We hope you love our recommendations! Some may have been sent as samples, but all were independently selected by our editors. Just FYI, BuzzFeed and its publishing partners may collect a share of sales and/or other compensation from the links on this page.
1. A truly ~egg-cellent~ rapid egg cooker so everyone can enjoy an omelet (or a soft-, medium-, or hard-boiled egg as well as poached eggies — so many options!) in mere minutes. Oil splatter after taking to make an omelet? Rings on the stove because your pot of water boiled over? Not anymore!
Promising review: "Hard, soft, or medium-boiled eggs in 10 minutes. The egg cooker is extremely easy to use (takes <1 min to set up), and especially for things like soft-boiled eggs, it's way easier and more reliable than trying to time boiling. Honestly, it probably cooks faster than it will take you to boil the water for your eggs. Easy to use in a dorm where you don't have a stove to cook eggs in. It's super fast, and I can easily make them before class. It's very light and portable. I actually bring it home with me over breaks." —Grace
Get it from Amazon for $17.99+ (available in seven colors).
Check out our Dash rapid egg cooker review to learn more!
2. A 10-quart slow cooker that can hold a 10-pound turkey or 12-pound roast (though reviewers say it can hold more!) *and* doesn't require you to turn the knob to ignite your gas range. It has easy-to-grip handles and a clip-tight sealed lid that make transportation easy — even if you're only moving it from the counter to the dinner table. When the food's gone you can toss the stoneware crock and the glass lid in the dishwasher!
Promising review: "We have a family of eight people, so a large slow cooker is great. I will say, though, that this is probably larger than we even need. It's huge. I love the fact that I could easily double or even triple a recipe in this thing though. Cooking seems to be great, even when we are only putting things to half full (a typical 8–10 serving recipe will be half full in this)." —Christina
Get it from Amazon for $69.99 (also available in a 6-quart size).
3. And a pack of slow cooker liners to allow you to cook different recipes at the same time, reducing your overall cooking time *and* saving you from having to wash a huge stack of dishes.
PS: They also come in handy with dishes going into a water bath (think: cheesecakes, custards, and puddings).
Promising review: "We constantly use our crockpot for easy meals. I'm a teacher and my husband is a firefighter, and it's just easy for our family of five. No real cleanup. I toss the bag in the trash after use and will just run a wet rag around the inside of the pot for good measure. Never have a problem with holes or burning." —Ashley Matthews
Get a pack of six from Amazon for $3.48.
4. A pack of reusable toaster bags for when a 2 a.m. craving for a grilled cheese hits but you don't want to dirty a pan. Just plop your bread and cheese in the bag and then in the toaster and you're minutes away from ooey gooey cheesy goodness. And they're great for helping prevent cross contamination if someone in your house has food allergies.
These reusable bags are good for 50 to 100 washes and can hold pizza, chicken nuggets, and pastries.
Promising review: "I love using these! Since I live alone, I don't like having to dirty a skillet to make just one sandwich. This makes a great sandwich in the toaster without any muss or fuss. They're easy to clean; just wipe it out or use a little soap and water if needed. The nonstick feature is very helpful." —Branwynmars
Get a set of four from Amazon for $4.86 (also available in sets of 6 and 10).
5. A microwave veggie steamer if you can't be bothered to boil a large pot of water just for your single serving of veggies. This steamer has a 2-cup capacity, so it's great for anyone who's cooking (or steaming) for one.
Promising review: "I love fresh vegetables but hate having to cook up the whole batch and store. This little microwave steamer worked out even BETTER than I could have imagined! I use it almost every day now. I can break off a few stalks of broccoli, cut up some asparagus and carrots, steam it in the microwave for 3–3.5 minutes, and I have a wonderful serving of mixed fresh veggies anytime I want. I love it! It is small, so if you're feeding a family, look for something bigger along the same lines. It's easy to clean, and it seems sturdy enough for the dishwasher, but I hand wash it because I had a microwave steamer that got warped after a few runs through the dishwasher. Would definitely buy again." —terifrancis
Get it from Amazon for $6.79.
6. Or a collapsible microwave veggie steamer because you've got hungry kiddos and need a bigger option. This collapsible silicone steamer heats and softens your veggies from raw or frozen in mere minutes.
Promising review: "Hey, do you find it tedious to use a pot and colander to steam your veggies? Me freaking too. Bought this and the full-time single mom that I am living in a tiny space loves it. Steams frozen veggies in my microwave in six minutes. Easy clean up, no fuss, and compact. Only drawback is that it’s somewhat flimsy right out of the microwave (but to its credit it’s collapsible and hot so...still not a deal breaker for me). Just be careful!" —MargaritaMomDays
Get it from Amazon for $22.99+ (available in four colors and two sizes).
