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precook

American  
[pree-kook] / priˈkʊk /

verb (used with object)

  • precooks,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • precooked,
    past participle,  past
  • precooking
    present participle
  1. to cook (food) partly or completely beforehand, so that it may be cooked or warmed and served quickly at a later time.


precook British  
/ priːˈkʊk /

verb

  1. to cook (food) beforehand

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

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Inflected Forms

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Conjugated Forms

Present

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Etymology

Origin of precook

First recorded in 1945–50; pre- + cook 1


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

If you choose to use steel-cut oats, Ellie says, you may want to precook or soak them so they don’t come out chewy.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 31, 2022

This recipe, from the America’s Test Kitchen book “The Savory Baker,” has you precook root vegetables, mushrooms and greens, bind them in a gravy and bake under that golden pastry dome.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 6, 2022

You can even precook and store baked sweet potatoes in the refrigerator the same way, or in a plastic bag if you don't have a container large enough to accommodate their rotund size.

From Salon ● Jul. 16, 2021

Until recently, says a White House official, "we used to be able to precook these summit agreements" among the "Sherpas" who prepare the agendas for the heads of governments.

From Time Magazine Archive

Jackie Gleason flies him down to Miami each weekend to precook his audiences.

From Time Magazine Archive

The process essentially precooks it and results in a super fine powder that easily dissolves in liquids.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022

There’s no screaming, or precooked, scorched-earth inveighing begging for TikTok aggregation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

Though EBT food assistance prohibits the purchase of precooked items like pizza slices, customers have workarounds: First, Dalia sold the woman a frozen pizza.

From Slate ● Dec. 4, 2024

Listeria’s ability to adapt and proliferate under varied conditions means “it’s an ongoing battle,” especially at large food-processing establishments like BrucePac, which churns out precooked, ready-to-eat meat and poultry products in huge quantities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024

They can also add volatile flavor compounds that might otherwise break down in a precooked product.

From Scientific American ● Feb. 28, 2023

Mom worked full-time—Dad had left years ago—so it was my job to turn on the oven and pop in one of the dishes she’d precooked and stuck in the freezer for the school week.

From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee

Even though you may wet it during some part of the precooking process — like dipping it in egg before dredging it in flour — it should be dry or only lightly oiled before cooking.

From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2025

Plus, precooking the tofu ensures even cooking throughout, leaving you with a delightful textural contrast — crispy on the outside, melt-in-your-mouth soft on the inside.

From Seattle Times ● May 14, 2024

Firmer vegetables, such as winter squash, or more potent ones, such as onions, will benefit from precooking.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2023

There were some tweaks that stuck, like precooking the Ginger Golds for my apple pie and substituting a mix of maple syrup and honey for the corn syrup in pecan pie.

From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2021

Microwaves have already been put to work precooking chicken before freezing, drying freshly painted surfaces and dehydrating lumber, paper and potato chips.

From Time Magazine Archive

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