11 Clever Ways You Haven't Been Using Your Milk Frother, But Should Be

Many people might be put off from buying a kitchen gadget that only serves one specific task. Well, it depends on how much you love the service it provides. I'll never give up my garlic press or my olive and cherry pitter even if I can't use them for anything else, and you might love the unctuous mouthfeel of frothed milk in your cappuccino or lattes so much that a milk frother is a no-brainer. With a milk frother, you can be your own barista at home and master a creamy cup of coffee in seconds. In truth, it shouldn't actually be in the category of single-purpose appliances. If you've found yourself with a milk frother, you'll be pleased to know that it's so much more than its name and does numerous things beyond frothing the milk for your latte.

A milk frother is actually a really useful little kitchen tool because it has a mechanism that can help you more effectively make other drinks and foods. It blends, aerates, and agitates, which can, for smaller batches, do the job of a blender, shaker, whisk, and egg beater all in one. The added benefit is that it's usually a small handheld tool that doesn't take up much counter space compared to other bulkier appliances. As a recipe developer and food business owner, I have been using my milk frother in all sorts of ways for years, and it's become one of my most valuable kitchen tools because of these tricks. Here are some clever ways you haven't been using your milk frother.

Salads don't have to be boring, and part of what can make a salad incredibly delicious is the dressing you drench it in. But rather than buying store-bought dressings, which can be full of unnecessary or unwanted ingredients, nothing beats a homemade vinaigrette. It may sound fancy, but a vinaigrette is, in essence, just an emulsion of oil, vinegar, and seasonings, and with a milk frother, the emulsion part couldn't be simpler. Instead of vigorously shaking your vinaigrette or having to manually whisk it up, which can take a while, your milk frother can help you mix up the vinaigrette ingredients with no trouble. Its whirring action will help everything to bind together and emulsify.

The trick is to add all your vinaigrette ingredients, except for the oil, into a tall container. Place your frother into the container, making sure it's fully submerged in the liquid. Start your frother and then slowly add your oil, bit by bit. The slow introduction of oil will ensure that all the oil emulsifies effectively. Your vinaigrette will be ready to serve immediately. No matter how well it's been emulsified, the oil will separate if left standing too long, so I recommended making your vinaigrette right before serving.

The best thing about using your milk frother to make vinaigrettes or salad dressings is that you'll want to make them more often and also experiment with different ingredients. As a vinaigrette is completely customizable, you can play around with flavors and add ingredients like mustard, garlic, ginger or use different vinegars to get an exciting or new result each time.

Your milk frother won't be able to make huge batches of whipped cream, but you don't always need big batches. In fact, for home cooking, it's more often than not that you might need a small batch of whipped cream to serve with some dessert after dinner, a slice of warm pie, or luxurious coffee or hot chocolate. Instead of having to make more than you need and perhaps waste some precious cream, you can make a single serving or just the amount of whipped cream you need. You don't have to whip out your electronic egg beater or invoke some elbow grease by doing it by hand; a milk frother will help you make whipped cream in a minute or two.

All you need is some heavy whipping cream and a bowl or container. Submerge your frother in the cream and start frothing. It works especially well with smaller pourings of cream, and if you want to make a larger amount, simply half or quarter it and do it in batches. It's so quick and easy with your milk frother that you won't mind having to make a batch or two.

Matcha has taken the world by storm, and it's become an essential beverage for many who love the taste and energy it gives without the caffeine spike and crash of coffee or other heavily caffeinated drinks. To first-time matcha makers, though, it can be intimidating to try to make it at home as it requires whisking (and a special whisk) to make it frothy and well-blended. That's why some people will prefer to order it from a professional. While these drinks can be tasty and convenient, the high cost can end up becoming prohibitive, especially if you like to have it regularly. This is where a milk frother can help. You can easily make perfectly whisked and blended matcha at home with a milk frother. Its fast action helps the powder dissolve in no time, and it creates a smooth, frothy matcha.

