Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for precook. Search instead for recook.

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

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future


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:

I used pearled farro for its milder flavor and quicker cook time, but you could use whole-grain farro if you’d like, you’d just need to precook it about halfway before using it here.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 22, 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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022

Aiming to rehabilitate Zibo’s image as an industrial backwater, Jiang promoted the city as a production center for precooked meals, aiming to “allow the ‘Zibo flavor’ to spread its fragrance around the world.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 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

Founded in 1949, family-owned BrucePac produces precooked proteins that it sells to other companies, which repackage or use the products as ingredients in other foods.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024

In the past few years, it has become trendy north of the Mexican border as a marketable flavor for snacks and pantry products like potato chips, chili crisp and precooked rice.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 15, 2024

Here in Bat Deng’s market, long homemade wooden tables display dried fish, slabs of pork, yellow naked chickens, green beans, white corn, red tomatoes, orange mangoes, ripe guava, papayas, and some precooked food.

From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung

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

For plump oats that hold their shape, try precooking them, says Steven Dominguez, chef and R&D associate principal scientist at PepsiCo and the Quaker Oats Co.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 31, 2022

But once I started precooking, I became a convert, for two reasons.

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

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training