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Home » 5 Simple Tips to Spice Up Cooking From Home

5 Simple Tips to Spice Up Cooking From Home

5 Simple Tips to Spice Up Cooking From Home



Are you tired of boring taco nights at home? Does the thought of another plate of spaghetti send a shiver down your spine?

If you’re stuck at home for an extended period of time (especially with our current situation on the coronavirus pandemic), don’t let the monotony of lackluster meals dampen your mood. Cooking at home can have great benefits for your health and wallet, but it shouldn’t be a drag on the taste buds.

If you’re going to put the effort in to cook a meal, why not make something you’ll really enjoy? Not everyone was born to love cooking, but there are some easy ways to make it more exciting.

Tips to Spice Up Cooking From Home

1. Try a New Ingredient

As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life! You probably have a good mental picture of the food likes and dislikes in your home, and that can lead to a meal rotation list that is shallow and not that much different from week to week.

It’s easy to visit the same areas of the grocery store to grab your staples, but have you realized you’re missing out on a ton of potential ingredients beyond your comfortable basics? Try and incorporate some variety into your meals by introducing one new ingredient a week that hasn’t been on your usual list.

When is the last time you had pomegranate, chorizo, capers, hazelnuts, artichokes, or bison? Have you tried jackfruit, quince, okra, farro, jicama, or daikon? You can even do something as simple as picking up a new cheese to add to a salad.



Different spices can be another great way to add variety to your meals. Are you using lemongrass, coriander, fennel, or curry, for example?

By stepping outside your comfort zone of typical ingredients, it will exponentially increase your recipe possibilities. You can try a totally new dish or make a simple swap to put a twist on an old favorite. The next time you make chicken, why not try my

Explore new corners of your grocery store and bringing some hidden gems home to excite your taste buds. (Just be sure to follow proper social distancing guidelines).

2. Add Another Course or Drink Pairing

In home cooking, we so often limit ourselves to one main dish. What if you decreased the portion size of your main dish and added an appetizer or dessert? Increasing the number of courses can give you more opportunity to play around with flavors.

Adding another course doesn’t have to involve loads of additional prep time. Some simple appetizers and desserts can take merely 5 to 15 minutes of prep time. For example, you could add a cheese or fruit course, nuts and honey, or a selection of olives or pickled vegetables.

A simple bite-sized amuse-bouche can pack a powerful punch, such as with a cracker and topping or a selection of fine sliced meats. You could also try a homemade bread with dipping oil as a starter.



Custards, puddings, and fresh berries offer quick and simple options for desserts, but you can go as extravagant as you’d like and scale down your main course preparation accordingly. It’s not like you have to do this every day, but it can really be something to look forward to.

Furthermore, a drink pairing, such as a cocktail, wine, shrub, or spritzer, can offer tasty new discoveries to pair with your home cooking. You’ll have a more memorable meal any time you take a little effort to add such a pairing.

3. Follow Inspiring Food Bloggers

When you’re stuck cooking at home, you might not have time to scour the internet for hours each week for new ideas. Or you might want to try something new but not even know where to start searching.

Following a few food bloggers whose cooking style you like can be a regular source of new inspiration for you.  You know I’m a food blogger myself, but I too, do follow a few food bloggers I like.  I join their email list or follow them on their favorite social media platforms for scrumptious images and recipes to save.

If more technology consumption isn’t your thing, you can go old fashioned and pick up a magazine with delicious recipes every now and then. Save a clip file of your favorites, and you’ll soon have your own growing custom cookbook to turn to when your meal planning needs a little boost.

4. Get Worldly Inspiration

In addition to trying new ingredients, there’s a whole world of flavors out there to be savored. Expand your horizons while stuck at home by visiting the cuisines of faraway places.

Try to include one dish a week in your meal plan from another part of the world. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to incorporate another culture’s flavors into your home cooking with ingredients from your local grocery store.



