Home Cooks Present Their Most Humorous Kitchen Flops

Part of being a home cook is the fun of experimenting with traditional recipes. When you go to a restaurant, you’re stuck eating the same combinations of flavors that are known to work – and who wants the same thing all day, every day? At home, you can mix things up and try something new whenever you want, and that’s exactly what this person did when they decided to add Curcuma to their rice noodle water. 

There are two kinds of people in this world; there are those that love cheesecake, and then there are people we refuse to acknowledge. Yes, cheesecake is a real labor of love – especially if you make it at home. You have to make sure you weigh the ingredients properly to maintain the right consistency, and you need to make sure that everything is chilled before you start slicing it up. If you don’t, this could happen.

Let’s be honest; cooking a chicken isn’t easy. That’s why so many people head to the grocery store and buy a rotisserie chicken instead! But this home cook obviously wanted to test themselves with this dish, and they decided to cook their chicken dinner from scratch. However, it seems as though they didn’t spend enough time reading the instructions on the baking bag. In fact, they didn’t buy a baking bag at all. It was a brining bag. 

We live in a world full of professional cookbooks, food bloggers, and Instagram chefs who all seem to make the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing food we’ve ever seen. And this is great for home cooks who need a little inspiration! But this photo just sums up our expectations vs our reality when it comes to these picture-perfect recipes. Some things just don’t work out the way they’re supposed to.

They say that cooking is feeling and baking is science. In this case, this person is definitely not a scientist! Although they had all of the kitchen utensils, the pots, the pans, and the excitement to bake a cake, it just didn’t work in their favor. We don’t know whether they didn’t put enough flour in the mixture or whether they opened the oven door when they shouldn’t have, but what we do know is that it’s as flat as a (pan)cake!

So many wannabe bakers in this world have all of the gear but no idea. Sure, they have cake tins, spatulas, and all of the kitchen utensils they could possibly need – but they don’t have the know-how to really pull a recipe off. And we have a feeling that this home cook falls into that category! They tried to make churros, but the last time we checked churros are deep fried, and not baked in the oven. 

In today’s day and age, avocados are all the rage. You can’t head to your favorite brunch spot without spotting at least three variations of avocado on toast on the menu, and chefs are turning to avocado to make things like cakes, mousses, hummus, and so much more! But have you ever seen anything quite like pickled avocado before? Well, there’s probably a reason for that, as it sounds (and looks) horrific. 

Some kitchen fails are just too bad for us to comprehend. And this is one of them! Have you ever realized that egg timers don’t go up to 30 minutes? If this home cook had realized that before putting their eggs in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, they wouldn’t have been left with these dry, hard eggs that tasted like plastic. But alas, they didn’t listen to their gut. 

You probably don’t need us to tell you that eggs are extremely versatile. You can boil them, poach them, fry them, and even scramble them. But while you can basically do anything you want with an egg, that doesn’t mean that you should! Especially if your plan is to cook an egg with Worcestershire sauce. We don’t know why anyone would want to do that, but this person did. And this was the result. 

Most people associate macarons with fancy afternoon teas and expensive patisseries, but did you know that they’re actually pretty easy for home cooks to make in their own kitchen? Of course, it’s important to follow a recipe to a T, and you must be prepared for a few mistakes. No batch will be 100% perfect… not even if you make them into cute pandas! Yes, this batch is utter pandamonium. 

Sushi is an acquired taste, but one that goes down extremely well when properly prepared. But there’s a reason why sushi chefs have to train for years to perfect their craft. Yes, it’s hard! And while we admire this person for trying it out for themselves and having a go, it’s fair to say that it didn’t exactly go to plan. This is less sushi and more spoon-shi, as a spoon is the only appropriate kitchen utensil to eat this with.

If you’re part of a PTA group, you also need to become a home cook. After all, you’re constantly asked to bake a cake for the cake sale, cookies for the after-school meetings, and take very culturally specific food for the around-the-world school event. And on this occasion, one mom decided to bake ghostly cupcakes for the Halloween party. But with just one googly eye and a strange tail, they don’t look very PG! 

It’s very easy to fail at cooking. You just need to leave something in the oven for too long, you just need to add too much of one ingredient and not enough of another, and you just need to use the wrong ingredients altogether. But have you ever heard of someone burning Pop-Tarts? Well, that’s when you know that you’ve not only failed at cooking, but you’ve also failed at life. 

