Cooking Hacks To Keep Your Kitchen Cool This Summer

The summer tends to be a relaxed season, with calm moods and less demanding schedules. The ease of the season often allows you to enjoy your favorite hobbies. If that hobby is cooking, using your stovetop and oven can quickly heat up your home. Luckily, there are several ways you can prepare food without turning up the heat in the process.

To help keep your kitchen cool while prepping food in the summer, avoid cooking in the middle of the day and bake in large batches to minimize oven use. Cook outside with a grill, portable stove, or fire pit, and use appliances like crockpots, air fryers, and instant pots. Consider changing up your diet and meal prep for the week to reduce your time in the kitchen.  

Extreme summer heat makes it difficult to keep your home comfortable, even with reliable air conditioning. Using your oven can raise the temperature in the kitchen by more than 10 degrees in less than an hour, which can seriously strain your HVAC system. To ensure you aren’t heating your home unnecessarily, keep reading to learn ways to keep your kitchen cool while cooking in the summer.

13 Ways To Keep Your Kitchen Cool While Cooking In The Summer

1. Use A Crockpot

If you make beans, soup, and stock from scratch, you know the process can take hours. It often involves leaving your stovetop on for a prolonged period of time. Not only does this use a lot of energy, but it can also quickly warm up your kitchen.

Instead of using your stove to slow-cook food, use a crockpot. This countertop appliance can take care of your slow-cooking needs with minimal impact on your home’s temperature. It's a great way to save money on your electric bill while also keeping your kitchen cool.

2. Grill Meats And Veggies

Summer is grilling season, but many people don’t do it as often as they could. Instead of pan-frying and baking your meats and vegetables during the summer, use your grill as much as possible. Place it at a safe distance from the house to reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and fire. Whenever you grill, the heat will be far enough away that it won’t affect your home's temperature. Try to find unique ways to barbecue this summer, so you use your oven less.

3. Use Your Griddle Or Portable Stove

If you have an electric griddle or camping stove, set up a spot on your deck where you can use it in hot weather. Cooking on these portable cooking devices outdoors helps keep the heat where it belongs: outside. It is also a great idea when cooking something with a strong odor, such as seafood, as it prevents your kitchen from smelling bad.

4. Cook In The Morning

Another way to keep your kitchen cool in the summer is to do your cooking during cooler hours. Avoid using the stove and oven in the middle of the day and late afternoon, when your air conditioning is already struggling to keep up. Instead, if you need to use the oven or stove, do it in the morning or late evening, when outdoor temperatures are cooler. You can even open a window to help release the heat coming from the oven.

5. Enjoy Meals By The Fire Pit

One fun way to keep your kitchen cool and enjoy your outdoor spaces more in the summer is to cook in your fire pit. You can place a grille, grate, or other device over hot wood coals to cook all sorts of meals.  While sausages, hot dogs, baked potatoes, and marshmallows are the most common fire pit foods, you can definitely get creative. Several meats and seafood taste great when cooked over fragrant wooden coals.

6. Prepare Food In Bulk

If you love to bake, you don't have to stop enjoying it just because it’s hot outside. Instead of cutting out baking altogether, consider doing it in bulk once in a while rather than several times per week. Schedule a specific day for all your baking, so your home only heats once instead of multiple times throughout the week. You will likely use less energy, since your oven will only have to heat up once. Remember, you can freeze any baked items to keep them fresh for weeks or even months.

7. Use An Air Fryer Or Instant Pot

Technology has given rise to many new kitchen appliances. While some of are fads, others have stood the test of time. Air fryers have proven useful, especially for those who love crispy foods without using too much oil. They operate at high temperatures but don’t release much heat. Instant pots are another option. They have several uses, and like a crockpots and air fryer, don’t release nearly as much heat as your oven. If you already have one of these appliances, use it in the summer instead of your oven.

8. Utilize Fans And Vents

When you’re cooking, one great way to keep your kitchen temperature from skyrocketing is to maintain proper airflow. The best way to help heat and steam escape from your kitchen while you cook is to turn on the stove's range hood anytime you cook. You can also use ceiling fans and oscillating fans to circulate air. When you move air throughout your home, it helps regulate the temperature, and it’s easier for your HVAC system to maintain a stable temperature.

9. Switch Up Your Eating Habits

As temperatures increase outside, adjust the type of food you're preparing. Instead of eating hot soups and heavy meat-based meals, consider lighter foods that require little or no cooking. Salads, fruit, and more raw food are all great options you can eat in the summer. Making this change can help you stay healthy while keeping your kitchen temperatures down.

10. Meal Prep For The Week

Meal prepping is very popular for people trying to stay healthy and maintain a budget. It’s also a great way to save money on dining out, and it can even help keep your kitchen cool in the summer. Just as baking in large batches limits the amount of time you use your stove and oven, so does weekly meal prep. If you can consolidate five days' worth of cooking into one morning or evening, you can keep your home cool the rest of the week.

11. Invest In An Induction Cooktop

If you are on the hunt for a new stovetop and have struggled with a hot kitchen in the past, consider an induction stovetop. These stoves use electromagnetism to heat the pot or pan directly, rather than heating the entire surface. Therefore, they emit far less heat than gas or electric coil stoves.

12. Buy Prepared Foods

As you grocery shop, consider which meals require a lot of oven time, and rethink whether or not it’s worth cooking from scratch. Fully cooked rotisserie chickens are just a few dollars more than an uncooked one, and will save you an hour of oven time. Other prepared meats and casseroles are worth considering, especially if you don’t have air conditioning and live in a hot place.

13. Keep Sunlight Out Of The Home

Limit the amount of UV light entering your home in the summer to prevent it from heating up. While stovetops and ovens are major contributors to increased kitchen temperatures, sunlight can have an equally strong heating effect. Use curtains or blinds to block direct sunlight in the summer months, especially when cooking.

Summing Up Cooking Hacks That Keep A Kitchen Cool In The Summer

It can cost a lot of money and take a lot of effort to keep a home cool in the summer. To ensure your HVAC system isn't working any harder than it has to and to prevent your home from becoming uncomfortably warm, limit your oven and stovetop use when it’s hot outside. Use crockpots, air fryers, and Instant Pots instead of your oven, and grill more often. Bake in large batches and meal-prep for the week so you don’t have to cook every day. Cook in the morning or evening when it’s cooler outside, and utilize fans and vents to circulate the air in your home.

Related Guides:

• Creative Ways To Use Less Fuel This Summer
• Cheap Ways To Add Shade To Your Yard
• How To Keep Cool During A Summer Power Outage