'40 was way too many garlic cloves': Ridiculous recipe substitutions that led to cooking disasters

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Sep 3, 2026 2:30 PM EDT

How hard can it be to follow a recipe?

All it takes is some basic reading comprehension and the ability to follow basic instructions. It's not like you even have to read the overly long personal anecdote at the top of the recipe blog, or even do that much critical thinking. All that a simple, well-written recipe needs is for the cook to pay attention long enough to get the critical parts right.

Sure, everybody who has ever cooked something has made their mistakes when trying to whip up a meal. It is only natural to get distracted, skip a crucial ingredient or step, and be left wondering why you ever trusted yourself to make this particular food at all. 

However, perspective is everything when it comes to the ups and downs of learning to make a meal. If you ever want to get better, you have to be humble and own the mistake. It happens to everyone! While it can be frustrating, it isn't worth being angry about it for too long, and if it is a problem with the recipe, you can move on to a new one.

We might think that this is basic common sense, but you wouldn't always think that to read the comment sections of recipes online. There always seems to be one outlier who insists that they did nothing wrong and somehow, they made something disgustingly inedible. It might be something to do with the weird substitution they decided on, but who is to know? If only they made it obvious to us.

 

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cooking fail recipes funny comments stupid people
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