Cooking dinner midweek may feel like a chore, so sometimes life calls for dishes that can be thrown into a pan and left to its own devices. Quick teas like stir fries can be rustled up in no time at all, especially if you're using shop-bought packets of sauce.

A common mishap that may occur when cooking stir fries, and even the likes of stews and pies, is that the sauce is too watery. This can happen because not enough liquid has evaporated or there's too many wet ingredients in the dish. To tackle this problem, chef and TikTok creator Andy Hearnden revealed the one ingredient that every home cook should be using to fix it.

Andy said: "If your stir fries end up looking like this, all watery, this is how you fix it."

All you need is a kitchen cupboard staple: cornflour. Also known as cornstarch, cornflour is the best way to thicken up any type of sauce.

You don't want to put the cornflour directly into the stir fry, instead, you want to make a slurry. Add one tablespoon of cornflour to a bowl with a tablespoon of water.

Mix the two until you have a milky slurry. Then, pour the slurry into the stir fry while it's still on the heat.

Cook out the slurry for a couple of minutes, giving the stir fry a mix with a wooden spoon.

Cornflour can help thicken up saucy or runny dishes through a process called starch gelatinisation, where starch granules absorb moisture and swell when heated. By mixing it with water to create a slurry before adding it to hot liquid, the starch granules expand, break down, and form a network that traps water, creating a glossy, thickened texture.

The experts at Good Food recommended the cornflour method for thickening all types of stews, casseroles and pies. It's a simpler tactic, as trying to boil off the excess liquid could take a while.

If you do choose to boil for looking, you could impact the flavour of the dish and potentially overcook any meat or vegetables in the liquid. They also praised cornflour for its versatility, as it can be used for dishes that are gluten free.

However, you have to be mindful when adding cornflour, as too much could render a dish too gloopy.

Andy continued: "Look at that, the sauce is stuck to everything and it's lovely and glossy."