When the heat waves hit and summer knocks on your door, staying cool in the kitchen is a must. No-cook recipes and getting takeout are convenient ways you can avoid sweating bullets while also getting a meal in, but you can’t last an entire summer without cooking a single meal.

It’s time to face your fears and hop into the kitchen. Here are a few tips to beat the heat in your kitchen during summer!

Avoid Using The Oven As Much As Possible

If you want to make your kitchen as cool as possible during the scorching heat of summer, avoid the oven unless you need to use it. Your oven gives off a lot of heat, so avoid turning it on whenever possible.

There are loads of alternatives and appliances that you can use to cook your food to perfection without vastly increasing the temperature of your home. Things like air fryers, slow cookers, instant pots, or even bread ovens are marginally cooler than using your stove’s oven. An air fryer is probably the most efficient alternative since it can quickly cook food like chicken, salmon, meatballs, or even dumplings.

 

Focus On Simple & Easy Recipes

Cooking complex meals when it’s scorching hot can cause you to exert a lot of effort. If you have to run back and forth from the fridge to the chopping board to the oven and then back to the chopping board—you’ll overheat incredibly quickly. Simple recipes that don’t have a million ingredients and steps will help you stay cool and less stressed in the process.

Time the more complex meals at night when it’s a lot cooler or during a rainy day.

 

Quick Cooking Protein Are Your Lifeline

Getting proteins that cook quickly can save you tons of time and effort. Thinner cuts of meat like chicken filets, skirt steaks, or thin pork chops will be ready in just a couple of minutes. If you’re more into fish, tilapia, and a salmon filet, take no more than 5 minutes on the stovetop.

The less cooking time, the better—especially during a time when keeping the temperature of your environment as low as possible is necessary. Pre-cooked proteins like canned tuna or rotisserie chickens also offer a lot in terms of flavor and convenience.

 

Instant Meals Galore

Although this tip may not seem healthy, having instant meals like noodles saves you a lot of time and don’t take a lot to cook. Boiling a big pot of water can give off a ton of steam that can heavily affect your kitchen’s temperature. Having rice noodles and ramen noodles that you just need to soak in hot water are literal life savers during the summer.

You don’t even need to turn on the stove to cook instant noodles. Just heat up some water in a kettle, and you’re good.

 

Cook In Bulk

If you really do have to turn on your oven or stove, it’s time to go big or go home. Dealing with a little extra heat now to save yourself from cooking in the next couple of days is a great tradeoff if you’re willing to take the time and effort to cook in bulk.

Taking efficiency into account, cooking in bulk, like scaling up the amount of pasta, rice, or just meal prepping for the week, is ideal if you turn on your oven or stove. A little prep can go a long way.

 

Bring Out The Fans

Suppose you have an extra fan or two that you can set up in your kitchen, do it asap. Fans can do cooking in the kitchen marginally less taxing and makes it less likely for you to be overheated and stressed when cooking your meals.

 

Stay Hydrated

This one is a no-brainer. Suppose the temperature is hot in your kitchen during the summer. In that case, you’re going to sweat A LOT. Staying hydrated and replacing your lost fluids is essential to keeping yourself cool and avoiding overheating.

 

Beating the summer heat isn’t easy, but these tips will surely make the summer way more bearable for you in the kitchen!