With a milk frother you can make all parts of a matcha latte with one tool, and you don't even need to rinse it. If you start by first frothing the matcha powder with some hot water, it becomes well combined and fluffy. Then move over to the milk with your frother and get to work. There will be a little matcha residue in it that will go into the milk, but that's not an issue as you'll be pouring your matcha over that milk anyway.

Speaking of blending matcha seamlessly, this same logic applies to other powders, too. If you've ever tried making a protein shake and been unable to get rid of the clumpy bits, then a milk frother will be a very handy tool to do just that. As fast and powerful as your blender might be, a handheld milk frother can help you reach the parts that a blender might miss. You can control where you position your frother, and this helps you froth exactly where you might see a clump of powder. The small head of the frother also easily fits into the hard-to-reach places near the edges and opens up hidden pockets of powders — no more clumpy shakes necessary.

This can be applied to all powders, whether you drink a daily powdered supplement or you want to sneak something like spirulina powder in a drink or some water. Perhaps you like to make warm drinks with spices like cinnamon and turmeric. Your milk frother can help you blend your turmeric powder for a better haldi doodh or golden milk, and the best part is you can use a milk frother on cold or warm liquids. Your milk frother will be just as effective if you want to make a velvety hot chocolate or well-blended cold chocolate milk.

Being able to make your own quick mayonnaise with a stick blender is a recent revelation for a lot of people. It usually tastes better than store-bought mayo, and watching everything emulsify and thicken is so satisfying. If you're making a small batch of mayo or even aioli, a milk frother can do this too, which is great news if you don't have a stick blender, or if you don't want to set it up. Aioli and mayo are almost the same thing, but aioli has a garlic base and doesn't typically contain vinegar like mayonnaise. It's usually a little denser, too. Both are oil-based sauces, however, and it's the oil part that makes a milk frother slightly different to a stick blender.

With a stick blender, you can just add everything in a container but start blending from the bottom to the top. With a milk frother, you have to leave out the oil at first and gradually drip it in while you froth. Once you get going, whether you're making a garlic aioli or a simple mayonnaise, this process will take less than a minute, in my experience. And it's just as fun watching everything turn into one creamy concoction.

A milk frother doesn't have to be relegated to non-alcoholic drinks only. It can be integral in making the perfect egg white foam for classic cocktails like a pisco sour, gin fizz, or whiskey sour. Usually, an egg white foam is made using the "dry shake" technique of shaking egg whites and other ingredients in a cocktail shaker with no ice before you incorporate it with ice. If you don't have cocktail-making experience, you might not know the tricks of the trade and a milk frother makes it more error-free. Instead, you can easily whip your egg white separately and serve it over your cocktails. While it may come to you intuitively as you aerate the egg whites, you'll find it works best when you tilt your milk frother at an angle.

If you don't eat eggs, or the idea of pouring raw egg into a cocktail is off-putting, there are several alternatives to using egg white foam. Your milk frother will work just as well with aquafaba or other cocktail foaming products. If you prefer to ditch the foam altogether, a milk frother is still a handy bartending tool, as you can use it to mix your drinks and aerate them for a more velvety mouthfeel. And just like with other emulsions, you can easily emulsify a milky cocktail like a piña colada.

Pancake batter can be an effort to whisk into a smooth, clump-free liquid. It's always worth it in the end when you're enjoying your syrup-topped breakfast on a Sunday morning. A milk frother can help you make light and fluffy pancakes in a cinch, so much so that you might be able to swig it on a weekday morning too. Especially for small batch pancakes, with a light batter, a milk frother can be the only tool you need to get everything well combined, and aerated.

If you want to attempt a Japanese-style pancake or just to make your pancakes even fluffier, your milk frother can come in handy. For soufflé-style pancakes, you aerate your whites separately with your milk frother and then fold them into the rest of your pancake batter. The nifty thing is how easy it is to clean your frother. You can easily rinse your frother in between frothing the batter and egg whites by placing it in warm, soapy water and turning it on for a few seconds. Give it another little rinse under some running water, and then shake it off to dry.

A few food trends are iconically linked to the period of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020. Everyone was making banana bread, attempting homemade sourdough, scallion pancakes, and whipping up dalgona coffee. This old technique for making hand whipped sweet coffee that looks like coffee meringue was given new life as it went viral on social media. When we couldn't go out for our favorite sweet coffee drinks, dalgona coffee became a way to recreate a fancy coffee drink at home. Quickly, people found shortcuts to the "hand-whipped" part and started using electric beaters or milk frothers. A milk frother works great for smaller quantities, and this can be ideal because, usually, you're not going to be making a large amount of dalgona coffee at home.

It couldn't be simpler to make. Add some instant coffee, sugar, and water to a mug or bowl. Plunge the milk frother into it and froth. Once it's all become aerated and pillowy, pour it over some hot or cold milk. Using this same technique, you can ditch the coffee completely and make all sorts of other beautiful and interesting dalgona-style drinks with various powders. Let your creativity take over and use ingredients like strawberry milk powder, matcha, Ovaltine malt powder, rose powder, beetroot powder, chocolate powder, or more.

Sometimes, a plate of well-made eggs is all you need to have the perfect breakfast or brunch. Eggs are a crowd-pleaser and are packed with protein, making them a great choice for people of all ages. We all have different preferences for how we like them cooked, but that's all part of the charm and versatility of eggs. There's debate about the perfect way to scramble eggs, as people disagree about scrambling them first or doing so in the pan. I prefer to scramble them first so you can focus on the perfect level of cooking while in the pan. For the softest and fluffiest scrambled eggs, I like to use my milk frother.

Instead of whisking away with a fork or even a whisk, a milk frother gets everything broken up, mixed, and aerated in under a minute. You can let it froth for longer if you like even more air incorporated into your eggs. Plus, it's not just scrambled eggs that you can even use a milk frother for. This technique can be used to blend your eggs into an incredibly smooth and uniform omelet. Be careful to leave out any additions like cheese, bacon, or mushrooms, as these can get stuck in your frother.

For coffee lovers, a milk frother is useful for various parts of the coffee. It can froth your milk, help you whip your coffee into a coffee foam like dalgona coffee, and can even be used to decorate your cup. A milk frother can give your iced coffee an elevated presentation, and once you learn this trick, you'll feel like an accomplished barista. This only works if you use a glass cup (so that you can see the decorations), but you can use a tall glass or shorter tumbler, too. Using sauces or syrups, you can make little rings in your cup before pouring in your coffee.

The choice of sauce or syrup is up to you, but chocolate and caramel are easy winners. Start by decanting some sauce into a small dipping bowl. Then dip your milk frother in the sauce while it's turned off. Strategically place it in your glass where you want to create your first ring near the bottom. Keep your hand very still and turn on the frother for a second or two. This should repel the sauce when creating your decorative ring. Move the frother up a little and repeat, creating the next ring, and so on, until you've made as many rings as you like. You may need to dip it in the sauce again to replenish it if you start to run out. The key is to move steadily and slowly. It can take some practice, but once you master it, you'll be making impressive drinks of all kinds in no time.

You've seen how a milk frother can be key to making a successful emulsion, so it should come as no surprise that it can be an incredibly useful trick for making bulletproof coffee. Whether you drink bulletproof coffee for diet reasons or you want to make your coffee less acidic, adding some oil or butter is a different way to enjoy a cup of Joe. You may find that it powers you up in a more sustainable way, keeping you feeling satisfied and energetic for longer, or perhaps you simply like the rich mouthfeel and taste it gives your coffee.

The one thing you don't want is a pool of oil on top of your coffee, and this is where your milk frother comes in. To use, add a spoon or more of butter, olive oil, MCT oil, coconut oil, or whatever you use to make your butter-proof coffee. Then, place your milk frother submerged in the liquid and turn it on. Froth until everything has combined into one uniform liquid and become milky. It will be ready to drink in seconds.