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No salad spinner? It doesn’t have to mean soggy, watery lettuce or painstakingly wiping down greens one by one. Ina Garten has an easy towel hack to make a salad spinner in seconds when the kitchen gadget is nowhere to be found. Ahead, learn Garten’s salad spinner hack plus other ways she uses towels in the kitchen.

Garten demonstrated how to use a towel as a DIY salad spinner during a March 2022 Today appearance. She made Barefoot Contessa Caesar salad with co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager while discussing her 2022 TV show, Be My Guest. 

“I always like to make sure that the lettuce is really clean,” Garten told Kotb and Bush Hager. “So this is ice water. What I do is I cut it up and then put it in a salad spinner.”

“I love a salad spinner, but if you don’t have one,” Bush Hager began. “If you don’t, this is what you do,” Garten replied. “You put it in a huge towel.” 

“Wait, what?” Kotb said in surprise as Garten gathered up the corners of the towel. “You flip it around and you make a salad spinner out of it,” the cookbook author said as she spun the towel quickly. 

The reason for Garten’s towel hack or salad spinner step in the salad-making process? “The dressing will stick to dryer lettuce,” she explained. 

A makeshift salad spinner isn’t Garten’s only unexpected use for a towel in the kitchen. It’s also a must-have when she’s taking corn off the cob. “Instead of having it bounce all over the kitchen, I get a sheet pan and a clean kitchen towel,” Garten said as she demonstrated her “system” on Barefoot Contessa. 

“I just cut the kernels onto the kitchen towel,” she continued. “Then pick up the kitchen towel, and I just put all the kernels right into the bowl.”

Garten’s towel hacks keep going with her potato salad recipe. She uses an easy trick as part of her “secret” to cooking potatoes. 

The Modern Comfort Food author simmers the potatoes. When they’re done, anywhere from 15-30 minutes later, she drains the water and puts the potatoes in a colander. 

Rather than leaving them until they’re cool enough to handle, Garten covers the colander with a towel. “The steam gets in the potatoes and they end up perfectly cooked,” she said.  Once again, Garten doesn’t wait until the potatoes have completely cooled to move ahead with the recipe. “I actually love to put the dressing on the potato salad while the potatoes are still warm because it really absorbs better,” she said. 

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