Stovetop Cooking Guides

Chances are, you cook on your stove regularly. But there's always room to learn more about simmering and sautéing, and that's where our stovetop cooking guides comes in.

Explore Stovetop Guides

All Stovetop
A bowl of soup with chunks of chicken herbs and a spoon
The Ancient Cooking Trick That Makes the Creamiest, Coziest Soups (No Dairy Required)
Slices of cooked steak arranged on a wooden surface
This Major Rule About Cooking Meat Turns out to Be Wrong
Side view of saucepans on a baking steel.
The Restaurant Trick I Use to Free Up Stovetop Space on Thanksgiving
Two steaks in a cast iron pan
Seasoning Isn't Enough—This Is the Secret to Cast Iron Success
A plate with cooked chicken thighs being held above a copper pan
Scorching Your Dinner? We Tested 7 Stovetops to Show the Heat Cues That Really Matter
Two steaks cooking in a cast iron skillet with steam rising up
Cooking Steak at Home? Don’t Make This Rookie Mistake
Cooked chicken pieces in a skillet, ready for a recipe or serving
The Lazy Cook's Secret to Juicy Chicken With Crispy Skin
Stacked slices of green zucchini and yellow squash on a cutting board, arranged neatly
Zucchini Deserves Better—Here's How to Cook It Right
Graphic for Rice Cooking Hack
The 10-Second Restaurant Trick for Perfect Fluffy Rice Every Time
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How to Butter-Baste Steaks, Chops, and Fish
A broken pan sauce being stirred with a wooden spoon.
How to Make a Pan Sauce, and How to Fix a Broken One
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How to Make Tadka
Overhead view of a freshly seasoned carbon steel pan on a gas cooktop.
How to Season Carbon Steel Pans
A split image of a skin-on chicken breast being panfried in a stainless steel and nonstick skillet, respectively.
Why You Shouldn't Use Nonstick Cookware (Most of the Time)
Serving plate of fried and steamed dumplings.
How to Cook Frozen Dumplings
Overhead of spaghetti in a skillet with sauce mixed in.
The Right Way to Sauce Pasta
Ingredients for mirepoix; diced carrots, celery, and onions on a cutting board.
All About Mirepoix, Sofrito, Battuto, and Other Humble Beginnings
Creamy pasta being spooned out of a sauté pan.
What's the Difference Between a Skillet and a Sauté Pan?
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How to Pan-Fry Salmon Fillets | The Food Lab
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The Best Ways to Cook Steak, Explained
Overhead view of boiling water
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know (Plus More!) About Boiling Water
A spliced together overhead photo, showing roux cooked to different levels of browness, from pale blonde, to golden, do dark brown.
How to Make a Roux and Use It Right
Three stainless steel stockpots on a blue surface
To Find the Best Stockpots, I Watched 8 Pots of Water Boil (Literally)
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How to Make Paella
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How to Make the Best Potato Hash | The Food Lab
Three Cast Iron Skillets stacked inside each other.
How to Buy, Season, and Maintain Cast Iron Cookware
A large bone-in ribeye steak grilling on a charcoal grill.
7 Myths About Cooking Steak That Need to Go Away
An open carton of a dozen eggs. Some of the eggs are cracked open so the yolks are exposed.
How to Temper Eggs
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How Salty Should Pasta Water Be?
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Does Adding Pasta Water Really Make a Difference?
Three pieces of cooked gemelli pasta arranged in parallel on a wooden cutting board.
A New Way to Cook Pasta? | The Food Lab
Pouring a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet to test if it's okay to use olive oil for high heat cooking.
Cooking With Olive Oil: Should You Fry and Sear in It or Not?
Can I Stir-Fry On An Electric Cooktop? | Ask The Food Lab
Card Placeholder Image
Wok Skills 101: Steaming
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How to Make the Crispiest Pan-Seared Fish Skin
The OXO Non-Stick Pro 10-Inch Frypan on a stove top.
Why Cheap Nonstick Skillets Are Best
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Is it Really Necessary to Add Garlic After the Onions When Sautéing?
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How to Make Kickass Quesadillas | The Food Lab
A pot filled with dry beans, a carrot, a garlic clove, onion, and a sprig of fresh sage.
Transform Any Pot of Beans With Flavor-Packed Aromatics and Herbs
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How to Render Bacon Fat
Two small beef steaks cooking in a cast iron skillet. A pair of tongs is lifting one of the steaks.
Flip Your Steaks Multiple Times for Better Results | The Food Lab
A three-image collage showing burgers being measured for height, a burger being flipped in a pan, and a graph showing information about cooking mean
How Often Should You Flip a Burger?
Closeup of pasta aglio e olio twirled on a fork.
Can I Start Pasta In Cold Water? | Ask The Food Lab
Illustration of a blob thinking about food
Do Grill Pans Actually Mimic Grilling? | Ask The Food Lab
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How to Make Creamy Vegetable Soups Without a Recipe | The Food Lab
A collage of nine spices commonly used in Indian cooking, including cumin seed, star anise, brown mustard seeds, green cardamom pods, amchoor or mango powder, and whole nutmeg.
Indian Spices 101: The Benefits of Frying Spices
Do I Need To Preheat My Oil? | Ask The Food Lab
Do I Really Need To Reduce Wine Separately? | Ask The Food Lab
On Browning Ground Meat In Recipes | Ask The Food Lab
Broccoli rabe being sautéed in a cast iron skillet with a liberal amount of olive oil. Smashed garlic cloves and chile flakes are visible in the pan.
Why You Shouldn't Hesitate to Add More Oil to a Sauté Pan
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How Can I Get My Dumplings Extra Crispy? | Ask The Food Lab
Ask the Food Lab cartoon.
What Are The Various Methods of Dry Heat Stovetop Cooking? | Ask The Food Lab
Toast and Grind Whole Spices for More Complex Flavors
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How to Sweat Vegetables
stack of boxty pancakes with dollop on sourcream, and garnished with green onions on a green place on stone surface.
Boxty (Irish Potato Pancakes)
ham and cheese sandwich hero
Ham and Cheese Sandwich
Overhead view of pepperpot stew
Jamaican Pepperpot
Overhead view of cincinnati chili on a black and white checkered background
Cincinnati Chili