You can try out foods from countries of your ancestors, ask friends for some favorite recipes from their heritage, or do your own research. You might even find some new family favorites–it’s culinary excitement on a whole new level.

5. Try a New Technique

Maybe you’ve got your trusty crock pot and skillet down, you’ve mastered roasting, and you’ve even branched out to pressure cooking. There are still plenty more methods to prepare food that can bolster your cooking chops and add variety to your home cooking menu.

When thinking about spicing up your home cooking, try to mix in one different cooking technique a week. How you prepare the food can have a big impact on the flavors, texture, and overall experience of the meal. Some different techniques that don’t require special equipment include: on a skewer, pickling, salt crusting, braising, and oil poaching.

Variety Is Key

As you’ve seen from theses tips, variety is they key to spicing up your home cooking. You can add variety through a number of simple ways outlined here.

You don’t need loads of extra money, special training, or fancy equipment to get started with more opportunities for variety in your home cooking. Get inspired from the world, other home cooks, and new techniques reviewed here.

Meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking at home should feel a lot more fulfilling when you are intentional about trying new ideas and broadening your home cooking repertoire.

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Jocelyn Brown

A former school teacher, Jocelyn Brown created Hip Mama’s Place in 2007. Her motto for this blog is: get inspired, create and share! Jocelyn loves sharing about food and recipes, crafts, DIY projects and her random travels with her family. She also loves all things social media, but her latest obsession is Instagram.

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38 Comments

  1. Steven Morrissette
    07/22/2020 / 5:09 pm

    I really like your tips for cooking from home. I love to do cooking from home and always looking for new ideas

  2. 05/05/2020 / 9:13 pm

    I always try new ingredients and also mix it up! I do a little experiment and also trial and error! It’s fun to discover new flavors.

  3. 05/05/2020 / 7:05 pm

    I agree! Trying new spices really makes a difference. I’ve been cooking a lot and have realized that.

  4. 05/04/2020 / 1:04 pm

    Lemon grass is my best friend now. Giving flavors to everything I cook 🙂

  5. Melanie williams
    05/04/2020 / 10:31 am

    There are some really good ideas here for sure. It is always nice to use new ingredients for sure x

  6. Agnes
    05/04/2020 / 9:40 am

    Thank you for the tips. My kitchen is busy every day since the lockdown and spices are my life when it comes to cooking.

  7. Catalina
    05/04/2020 / 8:29 am

    Thank you for these tips. I will definitely use them in my kitchen!

  8. Jessica Formicola
    05/03/2020 / 11:44 pm

    I love cooking, but I;m definitely getting tired of cooking three square meals every. single. day. I like your idea of trying something international! I’ll have to do that

  9. 05/03/2020 / 3:30 pm

    I LOVE new recipes. sometimes I accidently go through the proccess wrong, but turns out better than expected and the new ‘accident’ became part of the new receipe. Trying new techniques is equally as fun! Thanks x gorgeous <3

    xtineloves.co.uk

  10. 05/03/2020 / 2:58 pm

    you and me boy are the sameeee I love this post!!! hip mama’s place is now bookmarked 😉

  11. 05/03/2020 / 11:36 am

    Great timing for this blog! I’ve started using more tumeric in my dishes, primarily for its health benefits, but also due to the vibrant colour it can give.

  12. 05/02/2020 / 11:50 pm

    Whew! this is very good. I can definitely implement these spices from home with my Vegan dishes. Thanks for sharing.

  13. Monica
    05/02/2020 / 10:25 pm

    These are great tips! It’s tiring when I feel stuck in a rut with no cooking inspiration.

  14. 05/02/2020 / 9:12 pm

    Recently, I’ve started following many food bloggers to try new recipe. And to be honest, I’m happy with the new recipes that I’m trying!

  15. Elicit Folio
    05/02/2020 / 8:35 pm

    Great cooking ideas! I love learning new techniques from international cooks. All of us can learn from each other!

  16. 05/02/2020 / 6:45 pm

    I never get creative enough with my drinks! These tips were great.

