You’ve been slaving over the stove to make the perfect dish, and all you’ve got left to do is add that last pinch of salt, dash of hot sauce, or touch of sugar to make it divine. Of course, your body decides to have a klutz moment right then and there and bam! Your culinary masterpiece is ruined by a tragic error. Fortunately, you don’t have to toss everything out and start over, because you can save some dishes after the mistake happens. Here’s how to simply solve some of these kitchen nightmares and to keep them from ruining your meal.

Desalting an Oversalted Dish

If you’ve put too much salt into your food, you can increase the other flavor components to balance everything out or add some starch to draw the salt back out. That way, you won’t be left with a nasty feeling in your mouth afterwards.

Saving Greasy Sauces and Gravies

If you’ve got a layer of oil at the top of your sauce or gravy you want to get rid of, just add a cold steel dish to the gravy. The oil will stick to the steel after some time, meaning you can enjoy a grease-free dish with this swift life hack.

Toning Down A Meal That’s Too Spicy

Adding sugar, dairy, or more ingredients to help distribute and dilute the spiciness in food is a great way to tone down the heat. That way, you don’t have to blow your mouth off just to have lunch.

Thickening Sauces That Are Too Thin

There’s several ways to thicken sauces, whether it be through starches like cornstarch or arrowroot, or even through fats like butter or cheese. The simplest way, though is to reduce the sauce until enough water evaporates to create the consistency you’re looking for. Bon Appetit!

Rescuing Burnt Rice

While burnt rice may seem all but lost, you can save the part that isn’t scorched and get rid of the smell, too. Simply add some bread on top of the rice for a few minutes, and it’ll take in that flavor and leave your rice tasting fresh. Simple, yet extremely effective.

Saving A Broken Mayonnaise

When your mayonnaise splits, you may feel like it’s the end of the world and you have to start all over. However, through simple blending, water, and an egg yolk, your mayo will be back to full strength before you know it.

Keeping Treats From Getting Too Sweet

Sometimes, desserts can overload on the sugar to give you that cloying feel in your mouth that’s just awful. However, through acid, spice, diluting, or alternative sweeteners, you can change things up and keep yourself from feeling sickly when eating that special treat.

Unstick Your Sticky, Overcooked Noodles

We’ve all been there with the overcooked noodles, but we don’t have to eat them in sadness. Adding some cold water will help loosen things up and allow us to slurp at our leisure.

Rewhipping Overbeaten Whipped Cream

It can be difficult to tell when you’ve overworked homemade whipped cream, but if you’re in that conundrum, don’t panic. A simple addition of a little more cream to the bowl will allow you to rework and whip the cream back to where it should be, saving your decadent whipped delight.

Repair A Cracked Pie Crust

If your pie crust has cracked on you, you can repair it back together with some “glue.” In this case, that glue is a paste of flour and water that you can bake into the pie crust and keep everything together. If you’re a pie rookie, this is definitely a life-saver.

Removing Broken Eggshell Pieces

When that piece of eggshell gets into your cracked eggs, it can be a pain to try and drag it out. Fortunately, eggs come with a built-in solution to the problem, as the larger pieces of shell can easily remove the tiny broken bits inside. Now your eggs won’t be crunchy in the morning anymore.

Rehydrating Dried Poultry Meat

Chicken and turkey are both incredibly easy to overcook, making them taste dry. With some chicken stock and gravy, however, you can restore their moist texture and nobody will ever know that you messed up on the Thanksgiving turkey… again.

Fixing A Broken Buttercream Frosting

Buttercream frostings break because of temperature, and whether yours be too hot or too cold, there’s simple ways to revert the temperature back to where you need it to be. Once you do so, you’ll have the perfect frosting for cupcakes and more.

Smoothing Out Clumpy Chocolate Sauce

Chocolate sauces can seize up and go clumpy if cooked improperly, but there’s an easy save. Incorporating enough moisture to dissolve the clumps by adding water, cream, or another liquid gives you the second chance you need to make that smooth, glossy chocolate sauce everyone will be dying over.