10 Kitchen Tools to Simplify Cooking + Clean Up

An easy-to-clean air fryer is a huge help in putting food on the table faster. The air fryer I use is super easy to clean & dishwasher safe, so it's a big part of cooking each week. When selecting an air fryer, consider models with removable parts and a sleek design that prevents food buildup. Investing between $80 and $200 in a high-quality air fryer can significantly simplify your cooking process while ensuring delicious meals with minimal effort.

I personally use my pressure cooker on the regular & it allows you to cook with less lead time, especially since you can cook from frozen. The Instant Pot is my favorite, but plenty of people also like the Ninja Foodi. I personally use a separate air fryer from my pressure cooker because I really like the one shared above, but the link below for the Ninja Foodi has a built-in air fryer as well, so that you only need one tool.

This is a cheap addition to your kitchen that can make chopping food an easier task. It takes away the need for knife skills, so if you are nervous about cutting certain things (or in general), this can ease the anxiety. For people who struggle with executive function, the idea of multiple steps of prep can be overwhelming and a chopper is a great way to simplify prep of fresh veggies.

While you can certainly cook many meals in a pan, cooking on a countertop griddle can make it easier to handle temperature & cook more evenly, but also make clean up easy.

An indoor grill can also be a great addition, especially if you have limited cooking options in your living space. You also don't need to worry much about controlling temperature when you cook on one of these & they are dorm and apartment friendly.

Another great addition for easy cooking is a slow cooker. You can also slow cook in most Instant Pots/Pressure Cookers, so you can also have this as an all-in-one tool from the options above, but these are also great for bringing food to gatherings. Slow cookers are great because you can dump ingredients in during the morning & come home to cooked food. This also really helps my neurodivergent chefs because they can prep their food at times of day that work better for them (ie you might do better with executive functioning mid-morning than in the the evening).

When you are new to cooking, or need simple clean up, non-stick pans can be a great choice for your kitchen. These are two options (one full set and one set of two pans), that are inexpensive, basic choices.

Silicone utensils are safe for all your pans, easy to clean & safe to high temperatures, making them a great choice for most people. Below is a link to a simple silicon set, as well as a link to a nylon version of my favorite tool (a fish spatula- but they work for so much more than fish).

Having a blender & food processor is a great option too, because you open up some easy options for meals and simple snacks. This one is an option from Ninja that is compact and has multiple attachment bowls, making it easy to use without clean up after each use.

I love having a silicone muffin pan on hand because there are so many easy meal-prep choices for breakfast and snacks that can be made in muffin pans. The best part of a silicone one though, is that you don't need to have muffin cups on hand to use it easily. I like this one because its reinforced & sturdy (you have to be careful to not get flimsy ones when looking for silicone pans).