Ina Garten's Salad Dressing Trick Is Simple Yet Genius

Making a salad dressing at home can get a bit messy. If you're not splattering liquid everywhere while whisking all the ingredients together, some dressing inevitably spills from the bowl as you go to pour it over your greens. There has to be a better way.

Thankfully, once again Ina Garten (she of the humongous quarantine cocktail) has a little trick, and this one will save your pants and shirts from oil spills — and ensure all the dressing goes into the salad bowl and not on your counter. Her method? Mix all the ingredients in a tall, lipped measuring cup (a 2-cup, at least). She demonstrates this technique in the video below, saying that she does this so she can "measure and mix at the same time."

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♬ original sound – Ina Garten

Brilliant! Rather than using up a bunch of differently sized measuring cups or spoons, you can do as Garten does, and measure based off of where the liquid ends, thanks to the easy-to-read measurements. While this method may involve some grade school math, it's like one-pot cooking in that you only dirty one dish. Plus, measuring cups like the one she uses tend to be taller than they are wide, so you're less likely to splatter when you mix (even with an immersion blender), and the spout on the side makes for easy, spill-free pouring.

Other great kitchen uses for glass measuring cups

In that same vein, there are multiple uses for these handled, glass kitchen essentials, such as mixing up batch cocktails like Queen Ina herself. Add the liquor and the mixers all in 1 cup, give it a stir and then use the lip (with an assist from a funnel if you don't have a steady hand) to pour into an empty bottle, destined for the fridge or freezer. You can also mix up pancake batter in your measuring up, so that you do not have to deal with the mess of transferring the batter with a ladle to the pan; you can just pour it right on.

Your glass measuring cup can also go into the microwave, making it ideal for heating up water, broth, or milk (or any liquid, really), cooking minute rice or even homemade Werther's Originals, and it has a user-friendly handle so you don't burn your fingers on the hot outsides of the main chamber. This also makes these measuring cups awesome for melting things, whether it's butter, chocolate, coconut oil, etc. — and it gives you a controlled pour.

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