Most people fall into one of two camps. Some people are fully on board the carrot cake trend, while others would prefer not to have vegetables in their cake. But anyone who has ever made carrot cake will know that the moisture content in carrots can cause problems when you’re baking it, and it seems as though this person had that exact problem. And according to them, it not only looked bad… it also tasted bad. 

While some cooking requires a huge number of pots and pans and kitchen utensils, there are some cooking hacks that make life much easier for wannabe chefs. Yes, say hello to the microwave mug cake! The idea behind this hack is that you put all of the ingredients for a cake into a mug and then cook it in the microwave for a little while. The end result should be delicious.

Don’t worry; no humans were harmed in the making of this epic kitchen fail. Instead, hot sauce was harmed! This person decided to fill an electronic mixer with a load of hot sauce, and while that probably sounded like a good idea to them at the time, they failed to realize that red splatters across walls are normally associated with a crime scene. We wonder what they were trying to make?

If you’ve ever tried to cook with a friend or relative who is arguably a much better cook than you, you’ll know that it can be pretty embarrassing. Your creations always look worse than the other person’s, even when you try your hardest. And despite the fact that this person decided to replicate their friend’s cake on the right, they just didn’t quite nail it. In fact, they failed it. 

Hands up if you’ve ever burnt a piece of bread? Most of us have been faced with burnt toast at least once, but this is way beyond burnt. We don’t think scraping off the burnt bits would help in this situation, as the whole thing is a burnt bit! And while we’re pretty impressed that someone has been able to burn a piece of toast so much, we do have questions.

Houston, we have another mug cake problem! It seems as though home cooks just can’t seem to get a mug cake right, no matter how hard they try. They fill up the ingredients, then turn on the microwave, and they’re greeted with a brown explosion rather than a delicious afternoon snack. This whole thing doesn’t exactly look good enough to eat, but we’re going to go ahead and assume that this person ate it anyway.

If you’re looking at this kitchen fail and wondering what you’re looking at, don’t worry. You could probably guess for hours and still not correctly guess what this is. So, are you ready for the big reveal? It’s Alfredo sauce! We don’t know how someone managed to get a sauce so wrong, but it looks as though they burnt the butter and flour mix and just decided to keep cooking it.

If you’re a home cook who relies heavily on the microwave, then you’re not alone. Microwaves are so handy and perfect for those who don’t have a lot of time on their hands. Most microwaves come with settings to defrost meat, cook popcorn, or even cook baked potatoes. But have you heard of this secret setting? Yes, this is the setting to cook a child. All you have to do is then enter the weight of the child.

Gen Z-ers will never understand the concept of burning a CD. The ’00s were full of wannabe DJs burning their favorite songs onto their epic summer mixes, but this was a metaphorical burning. However, it turns out that you can literally burn a CD if you really wanted to! And we can kind of understand why someone would want to, as this is what happens when you put a CD in the microwave.

Just because you can basically put anything in a microwave doesn’t mean that you should, but it seems as though some people haven’t gotten that memo. And when this home cook didn’t fancy making a proper breakfast on this occasion, they decided to grab a frozen uncooked croissant and “cook” it in the microwave! But it looks a little deflated if you ask us, and not cooked in the slightest. 

Let’s be honest; cream is a great addition to any home cook’s ingredient cupboard. Not only can cream be used to make delicious cakes and cheesecakes, but it can also be used to make savory sauces and so much more. But if you ever needed a reminder to keep your cream away from the microwave, then use this as that reminder! On this occasion, this home cook managed to solve their anti-gravity problem.

If you’re not a professional chef and prefer to call yourself a home cook, you might rely on a few household items to bring your epic dinners to life. You might have the best pots and pans on the market, you might have expensive utensils, and you might even utilize the practicality of a microwave. But it’s fair to say that this home cook was a little surprised when they looked at their microwave and saw it glitching.

If you’re the kind of person that loves to eat Spam, then we don’t blame you. It’s cheap, cheerful, and utterly delicious. But did you know that Spam made cake? Just kidding, but this failed mug cake certainly looks like it could pass off as a Spam cake. We don’t know what happened here, but it looks as though this microwave chef put way too much cake mixture into their mug.

