20 Of The Biggest Cooking Tips From Bobby Flay

If you've ever flipped through the channels and landed on one of Food Network's many hit shows, you probably know Bobby Flay. The famous chef, restaurateur, and television personality has had a storied career in the food industry. He's won a ton of accolades, including Restaurant of the Year, three James Beard Awards (like Rising Star Chef of the Year), and five Daytime Emmy Awards for his cooking shows. He was also one of the original contestants of "Iron Chef" and a mainstay on the show for nearly 17 years until he surprisingly quit in 2018. 

It's safe to say Flay has a lot of great ideas when it comes to cooking up delicious food at home. The New York chef has provided countless advice to people of all skill levels through his many Food Network appearances, online recipes, and YouTube clips. We've compiled a list of 20 of his best cooking tips here, so keep reading to up your game in the kitchen. 

For the average chef, throwing together a simple omelet isn't the hardest task in the world. But creating a fluffy, perfectly rolled, world-class French omelet is a different story. Bobby Flay has cooked countless eggs in his life and came up with a fantastic (and easy) hack to help roll omelets so they look like a professional chef just made them. 

If you've ever tried to cook an omelet before, you know everything might be going fine right up until the end when you need to delicately flip it onto your plate. This can be especially true if you pack your egg dish with fillings that burst out the seams. If your omelet isn't as tight and picture-perfect as you'd like once you plate it (or if it has spilled out completely), all you need to do is grab a kitchen towel and lay it over the omelet. Then simply tuck in the sides like you're rolling a burrito or a roll of sushi and give it a squeeze. This little "restaurant trick," according to Flay, is a failsafe way to make sure your omelets look great every time.  

Bacon is amazing on its own, but that doesn't mean you can't upgrade it to reach even new heights. Bobby Flay says a simple way to make bacon even more delectable is to create glazes that add sweet and spicy flavors. Some examples he gives are honey with some heat or molasses infused with chili peppers. In one Food Network video, he makes a glaze by mixing maple syrup and Dijon mustard along with some salt and pepper.

Shortly after the bacon is cooked (with his preferred method on a sheet tray in the oven), he pats the bacon dry and then brushes on the maple syrup glaze while it's still warm. As the bacon cools, the glaze melds into the meat to become what he calls "a piece of bacon candy in the very best way." To Flay, that bacon candy is reminiscent of a happy accident at brunch. "Don't you love that moment when you're eating the pancakes, and there's some bacon on the plate, and then the maple syrup spills into the bacon?" Yes, Bobby, yes, we do. 

Yes, peeling your own shrimp can be a pain. But the benefits far outweigh the effort, according to Bobby Flay. Not only can you save money from buying shrimp with the shells left on, but those discarded shells can also create an incredibly deep and flavorful stock. Once you remove the shells from your shrimp, add them to a pot, cover them with water, then simmer.

In one particular demonstration for a pasta sauce, Flay also adds onion, tomato paste, and bay leaf to the shells, then allows everything to simmer for a half hour. Afterward, he strains the mixture and adds a half cup of tomato sauce or clam juice for an extra layer of flavor. One more tip? Flay says he leaves the tail on the shrimp when cooking so it will hold its structure better, contributing to the final presentation of the dish. 

Avocados are a super tasty, healthy fat that complements endless dishes — but they aren't always the easiest to separate from the skin. If you don't know what you're doing, dealing with avocados can be messy. People often go at the flesh of an avocado with a spoon, but that can lead to big lumps that are difficult to spread on whatever you're adding them to. 

Here's what Bobby Flay does when he uses avocados. First, he'll slice the fruit (yes, avocados are considered fruits) in half around the pit and splits the two sides. After removing the pit with his knife, he cuts lines crosswise into the flesh of the avocado. Once each half is (carefully) scored, scoop out the flesh with a spoon. This ensures it comes out in even chunks, perfect to spread on toast, mix into a salad, or mash into guacamole. Flay prefers his avocado in thicker chunks when he adds them to his dishes, but you do you. 

Nothing is more time-consuming (and annoying) than grabbing five of your favorite spices, unscrewing their containers individually, seasoning your meat with them one by one, flipping the meat, washing your dirty hands, and then seasoning the other side with each spice. Bobby Flay's got a simple fix for this issue: create your own favorite spice rub ahead of time. 