  17. 05/02/2020 / 6:23 pm

    trying new ingredients works! I love to try out new herbs. Im exploring the grocery store tomorrow and find new herbs to add to my cooking. <3 im excited!

  18. 05/02/2020 / 3:21 pm

    Thanks for the ideas and tips to make cooking fun! I am interested to know more about the drink pairing. – Knycx Journeying

  19. 05/02/2020 / 2:42 pm

    Well said. Variety is key! As for #1, I am loving my current passion of using nutmeg and cinnamon wherever I can in breakfast dishes. Makes such a difference.

  20. 05/02/2020 / 1:53 pm

    I agree, variety is key. I like trying out new techniques and new recipes. It’s tiring to eat the same thing every week.

  21. 05/02/2020 / 1:34 pm

    I have been surprising myself lately with my experimentations. I think my cooking has gotten better.

  22. Helena
    05/02/2020 / 12:23 pm

    Great little reminders to change things up. Hubby has been taking over cooking the last month so that has definitely been a nice change too!

  23. 05/02/2020 / 6:22 am

    I hate eating the same thing and love flavors like you have here like fennel and turmeric. Curry is also one I love to try in as many dishes as possible. That’s why Thai food is good too eat!

  24. 05/02/2020 / 6:10 am

    All those pictures of food made my mouth water. I also like to spice my daily food intake. Sometimes I mix up my drinks and sometimes I add new ingredients to my meal.

  25. 05/02/2020 / 3:42 am

    These are all great tips! We tend to make the same dishes over and over again here. I would love to spice things up.

  26. adriana
    05/02/2020 / 1:02 am

    Thanks for making awareness to follow inspiring food bloggers as they invest so much time developing good recipes to inspire others.

  27. 05/01/2020 / 9:56 pm

    This is perfect timing. Our cooking has gotten really boring. I mean, we’re getting tired of eating, and that’s saying something for us. LOL

  28. 05/01/2020 / 9:05 pm

    I love finding new ways to make my cooking interesting. A new spice here. A new ingredient there. It’s great.

  29. 05/01/2020 / 6:53 pm

    The spice of life! Love this. I love to cook and so does my husband. We can spend hours in our favorite spice store.

  30. 05/01/2020 / 6:52 pm

    These are great tips! After so many weeks of cooking, things are starting get boring around here. Time to spice it up!

  31. 05/01/2020 / 6:42 pm

    Definitely great tips on exploring new ways to cook. It’s too easy to fall into a routine and do the same dishes over and over again. Thank you for reminding me there are ways to find some new inspiration when it comes to cooking!

  32. 05/01/2020 / 5:56 pm

    I’ve been trying to teach my daughter new cooking skills during our lock down, which is also inspiring me to branch out and try new dishes. I’ve been browsing Pinterest for recipes we’ve never tried before and have found a few that surprised me with how well I liked them!

  33. 05/01/2020 / 4:09 pm

    I really needed this. It’s so easy to get into a cooking funk! I might try a totally different cuisine this week. Thanks for the inspo!

  34. 05/01/2020 / 4:01 pm

    Those are all great tips, thanks for sharing! I totally agree variety is key, otherwise, food gets boring! haha

  35. 05/01/2020 / 3:47 pm

    This post really hits home because I cook about 4-5 meals and then repeat them. We do get tired of them so i will try out some of these ideas.

  36. 05/01/2020 / 3:40 pm

    I would definitely love to re-inspire myself in the kitchen! It’s not my favorite place, and it takes a lot for me to get excited about a cooking or baking project. I will have to try these tips.

  37. 05/01/2020 / 3:34 pm

    I’ll keep these in mind. I do love spices! I admit, I hate being in the kitchen though. I love to eat, but I hate actually preparing the dish.

  38. 05/01/2020 / 2:45 pm

    I love trying new recipes and new cooking techniques these are some great tips and I will put on some of them thank you so much

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