7. A heart-shaped mini waffle maker so you can realize both your childhood dream of having fluffy waffles for every meal and your adult dream of not having to wipe down a messy stove after making stovetop waffles. This lil' gadget weighs less than a pound, heats up in minutes, and also works with chaffles (low-carb cheese and egg waffles), paninis, hash browns, and even biscuit pizzas.
Promising review: "I bought this about a year and a half ago and completely forgot about it in the back of my pantry. Well, since we're all in quarantine, I've been doing some cleaning and I stumbled across my little waffle iron. I decided to finally give it a try and made a half dozen waffles, and I have to say, this thing worked great and cleaning wasn't difficult at all! Obvious tip: use the slightest bit of cooking oil spray (Pam), and the waffles come out perfectly every time!" —Tom M.
Get it from Amazon for $9.95+ (available in various styles).
Check out my colleague's Dash Mini Waffle Maker review, which she says turned her into a breakfast person.
8. And on the topic of morning meal, a breakfast sandwich maker that'll make a mean BEC (no one says they're only reserved for breakfast!) instead of spending precious time making each part individually — and making a whole mess of your kitchen.
Promising review: "It is perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 'fast' meals. I fix bacon in the microwave, and it cooks the egg and melts the cheese on bagels, English muffins, hamburger buns, and other round bread. If I had one with squares, I would make sandwiches like grilled cheese and ham. It can even cook a round omelet!" —Bonita
Get it from Amazon for $29.99 (available in four colors).
9. OR! A pancake batter bottle to save you from the pain of scrubbing hardened batter that spilled while spooning the mixture from the bowl to the pan (been there, done that!). This genius invention is the mixing bowl and the pourer (no more messy ladles and odd-shaped pancakes), meaning less mess at the end of breakfast.
The bottle isn't just for dispensing, either. It also has a whisk ball in the bottom so you can mix up your batter with just a few shakes.
Promising review: "I love this thing! It is easy to clean. The only thing is that I add water then powder mix; if you do it the other way it will clump up and not mix and you will have to open it and knock it loose to shake some more. You may not have that problem depending on how much you’re making but I have a family of six so we make a lot at once." —Danielle
Get it from Amazon for $14.99.
10. A microwave rice cooker for steaming rice, polenta, and couscous in one step instead of 15. With this, you just stick it in the microwave and walk away.
Promising review: "I have always made rice on the stove. Of course, rice is easy to make, and I thought maybe this would be a silly purchase that would end up in the closet with all the other silly kitchen things I never use. Not a chance! Making rice in this thing is so easy and fast — and clean up is so, so easy — I may never use a pot again. Highly recommended!" —Bobby's Girl
Get it from Amazon for $26.33.
11. An 11-in-1 Instant Pot Duo Crisp if you want to whip up dinner fast and without dirtying every pot and pan you own. In addition to being a pressure cooker and an air fryer, the IP Duo Crisp can also sauté, steam, sous vide, bake, broil, dehydrate, and more.
Promising review: "I already had an 8-quart Instant Pot Duo but was wanting an air fryer. I figured I’d get this one and sell my original. My husband was skeptical that this was worth the money but after trying it, he agreed it was the best purchase of the year. I ended up keeping both because they do have different functions and having two speeds up meal prepping. We have two young kids and two middle school-age kids and this is the perfect size for making dinner for all of us without using every pan in the house. The air fryer is great for heating up my toddler's frozen nuggets and veggies. I can have his food made in less than 10 minutes and they are cooked to perfection, no more preheating the oven to 400+ and waiting 20 minutes for nuggets. It’s also nice for reheating leftover fast food that doesn’t get eaten the first time. If you’re looking to make homemade fried food, you still need to use a batter but the air fryer gets the food nice and crispy without all the extra grease. This has been a huge time saver in more ways than one for me." —Courtney
Get it from Amazon for $149.95+ (available in two sizes).
12. A set of nonstick, heat-safe sheet pan dividers because no, you don't need to suffer through veggies that are burned to a crisp because you had to leave the pan in the oven to make sure the salmon was fully cooked. With this handy system, you can just remove individual trays when the ingredients are fully cooked.
Promising review: "Purchased several sets as Christmas gifts. Everyone LOVES them! These liners make sheet pan meals easy to clean up. I love that I can load the silicone trays with veggies and meat. Makes it easy to pop in the oven for different cook time. These also make dinner cleanup super easy. 10/10 recommend!" —Lain
Get a set of three from Amazon for $17.99+ (available in three colors and in multi-packs).
13. A silicone baking mat so you're not swapping the pain of cleaning a dirty stovetop with the equally frustrating process of scrubbing a grimy baking sheet until your hand cramps. The cheese that oozed out of your mozz stick? Yeah, that's NBD.
