The Best Bagel Toasting Hack Only Requires A Coffee Warmer

A popular proverb, often credited to Plato, says that "necessity is the mother of invention," (per Grammarist), and indeed, innovation in the face of need is a driving factor for many foodies. When we needed to keep food cold we graduated from root cellars and ice boxes to the refrigerator, and wood stoves were replaced with electric and gas ranges. As our kitchen technology advanced and our cooking population boomed, it called for different, more specific solutions. We now have microwaves with conscientious volume control and flexible food savers that reduce single-use plastic waste (per Interesting Engineering).

Another modern kitchen convenience is the drip coffee maker. The coffee maker was invented to brew a perfect pitcher of coffee at the touch of a button — replacing methods that could be time-consuming, unreliable, and inconsistent. History Cooperative explains that in early commercial coffeehouses, water and grounds were heated in pots, which led to a need for filtration techniques that evolved from socks to cloth and eventually disposable filters made for this purpose centuries after. But did you know that a coffee maker can be used to satisfy one of your basic cooking needs, too?

While sharing the slickest kitchen tricks, J. Kenji López-Alt wrote for Serious Eats that "The hot plate under the coffee pot gets hot enough to heat and crisp up a half a bagel." It sounds like a potential disaster, but the coffee maker's warmer (or burner) keeps the coffee carafe hot by maintaining a consistent temperature. These conditions are suitable for toasting bagels, but only if they're store-bought, going stale, or destined for sandwiches, (per Insider). 

NPR successfully toasted a slice of white bread on a coffee burner in its "artisanal toast" experiments. The outlet notes that you should incorporate a slight weight to sit the bread on the burner, as long as it's not so heavy that it smushes the bread, but expect the top of your toast to be a little concave. Furthermore, the process takes about 20 minutes, so only attempt this if you have the bread (and time) to spare. Lastly, NPR warns that the bread may stick to the burner, so be ready for some cleaning afterward. The Stanford Daily suggests using aluminum foil on the burner, which can catch potential messes.

Should you try cooking with your coffee maker? It might be your only choice if you're in a hotel or dorm room. But even if it's non-essential, cooking in your coffee maker is an undeniable adventure that seems tailor-made for TikTok (via Fox News).

In addition to toasting a bagel, Popular Science explains that you can also fry eggs on the burner using a small pan. The Stanford Daily uses the coffee warmer trick for toasting hot dog buns and boils a batch of franks in the carafe. NPR suggests using a coffee burner to make grilled cheese and heating up cinnamon buns. The outlet even coaxed a decent salmon, broccoli, and couscous dinner out of the appliance. 

NPR mentions that a coffee maker's output is around a thousand watts, while a typical stove is around 1,500 watts, making the coffee maker a little more energy-friendly, too. Regardless of what you attempt to cook with a coffee maker, Popular Science notes to give it a good cleaning when you're done. You don't want food residues in and on the apparatus. And while you can certainly buy a "toast-coffee combo" (per CNET) that performs both functions, it's not going to be as fun.