitely worth its $8 price tag. 

Fly By Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp

Of course, no meal is complete in Gao’s house without a heaping spoonful of Fly By Jing. “A chili crisp is one of the most powerful ways to instantaneously transform at-home dishes,” promises Gao. “The depth of flavor in our Sichuan Chili Crisp enables it to pair well with an almost overwhelming amount of foods — everything from rotisserie chicken to burgers, pizza, veggie bowls, eggs, and more. I’ve even been known to drizzle some onto my ice cream sundaes for a satisfying kick.” This and the brand’s Sweet & Spicy Zhong Sauce are the easiest ways to add umami to run-of-the-mill dinners. 

Diaspora Co. The Trio Spices Gift Box

Another quick fix for tasty meals? Spices. Gao is partial to Diaspora Co.’s Aranya Black Pepper, which ripens on the vine for more complexity. A dash of this to finish a dish is “one of the simplest ways to truly transform a recipe,” says Gao. She recommends only grinding what you need to help preserve the flavor for longer.  

Donxote Extra-Long Cooking Chopsticks

“Cooking chopsticks are a secret weapon for those of us who use them,” says Gao. “They’re a gentler option, meaning they can save your more delicate foods (think: tofu, fish, dumplings) from breaking. They also help more precisely flip small items, and because they don’t conduct heat like metal tongs, they ensure your oil temperature stays high.” There are clearly a lot of reasons why you should invest in a pair of your own, but even more compelling is the price: This set of two costs just $3 apiece.      

Fishwife’s Smoked Salmon with Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp 3-Pack

Fly By Jing teamed up with popular tinned fish brand Fishwife, pairing Sichuan chili crisp with smoked salmon. Gao loves to use these packs to elevate simple rice bowls, adding that “you won’t believe the flavor difference this small tin can make.”

KitchenAid Citrus Juice Press Squeezer

Gao suggests buying a citrus juicer to maximize the amount of juice you get out of your lemons and limes, keep your hands clean, and save time in the kitchen. This KitchenAid model also comes recommended by thousands of Amazon shoppers, one of whom swears “it works better” than any other squeezer they have ever used. 

Ghia Non-Alcoholic Le Spritz Variety Pack

Gao’s recommendations also extend to happy hour. She’s a big fan of “quick and easy” drinks that make her homemade meals feel “extra special,” and Ghia’s Le Spritz variety pick happens to be one of her favorites. Non-alcoholic and ranging in flavor from ginger to sumac and chili, these cans are fabulous mixers for people who abstain and those who don’t.

The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp

“At the risk of being self-promotional, my book — the Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp — offers some really great recipes that are rooted in tradition but adapted for the modern kitchen,” promises Gao. It’s filled with tips and tricks for turning your favorite go-to meal into something new, making it the perfect cookbook to have on your kitchen shelf if you need a boost of inspiration. 

Blueland Multi-Surface Cleaner

While cooking can be fun and fulfilling, it can also be messy. To make quick work of the after-dinner mess, Gao turns to Blueland. She particularly loves the brand’s multi-surface cleaner, which is “free from parabens, phosphates, ammonia, VOCs, chlorine bleach, and phthalates.” As both a new mom and a conscious consumer, she appreciates that Blueland is committed to making the “clean up process feel simple and safe.”