My family is big on Kenji’s channa masala . With staple ingredients like canned chickpeas and tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and a few basic spices, it doesn’t take long to put together, so it’s an easy way to get a flavorful dinner on the table, especially on a weeknight . And while it’s a super simple recipe, the dish is never good unless I make it—or so my family says—so I’m tasked with channa masala-ing at least once a month. The beauty of this monthly ritual is that I’ve zeroed in on one technique that really cuts down on cooking time: adding baking soda to speed up the process of browning onions. It’s such an impactful tip that I’ve started using it in other dishes, and it saves me about five to ten minutes, cutting the onion cooking time almost in half. Here’s how.

What Happens When You Add Baking Soda to Onions

The pH has a big impact on the Maillard reaction , a chemical process that encourages browning in foods when they are heated. The higher the pH, the faster the reaction occurs.…