Make a big batch that is versatile enough to work with everything from beef to chicken to fish to veggies. Store it in an airtight container, and it should last for about three months. This way, you won't be fumbling with a bunch of bottles on grilling day and instead will have more time to enjoy the fun parts of cooking. Having a quality spice rub is also a great way to build a flavorful crust on meats, so having your own personal mixture is crucial for grilling season.

In addition to making your spice rub ahead of time, Bobby Flay advises preparing a basic barbecue sauce out of everyday home staples and keeping it ready to go for barbecue season. Although many people buy store-brand sauces, mixing your own at home is actually a lot easier and more accessible than you think. All you need for a basic barbecue sauce is something with a tomato base (ketchup does great here), brown sugar, vinegar, and water. From there, you can get crafty with whatever seasonings you have, like paprika, Worcestershire sauce, or dry mustard. If you like your barbecue spicy, you can add some hot sauce like Crystal or Frank's. 

Flay likes to make a big batch of barbecue sauce and then portion it out into freezer-safe containers. That means when grilling time comes around, you're always prepared. Then depending on your mood, you can add extra flavors like molasses, pineapples, or habanero peppers to match whatever you're cooking. 

Just about everyone keeps a cooking oil handy in their kitchen, but Bobby Flay says you should go a step further. Not all oils are created equal, so always keep two different oils ready — a light oil with a higher smoke point like canola oil to use when cooking and a high-quality olive oil for finishing dishes. He says he avoids cooking with extra-virgin olive oil. Many olive oils are better-suited for adding flavor to a dish. One option is to ditch the sauce and instead make a vinaigrette with good olive oil and vinegar. It'll taste great and save you time in the kitchen. 

It's also important to note cooking oils don't last forever. Be aware of their taste and smell to ensure they haven't gone bad. Oils past their expiration date will usually have a bitter or chemical-like aroma rather than their natural nutty smell and should be tossed immediately. 

There's nothing worse than putting in the work to chop bowls full of vegetables for grilling only to have the pieces slip between the grates, prompting a mad scramble to save them from burning to a crisp. For this, Bobby Flay has a simple piece of advice: Don't cut your foods so small when grilling. If your vegetables are chopped into larger pieces or even left whole, they're easier to handle on the grill. Just remember you can always slice up your vegetables after you grill them.

Gone are the days of carefully tinkering with every tiny tidbit. If you have some foods that are already naturally small (think cherry tomatoes or shrimp), grab some wooden skewers, soak them in water, and load them up with bits of food. Skewers make flipping and transferring foods on the grill a breeze. 

Scrambled eggs are one of those dishes that seems incredibly easy to make but difficult to master. Anyone can throw a couple of eggs into a hot pan, but without proper care, they'll come out rubbery, gray, and unappetizing. Bobby Flay's process of making scrambled eggs is pretty simple — and he even shares his secret ingredient.

To start, Flay always uses a non-stick pan. In a live demo where he cooks a breakfast on Food Network, he says, "I don't care what skill level you are, do not try to be a hero when it comes to cooking eggs. ... Every professional chef I know uses a nonstick pan." Once the pan's warm, he adds in butter and his secret ingredient, creme fraiche. For the uninitiated, creme fraiche is like a rich sour cream. He then pours in the whisked eggs and cooks them over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to retain that creamy, smooth texture. Flay advises salting the eggs once they're nearly cooked, which also ensures the texture stays nice and rich.

Avocado toast is more than just a millennial trend — it's become a staple breakfast for people all over the country. One of the great things about the quick and easy breakfast dish is that you have a blank canvas to add whatever your heart desires, from bacon to smoked salmon to a multitude of vegetables. Naturally, Bobby Flay has a unique and delicious way to top his avocado toast: with grated hard-boiled eggs. He says chopping eggs is fine, but using a cheese grater is much faster and gives a better texture. 

If you want, you can simply grate the hard-boiled eggs on top of your avocado toast, or you can make an egg salad as Flay does. For the mixture, he adds Dijon mustard and creme fraiche along with chopped shallots and dill. To assemble the perfect avocado toast, Flay spreads a thin layer of avocado that's been combined with lime juice, cilantro, and green onion onto a toasted piece of bread. He then adds some radicchio, followed by the egg salad and an extra sprig of dill for presentation. Who knew avocado toast could be so creative?