The Top 18 Cooking Tips from Ina Garten’s Instagram

In today’s fast-paced world of reels and TikToks, food influencers with thousands of likes per post are seemingly everywhere. Yet, there once was a time when the culinary world’s food personalities offered long-form, in-depth explanations of how to cook, host, and engage with the world of food. Despite the clipped style and short order hits we’ve become accustomed too, some of cooking’s longest tenured pros — like Ina Garten — remain online with immense staying power.

If you’re not following Ina Garten on social media, you’re missing out on some no stress ideas for entertaining and cooking tips from the Barefoot Contessa’s devour-worthy Instagram page. Spliced in between mouthwatering recipes and behind-the-scenes glimpses into the celebrity chef’s personal life, (including her romance with her husband of more than 55 years, Jeffrey Garten), Ina offers a variety of cooking tips quite frequently. While some of Garten’s cooking tips are obvious as you scroll through Instagram, others are subtly placed in a caption or shared several minutes into an “Ask Ina Anything” video. Not every cooking tip Garten shares may resonate with your current style, but you’ll want to save these game-changing culinary tips for future inspiration on how to elevate your dishes.

Eating is a sensory experience involving smell, taste, even touch, and so is cooking, which is why Ina Garten shared on Instagram that music is one ingredient she makes sure to include in every recipe. The first thing Garten does when she starts cooking is crank up the tunes to get her creative juices flowing! The varied vibrations of music can not only help release feel-good chemicals in our body (like dopamine) while lowering anxiety and stress, but the vibrations can alter the chemical makeup of our food too, enhancing flavors and even altering our perception of how bitter or sweet a food tastes. 

Channel your inner Garten next time you’re cooking by tuning in to one of Garten’s Spotify cooking playlists. Don’t forget to turn on her dinner party tunes to give your guests and loved ones an unforgettable sensory dining experience. “Ina’s Dinner Party” playlist is perfect for listening to Louis Armstrong with cocktails, Pink Martini with dinner, and The Temptations with coffee and dessert.

Making food for a group can be tricky, especially for those home chefs who are unsure of how to find that delicate balance between ensuring everyone has been adequately fed without having an excessive amount of leftovers. Luckily for us, Garten answered this age-old conundrum in an “Ask Ina Anything” Instagram video. 

“As a caterer, I always had to figure out how much food to make for 20 people or 100 people or 200 people,” Garten explained. “What I generally used as a rule of thumb for the main course, she estimated half a pound of food per person and a quarter of a pound per person for the side dishes.”

Cooking is not always about skill, sometimes it’s how much time we have. While many home chefs prefer every ingredient be made from scratch, sometimes taking the time to make pastry dough for an appetizer can cause more headaches than its worth. In this instance Garten advised on Instagram to use store-bought ingredients to help you prepare your dishes.

But don’t misunderstand Garten’s advice when it comes to store bought ingredients like boxed stuffing or a can of whole berry cranberry sauce. She suggests we learn how to incorporate store-bought ingredients to aid us in creating dishes that taste completely homemade in a fraction of the time. Take those store-bought canned cranberries, for example. Once you add orange juice and zest, grated apples, raisins, and pecans, you have a delicious cranberry sauce that no one will suspect started from a can.

Roasting a beautiful stuffed turkey is not only traditional, but the dish itself is visually stunning. But, not so fast home chefs! According to Ina Garten, stuffing your turkey not only requires longer cooking times, but it lessens the flavors of your meat. Dry, less-flavorful turkey? That is definitely not the result you’re looking for.

Instead of packing your stuffing in the turkey itself, make your stuffing in a separate pan, Garten has advised. Cooking your stuffing separately allows you to add more depth to this dish too with flavorful ingredients like mushrooms, leeks, gruyere, herbs, and apples. It also allows you to ensure a divided texture: nice and crispy on top, with a soft, lush bottom layer.

From Oscar parties to a special Valentine’s Day meal for Jeffrey, Mardi Gras, the Fourth of July, and just-because dinner parties, Ina Garten is incredibly skilled at pairing foods that together create an unforgettable sensory experience throughout the meal. That brings us to one of Garten’s more thoughtful cooking tips from Instagram: 

When it comes to preparing a meal, make sure to consider how the meal will impact each of the five senses. Think about how the flavors will influence one another, not just in one dish, but from the appetizers through dessert. How will the dishes visually appear? What kind of colors and textures are present? If you’re serving puréed soups, incorporate some unexpected flavors and textures in a potato fennel soup: creamy goat cheese, crisp croutons, and slick olive oil drizzled in the middle of the bowl merge texture and aromatics.

In an “Ask Ina” video on Instagram, Ina Garten shared that the key to a beautiful Caprese salad is uniformity. Find tomatoes and mozzarella that are similar in diameter and slice them at a similar thickness so that they look proportionally similar. 