Promising review: "My husband got me two of these a few years ago, and I recently bought two more just so I could do more baking/cooking between washes. I have a large family, so we regularly use 3+ sheet pans in one meal to roast meat and vegetables or make homemade fries. These work well. They still need a little oil or nonstick spray for some things, but cookies bake beautifully on them dry, and even when I'm making meats or veggies, they make cleanup so much easier. I highly recommend." —J. Holum
Get a set of two from Amazon for $15.67.
14. A variety pack of microwaveable A Dozen Cousins ready-to-eat seasoned beans that'll answer the call when you're standing in front of a filthy stovetop because you attempted to make beans taste good. Stop sullying your kitchen for mediocre legumes and reach for a deliciously spiced bag of ready-to-eat beans!
A Dozen Cousins is a Black-owned business founded by Ibraheem Basir and inspired by his the Creole, Caribbean, and Latin American flavors he ate growing up. The variety pack comes with Cuban Black Beans, Mexican Cowboy Pinto Beans, Trini Chickpea Curry, Creole Red Beans, Refried Black Beans, and Refried Pinto Beans.
Promising review: "I bought this variety pack because every single product this company makes looks and sounds delicious, so I figured I could audition a few things and stock up on whatever I like best. Turns out I like everything best. Every single bite of everything in this pack was so good I HAD to buy more of all of them. So now I’m going to become this person who buys giant amounts of beans (sure) and probably gives them away as gifts to people I love because they are incredible. Easy, tasty, maybe my new favorite thing." —Daniel B.
Get a pack of six from Amazon for $24.99.
My coworker Marquaysa Battle has taste-tested these beans and swears by 'em! Check out her A Dozen Cousins review for her thoughts.
15. A microwave pasta cooker to save the day when you want soft, cheesy, noodly carbs but don't want the hassle of boiling water, cleaning a giant pot, and struggling to strain your noods without spilling hot water everywhere.
Read our Fasta Pasta Microwave Cooker review!
Promising review: "I bought this microwave pasta cooker at a time when I did not have a stove. Even though I have a stove now, I still use this cooker for dinner for myself sometimes because it works so well and quickly! Be careful and read instructions carefully, as you must leave the top off while cooking it. There are lines to indicate how much water to put in the cooker versus the amount of pasta you intend to cook. The pasta comes out very soft and perfectly cooked when instructions are followed. When the pasta is done, the lid is used to drain the cooker of water, and it works very well. I highly recommend this to any college student or adult who needs a fast microwave pasta cooker!" —Tania
Get it from Amazon for $16.99.
16. A Vitamix 5200 blender for hot soup — yes, hot soup — sans stove. The blades move so fast that they create enough heat to warm a soup to steaming hot in just six minutes. It's also great for any other foods you wanna throw at it: smoothies, hummus and dips, sauces, nut butter, baby food, coffee beans, and more.
I own this blender, and y'all, it is AMAZING, especially compared to the $20 blender I was using before this one. While I'm not a power user by any means (I like the occasional smoothie), I have been thoroughly impressed with my results every time. It's great for the aforementioned smoothies as well as for pesto (my previous blender was sooooo bad, and I had to constantly move the basil with chopsticks to ensure the blades could cut it) and for soups. (I've never used it to heat a soup, but I have used it to blend veggies to thicken a soup.) Cleanup is really easy; just a dash of dish detergent and some water, and you can run the blender to clean it. Genius! Yeah, it's a bit loud, but definitely not as loud as my previous cheapo blender, and it cuts through ice and other hard foods pretty fast, so you don't have to run it that long.
Get it from Amazon for $399.98+ (available in three colors).
17. An air fryer if you love the crunch of fried foods but could do without all the grease. You can make all your restaurant faves — like chicken wings, crispy breaded eggplant, charred veggies, and even donuts — with this magical appliance. It's even great for reheating foods that usually get soggy in the microwave, like pizza!
Check out my colleague's Instant Pot Air Fryer review and I can basically guarantee you'll want one before you even finish the article.
Promising review: "After listening to dozens of clients and friends talk about their air fryers, I decided it was time to bite the bullet so to speak. Consumer Reports' rave reviews led me to the Instant Vortex Plus. I LOVE LOVE LOVE ❤️ IT! Everything seems to taste better cooked in an air fryer. Even salmon is more moist and flavorful. Plus food cooks more quickly than traditional oven or fryer methods. The Vortex is large capacity so it’s easy to cook two or more types of food at the same time. Do it...you won’t regret it!" —Rosanne Heideman
Get it from Amazon for $129.95.
18. A reliable electric tea kettle because waiting for water to boil on the stove is just time you do not have. This kettle makes seven cups of piping hot water in minutes, so your instant meals, pasta, ramen, soup, and oatmeal are ready so much faster. Also, how cute is that minty green color?
