Cooking hacks promise to make life easier in the kitchen, but they're not always as foolproof as they claim. While some tips are genuinely helpful, others simply don’t deliver – or can even make cooking more complicated. So, should you really be adding oil to your pasta water or using mayo instead of butter on your grilled cheese sandwiches? Here we debunk the most common cooking hacks, tips and tricks that just don't work.

Click or scroll through our gallery to discover the food hacks you need to ignore, counting down to the most useless of all.

We’ve based our ranking on expert advice, how common each tip is, and on the opinions and first-hand knowledge of our team. The list is unavoidably subjective.