Layer the tomatoes and mozzarella and add salt and then pepper directly on top of the tomatoes and mozzarella to allow the flavors to absorb without being washed away from any oils or vinegars. Garten says anything that adds flavor to a dish should always be added first. 

Once you season your salad with salt and pepper, drizzle your tomatoes and mozzarella with vinegar. Allow the flavor to soak into the tomatoes for a minute before topping with olive oil. Sprinkle fresh julienned basil on top and voila — a perfectly delicious, Instagram-worthy Caprese salad. 

Garten may be more known for seasoning a steak than for searing one. After all, Garten was once intimidated by the grill too. But luckily for us, Garten learned from one of the owners of a meat market how to avoid overcooking expensive, gorgeous steak — every time. And now she’s sharing her secrets with us on Instagram.

The first tip is to buy a steak that is around one-and-a-half inches thick. Next you want to sear the meat for two minutes on each side over direct heat. After searing your steak, move your meat to the side of the grill where it’s cool, meaning no coals, no direct heat, and cover the grill. Cook for 8 minutes for rare steak, 10 minutes for medium.

“No one wants to serve dry chicken,” reminds Ina Garten. As if we could ever forget! Just in case, Garten has shared a few tips on her Instagram to keep us from cooking chicken poorly. The first tip is to cook the chicken with the skin on, always, because it keeps the meat moist and contains healthy unsaturated fats that add flavor without excessive amounts of seasoning. 

The next tip is to slightly undercook your chicken. Remove your chicken from the oven once it reaches an internal temperature of 155 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit and place your chicken under a sheet of aluminum foil. The chicken will continue to cook under the aluminum foil while also soaking up the juice it lost during the cooking process. “You won’t believe what a difference this makes!” Garten exclaims.

For Ina Garten, one ingredient that should be homemade is vanilla. “Avoid imitation vanilla at the store — it really doesn’t taste good,” Garten advised on Instagram. “While real vanilla is expensive, you don’t use more than a few teaspoons at a time, typically. But if you’re looking to save, why not make your own vanilla extract from scratch!” Add whole vanilla beans to a tall canned jar with vodka. Let it sit for six months and you have vanilla extract and vanilla beans. 

Salad dressing is another dish Garten prefers to be homemade, especially her fresh lemon vinaigrette salad dressing. With just four simple ingredients, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and ground black pepper, it’s a classic recipe that is easy to make and you likely have everything in your kitchen already. Add all ingredients to a glass measuring cup and whisk to combine, Garten has demonstrated. Pour into an empty salad bowl, top with lettuce, and mix right before serving. 

If you are looking for a gift other than a bottle of wine or a box of homemade cookies, Ina Garten shared on Instagram the perfect hostess gift that you can make in bulk: Salted caramel nuts! Not only are you able to cook this treat in large batches, but you can make it in advance, ensuring you have gifts on hand for those “just because” and “just in case” occasions. 

Roast one cup each of salted cashew, whole large pecan halves, whole unsalted almonds, and whole walnut halves in the oven for about seven minutes or until fragrant. Once the nuts are cooled, combine sugar and water in a saucepan to create a homemade caramel sauce. Once the caramel is golden brown, add vanilla extract and mix. Add the nuts and toss until completely coated. Sprinkle flaky sea salt. Once the mixture cools, break into large clusters, and pack in gift bags.

Cooking a homemade meal during the week can often feel impossible. Thankfully Garten has some advice on Instagram for those with a busy schedule: get familiar with simple dinners that take 30 minutes or less to prepare and keep the ingredients on hand. “Everyone needs a few dishes you can assemble in 10 minutes, then throw in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes while you drink a glass of wine,” Garten advised on Instagram. 

When you’re prepared with a meal plan and a well-stocked pantry, whipping up a meal the whole family will enjoy makes weeknights feel smoother. Not to mention it’s usually healthier, saves you money, and leftovers can be repurposed for lunch or incorporated into the next day’s meal.

For Garten, her favorite weeknight dinner to prepare is Parmesan Chicken. “It’s a whole dinner on one plate – juicy, herb-breaded chicken with a cold lemony salad and shaved Parmesan on top. And the whole thing takes 30 minutes to prepare! How great is that?!”

It may sound counterintuitive to not cook a meal, but Garten turned to Instagram during the hottest days of the year to remind us we don’t need to turn on the stove to enjoy a satisfying meal. We just need to be smart about what ingredients pair well together and rely on store-bought ingredients like a rotisserie chicken to complete our meal.