Promising review: "In my household, we drink a lot of instant coffee, and this has been a time saver for sure. It boils water extremely fast compared to our stove kettle. It is so easy to clean and the best feature is that you turn it on and it turns off automatically (it has a light indicator) so it is great for busy mornings when we need to multitask in order to leave the house. Is so worth your money, highly recommend!" —Liz
Get it from Amazon for $21.72.
19. A panini press so you can achieve perfect grill marks and a delicious char on your sandwiches, burritos, and quesadillas faster than it would take you to get in the car, drive to Panera, and pick it up. Plus, the top plate locks, so you can also use it to toast your pizza and even bruschetta.
Promising review: "My wife and I love this! It's big enough to do both our sandwiches at the same time or two quesadillas if it's a tortilla folded in half. It heats up quickly and cleans up easily. The food we make using this tastes so much better than if you use a pan, and it's done so much faster. Overall, it's just great! I would recommend this to family and friends. We use it several times a week on average, and it has performed perfectly. When we're done, it tucks away neatly." —Dominic B
Get it from Amazon for $39.99+ (available in three colors).
20. A Ninja 12-in-1 double oven that'll simultaneously cook two meals (or a main and a side, two sides, etc.) at different temperatures and for different lengths of time = you can cook fish and veggies (for you) in one section and chicken nuggets and tater tots (for the picky eater) in the other. GENIUS!
When I first read about this product, I thought it was cool but not something I'd get a lot of use out of. I'm only cooking for two people and we're eating the same meal. This seems better for busy parents. And it's pretty bulky to use it only as a toaster. Boy did I underestimate this double oven! Case in point: Recently, I planned to cook a chicken and broccoli sheet pan dinner, and I also really wanted to use the curly fries in my freezer — but the two dishes needed to bake at different temperatures. Before this double oven came into my life, I would've put both trays in the oven at the same time but suffered through soft, slightly soggy fries (instead of fries that were perfectly crispy and crunchy) because I was too impatient to cook them separately and I didn't want to burn the chicken and broccoli, which needed to cook at a lower temp. I've also used this compact oven to cook things like garlic bread because 1) it takes forever for my regular oven to preheat, and 2) using the regular oven makes my kitchen really hot, which doesn't seem worth it for two measly slices of bread. The list of things you can do with this oven could fill a book, so I highly recommend checking it out to learn more!
Get it from Amazon for $249.99+ (available in two colors) and Ninja for $249.99.
21. A reviewer-beloved veggie chopper to ~cut~ through all the ingredients that are called for in your chopped salad — even meats and nuts — so fast you won't even have time to contemplate ordering takeout.
Promising review: "Makes life so much easier. I can't imagine chopping onions or bell peppers by hand anymore, and it does so much more. We used to have a Prepworks chopper which was a similar idea, but you had to press so hard to chop, and it broke after not too long. This one requires very little effort to cut through the food, and it has a generous container." —Amazon Customer
Get it from Amazon for $22.99+ (available in three colors and four sizes).
22. An Oxo salad spinner for the nights when you're craving a crispy, crunchy salad for dinner. Don't be let down by soggy, limp, and watery lettuce. This will dry your salad post-rinse; no paper towels are required! (I also like to use my salad spinner to dry large quantities of fruit quickly. You'll just want to be a little gentler with your spins to avoid crushing berries.)
Promising review: "I saw this on TikTok and decided to give it a try after how viral it went. They weren’t lying! I opened the strainer after spinning my cilantro and it was completely dry, I was shocked. I don’t think I can live without this now lol. Saves me so much time washing my veggies!" —Emily Pasion
Get it from Amazon for $29.99.
23. A *super* compact eight-in-one spiralizer if you're craving a cooling dish of zoodles. This can also grate the cheese you sprinkle on top, juice the citrus you need for the sauce, and so much more!
BuzzFeed editor Emma Lord can't stop raving about this thing. In her own words:
"I recently purchased this because it was my cheapest option for making zoodles and also because my apartment is the size of a shoebox, and there was no room for anything bigger. I LOVE how easy it is to swap out the caps to do other things, too — I've started grating my own cheeses and feel very fancy. But mostly, I just love that it's very safe to use (it comes with a finger guard!), super easy to figure out, very compact, and even has measurements on the inside of the cup if you're ever portioning things out for a recipe."
Promising review: "LOVE THIS. I absolutely love this. So far, I've used the thicker spiralizer, two of the grater things, and then the juicer. I love how easy this makes keeping everything together. And it's sharp, so it actually cuts through things without you needing to work super hard to do it. The only thing I don't love is that the spiralizers are a bit hard to clean, but I guess that's with all of them. I'm not sure; this is the first I've owned. But, overall, I'd recommend it :)" —Amazon Customer
Get it from Amazon for $18.99.
Mood when I don't want to use the stove:
