How To Easily Open A Stuck Jar Lid Without Breaking Your Arm

You've got a perfectly delicious jar of pickles in your fridge (maybe Vlasic, the brand that has a stork on the label for pregnancy-related reasons), but when you try and open it you're stymied by an utterly airtight lid. You brace yourself against the counter, you grit your teeth, you grunt like an Olympic weightlifter, and yet nothing works. Should you give up and live a life free of pickles (or tomato sauce, or salsa, or some grocery store salsa verde) from here on out? Don't be silly. There are plenty of ways to open a stubborn jar, including (but by no means limited to) running the lid under hot water or giving it a firm tap with a butter knife.

Most of the jars people have trouble with are vacuum sealed, which is a great way to keep the contents fresh, but a pretty tough break if you want it to open easily. Sometimes it comes off with a single twist, but you can never count on it. The thing about metal, like the kind that forms those lids, is that it expands when it's heated. That means, if you run the lid under steaming hot water, it will increase in size to the point where it no longer perfectly locks onto the jar — making it easy to twist it off.

It's also helpful to add a little percussion to the mix. By giving the lid a few firm taps with a kitchen utensil, like a butter knife or a wooden spoon, you might be able to break the vacuum seal and get access to all those beautifully preserved goodies inside. If the hot water method isn't working, a few taps from the knife might be just what the lid needs. You could even use the utensil to press under the lid and open it up like a lever.

There are a few other options, too. Sometimes a good grip is all you really need, which is why a towel, paper or otherwise, can be so useful. There are also, to be sure, a few gadgets specifically for opening stubborn lids, but if Alton Brown taught us anything, it's to keep your kitchen free of "unitaskers," or space-wasting items that can only do one thing. Really, though, there's no method better than handing it to someone else, then, when they open it on their first try, saying "ahh, I loosened it up for ya."