12 Mistakes Everyone Makes When Sautéing

Sautéing is a valuable cooking technique for a wide variety of foods, but it’s not the best cooking method for everything. The quick cooking time associated with sautéing means it should be used for meats and vegetables that cook relatively quickly. Chopped vegetables like onion, carrot, and celery that make up a traditional mirepoix, the flavor base for numerous recipes, are excellent choices. Sautéing those vegetables is often the first step in many recipes. Vegetables like chopped bell peppers, garlic, mushrooms, green beans, zucchini, and asparagus are also perfect for sautéing because they cook quickly and thoroughly. You can sauté denser vegetables like potatoes, sweet potato, rutabaga, turnips, and parsnips, but they should be roasted or parboiled before sautéing to ensure they cook thoroughly.

Meat and poultry should be cut before sautéing. Thinly sliced pieces, like the cuts used for schnitzel or scallopini, can be sautéed successfully. Cutting meat and poultry into bite-sized pieces makes them good candidates for sautéing. Larger cuts of meat should be avoided when sautéing. While they might brown nicely when added to a hot pan with a bit of oil, they won’t cook fully. Choose meats that are tender when cooked quickly, like chicken breasts or thighs. Tougher cuts of meat require a longer cooking time and usually a liquid to tenderize them.