14 Essential Kitchen Tools for Healthy Cooking, You need!
Having The Right Kitchen Tools For Healthy Cooking Is Necessary For Living A Healthy Life
Having the right kitchen tools for healthy cooking is no different than having the right tools for building a house, teaching a class, painting a picture, or putting together a gym. If you don’t have the right tools you won’t be able to and you won’t feel inspired to create healthy recipes in your kitchen. For me buying a new piece of kitchen wear is like buying a new piece of workout clothing, I get so excited to use it!
Below is my list of the top 14 Essential Kitchen Tools for Healthy Cooking, in the order of what I believe to be the most important. These are also the exact tools that I personally use and 100% recommend. Each has a link to the product in the event you need a new tool! Simply click on the photo or the caption below.
However, stick to your own personal budget and buy whatever you can afford, you do not need these specific brands.
1. Deep Saute Pan With Lid:
If you have only one pan in your kitchen get a deep saute pan with a lid. I swear you can cook just about anything in this pan. I seriously cook 90% of my recipes in this exact pan. You can saute, you can boil, steam, one-pot meals galore, and the list can go on and on!
2. Knives:
A basic chef’s knife and paring knife are able to handle almost everything you need to prep in your kitchen. You don’t need an entire set of knives. Find the chef’s knife that fits and feels good in your hand!
3. Cutting Board:
You gotta have a cutting board to protect your counters. I prefer this type of eco-friendly cutting board for a few different reasons: EcoFriendly of course, but also they are gentle on your knives, dishwasher safe, and are heat resistant up to 350 degrees.
4. Food Scale:
When counting macros having the right kitchen tools for healthy cooking is necessary. This means a food scale is vital, I count macros, and when it comes to accuracy you have got to measure your food. Eyeballing won’t cut it and sometimes measuring cups or spoons is just not possible with certain ingredients. If you don’t count macros there are still a million ways you can use a food scale in your kitchen. When it comes to baking food scales are a necessary item to have your baked goods turn out exactly as planned. Baking is a science.
5. Measuring Spoons:
When counting macros I only recommend using measuring cups and spoons for items that don’t really affect your macros. But for anyone not counting macros you know how important measuring spoons are in your kitchen.
6. Meal Prep Containers:
Whether you meal prep or just have leftovers, you got to have a place to store your extra food. Having the right containers is key. I prefer glass containers. Yes, they are a tad more expensive, but they don’t scratch, they are microwave and dishwasher safe, you can cook right in them, and they don’t stain!
7. Steamer Basket:
I prefer a rubber steamer basket because you do not have to worry about it scratching your pots or pans. Also, you can sort of smush it into just about any pot or pan. Steamer your veggies vs. frying, boiling, or baking is almost always the best way to go and helps the veggies to retain the majority of their nutritional values. Kitchen tools for healthy cooking that allow you to retain the nutritional values of ingredients is so important!
8. Sheet Pan:
A sheet pan is a tool that can be used for so many things: baking, roasting veggies, sheet cakes, even as a drip pan under other baking dishes.
9. Souper Cubes:
Similar to meal prep containers, you gotta have the right food storage container, and souper cubes are AMAZING for freezing food. They are great for soups, stews, broths, pasta, really any recipes that you can pour, scoop, or squash into them. I love them because they help you remove air from your meals, air leads to freezer burn. Also once your meal is frozen you can pop them out of the tray and the cubes store easily in your freezer. I like to vacuum seal my frozen cubes of food, to ensure they last their absolute longest and stay the freshest!
10. Dutch Oven:
9 times out of 10, when I am not cooking in my deep saute pan I am cooking in my dutch oven. You can make soups, stews, pasta, and basically anything you can cook in a slow cooker in a dutch oven. This is why you do not see a slow cooker on my list. A dutch oven to me is far superior to a slow cooker and can do the same things but so much more!
11. Blender:
A high-speed blender is a must, and this is one item I say don’t skimp on. A good quality blender will last you for years, never have the strange burning smell a cheap blender has, and in most cases can be used in place of a food processor. This Vitamix is the exact model that I personally have, it has many functions, but two you don’t see with many blenders. It has a heat setting, so you can keep your soups warm while blending and it has a self-cleaning setting! This blender is strong enough to demolish ice but soft enough to whip or puree your food!
12. Vacuum Sealer:
Along the lines of food storage, because nobody like food waste, a good vacuum sealer can come in really handy! This is great for freezer-friendly recipes. It also comes in extremely handy if you like to shop in bulk. It allows you to come home a portion out those chicken breasts and store them in individual servings, placing some in the fridge and the rest in the freezer without the worry of them drying out, becoming freezer burnt, or having a strange texture. If you get this particular vacuum sealer and bags you can even sous vide!
13. Air Fryer:
You see air fry this, and air fry that everywhere these days. This is because air frying is so much healthier than your standard frying. A good air fryer will get your food nice and crispy just as traditional frying would, but without any or very little oil!
14. Cooling Rack:
Last but not least, a cooling rack is a necessity for baked anything, healthy or not! A cooling rack allows airflow around your baked goods, stopping the cooking process. A cooling rack can also be used for cooking. You can place a piece of meat on top of a cooling rack and cook it in the oven, allowing for better air circulation around the piece of meat, which then provides a more even cook.
Summary:
Having these Essential Kitchen Tools for Healthy Cooking will allow you to make every single one of my recipes! Recipes designed to properly fuel your body, help you reach your goals, and never feel deprived!