Take Garten’s Heirloom Tomato and Blue Cheese Salad she shared on Instagram. Slice heirloom and cherry tomatoes, top with salt and vinegar, cut up blue cheese and add to tomato mixture, sprinkle with basil, drizzle olive oil, add a splash of salt and pepper, and serve with rotisserie chicken. If you’re looking for something a little meatier, check out Garten’s no-cook Lobster and Avocado Sandwiches on her Instagram. This no-cook recipe uses cooked lobster meat, along with celery, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and mashed avocados, on top of a lightly toasted potato roll. 

For a group, consider a no-cook meal that is as visually impressive as it is delicious like this Israeli Vegetable Salad Garten shared on Instagram. If you follow Garten’s recipe you’ll have a creamy, lemony hummus that is topped with a crunchy, refreshing vegetable medley of cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, and red onion. Serve with pita bread and wait for the compliments to roll in. 

During the summer months it can be tempting to use fresh corn on the cob to make dishes like roasted corn salad or sautéed corn. But how do you get the corn kernels off the cob without making a mess? Garten demonstrated on Instagram a cooking hack that will save your sanity and your kitchen floors. 

Slice off one end of the corn cob and place the flat end of the cob down on a kitchen towel. Use a knife to slice down to remove the kernels off the cob. The towel helps the kernels from bouncing onto the floor. When you’re done, gently pick up the towel and pour the corn into a bowl. 

Speaking of messy vegetables, Garten also shared on Instagram the best way to cut a cauliflower is to turn the vegetable upside down, cut out the core, and gently pull the florets apart.

There are certain dishes that taste better when prepared in a specific way. Brussel sprouts are already a For Ina Garten, Brussel sprouts are one of those foods which should never be boiled, but rather always roasted or sautéed for maximum flavor.

“My mom always used to boil Brussels sprouts, and they were just dreadful — sorry, Mom!,” Garten shared on Instagram. How you prepare the Brussel sprouts is also something to consider. “My favorite is the shredded ones because it takes ten seconds to slice them in a food processor instead of cutting them by hand,” Garten noted. Shredded Brussels soaked in a bit of vinegar can become a fresh salad, while quartered shaved Brussels are simple to roast. Either way, Garten guarantees that by avoiding the boil, you’re in for a better texture.

What if you took the familiar flavors of a deviled egg, added smoked salmon to the egg yolks and garnished the dish with a generous dollop of salmon roe and chopped chives? According to a tip from Garten’s Instagram, it’s the perfect way to dress up familiar flavors and food in order to make it special. 

You don’t have to wait for a special occasion to incorporate high-low food ingredients like caviar with potato chips. If you are serving classic dishes like coleslaw and potato salad at a barbecue, why not serve warm lobster rolls instead of hot dogs and burgers? Even a simple crunchy iceberg salad can transform into a flavorful old-fashioned wedge salad. To make, slice the whole head of lettuce across to make three-quarter-inch-thick round disks, place the sliced lettuce on a plate, and top with dressing, celery, radishes, and scallions. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper before serving.

Meal prepping is not the only way to save time cooking, you can also make foods that can be used in several different recipes. “I love a nice two-fer,” Ina Garten said on Instagram. “I make a big batch of something and use the leftovers to make a second, completely different recipe the next day.”

Take Ina Garten’s tomato and eggplant soup. It’s a hearty winter lunch on its own, but it can also be used as a sauce for Garten’s delicious baked pasta with tomatoes and eggplant dish, too. “No one will even know they’re eating leftovers!” she shared.

It’s not just main dishes that can be doubled. If you have a lot of Brussel sprouts on hand, you can incorporate shredded Brussel sprouts into a coleslaw one day and roast halved or shredded Brussel sprouts the next. Leftover hummus can be spread on top of toasted pieces of baguette and topped with creamy feta and marinated heirloom tomatoes for a tomato crostini appetizer that is so delicious it may unintentionally become your entire meal. 

Ina Garten’s red wine-braised short ribs are one of her most popular recipes and for good reason. It’s not only a flavor-packed recipe with a rich and delicious sauce and vegetables, it’s easier to make than you may expect, a common thread for most of Garten’s home-chef friendly recipes.

“What I love most about this recipe is that instead of searing the short ribs on the stovetop — and getting hot oil everywhere — I roast them in the oven,” Garten shared on Instagram. “I know I say this too often, but really, how easy is that?!” And truly, it is. Short ribs that are roasted in the oven require a little less attention while you’re preparing your meal.

From minestrone to chicken pot pie, the key to a really good soup is homemade chicken stock. So says Ina Garten, when she shared about using homemade stock on her Instagram. Cooking a big pot of homemade chicken stock is a way to not only improve the flavors of your food, but it makes the house smell great and can be stored in the freezer for up to four months. 

For Garten, chicken stock is simple and aids with prep. Simmer your chicken and bones in large quantities with alliums, aromatics, and handfuls of fresh herbs. Another crucial tip when it comes to making fresh stock? Ensure you’re employing a strainer to skim the fat in order to prevent the mix from congealing later.