Food September 21, 2021

Smart ketchup packet hack to dip fries with ease

Erica Kuiper
Erica Kuiper's technique to open ketchup packets went viral on TikTok.

Attention everyone, you are opening ketchup packets wrong.

TikTok user Erica Kuiper unlocked the hack to easier dipping on the go so you can forego squirting a ribbon of the red condiment over a sachet of hot, salty fries from the drive-thru and try this instead.

Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
Heinz ketchup packets.

The solution is actually quite simple and parent-approved for kids too.

Rather than tearing off the top corner of the ketchup packet diagonally to create an opening across the corner, turn the packet lengthwise and carefully tear straight along the longer side of the packet. Then, pushing the short sides towards the middle creates a larger pouch-like opening with more surface area to dip fries directly into the ketchup.

Kuiper told "Good Morning America" that the idea first came about with a friend when she was in high school and they "were trying to figure out how she could drive and dip, and that’s when we discovered the packet can open as a pouch."

It wasn't until Kuiper posted a video on TikTok for her more than 1 million followers that the demonstration of the trick really blew up.

"My husband Eric and I always opened the ketchup packets on the way home from McDonald’s so that our kiddo could have nice hot salty fries dipped in ketchup, and now she’s 22 and still opens ketchup that way," Kuiper said. "It always seems that the most simple things blow up on social media. I create all the amazing recipes, but the ketchup packet was the one that’s exploded."

Kuiper added she was happy to share the hack because "if it makes someone’s life easier, then that’s a win."

Plus, she said the simple, alternate way to open ketchup "has saved the interior of my vehicles and has allowed proper fry to ketchup ratio."