If you’ve ever had Nutella before, you’ll know that it’s one of the most delicious sandwich spreads in the world. It’s chocolatey, it’s nutty, and it’s super spreadable. As it’s yummy already, we don’t think it needs to be tampered with – but it seems as though this woman wanted to mix things up a bit. She put a whole jar of Nutella in the microwave, and we think she must have forgotten about it. 

Although microwaves are pretty handy, they’re also pretty temperamental. You have to get the temperature, the setting, and the timings just right – otherwise, you end up with a kitchen fail just like this one. However, some people would say that this isn’t a failure at all! When this person tried to microwave an Oreo and burned it in the process, they left an imprint on the plate that wouldn’t wash off, no matter how hard they tried.

If you’re someone that loves pepperoni, you’ll probably agree that this isn’t a kitchen fail. In fact, this person is basically a professional chef! That’s because there’s nothing nicer than crispy pepperoni, especially if you’re someone that doesn’t love the carbs and the dough involved in the rest of a pizza. This way, you can eat the best bit without having to compromise on taste! It looks delicious, if you ask us.

We didn’t think we’d have to remind people about this, but children shouldn’t be left unsupervised around microwaves and other hot cooking appliances! But it seems as though the parents of this toddler didn’t quite get that memo, and this is the result. When the toddler realized what a microwave could do, they decided to put whatever they could find in it. Including an Xbox controller, batteries, and a shoe!

You don’t need to be a genius to know that when things are wet, heating them up can dry them off. That’s just a general rule of life. But another general rule of life is that you should never put electronic items into a microwave. However, it seems as though the owner of these AirPods got those two rules a little mixed up, which is why she decided to try and dry her AirPods by placing them in the microwave.

On this list, we’ve seen so many kitchen fails. From exploding mug cakes to plastic eggs, it seems as though home cooks keep doing things wrong. But if you want our opinion, this is the worst by far! We don’t know how, but this person’s microwave caught on fire and almost burnt the whole room down. Thankfully, the rest of the room was spared from the flames, but the smoke got everything.

The whole story behind this one is a little strange. Apparently, after 60 hours of power in the middle of winter, this person decided to celebrate getting their power back by microwaving some frozen honey! So, if you ever find yourself in the same situation, we’re here to let you know that this won’t work. Especially if you forget to open the lid before you actually put it in the microwave. 

If you’ve ever prepared an avocado before, you’ll know that it can be hard work. Not only do you need to remove it without taking too much of the flesh with it, but you also have to deal with the giant pit in the middle. Most home cooks simply try and stab the pit with a knife and pull it out, but this can be pretty dangerous. So, this person decided to try a different method.

Let’s be honest; we would have loved to have gotten on with our day without seeing this bizarre and downright scary image. But we’ve seen it now, and so have you! And there’s no going back! Of course, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was something you’d see in a toilet rather than in a microwave. But thankfully, it’s not what you think. This is a frozen chorizo, that someone tried to thaw in the microwave. 

Although you could technically put anything in a microwave, that doesn’t mean that you should. But this person definitely found themselves in a predicament when they bought the white mug in 2018. It quickly became their favorite mug, and it was 100% microwave-safe. So when they bought the black version of the mug in 2019, they just assumed again that it would be microwave-safe. You know what they say about assuming, though…

Any home cook will know that microwaves are unpredictable. Although anyone cooking dinner will know that a knife will cut, a pot will heat, and other kitchen utensils will do what they’re meant to do, microwaves are a little different. Sure, they might heat your food. But they also might flip your food over, cause it to explode, and fall out of its pot. That’s exactly what happened here, anyway. 

Some people just have bad luck in the kitchen. Although they can do everything right and follow recipes to a T while also adhering to microwave safety guidelines, sometimes things just don’t work out. And this person realized that for themselves when they tried to heat up their dinner and were left with a broken plate and a massively overflowing dinner. We don’t even know how this could have happened.

If you’re looking to install a new appliance in your kitchen, you might want to clear the area beforehand. If you don’t, something like this might happen! After all, this person decided to balance their brand new $450 microwave on top of the cooler when their cat jumped onto the counter and knocked the whole thing onto the floor. But when you play kitchen Jenga, you have to face the consequences!

The kitchen is the heart of the home, right? And if you’re a home cook who owns their own house, then you can do whatever you’d like to your kitchen. You can decorate it how you want, you can set up the counters how you want, and you can even get some spray paint involved if you’re that way inclined. One mom obviously wanted to do that, which is why she spray-painted a microwave and a fridge to match the table below.