4 Easy Ways to Open a Jar With a Stuck Lid

Whether you're in the middle of cooking dinner or just want to make a PBJ, it's frustrating when you reach for a jar of mustard, preserved lemons, or grape jelly and find that you can't get the lid off. How can you open a stuck jar when no amount of twisting and turning will get it loose? You can buy a jar opener, but we're not fans of single-use kitchen gadgets. We turn to one of these four expert-approved ways to get the lid off that stubborn jar using items you already have at home.

Twist the Lid With Something Made From Silicone

One helpful way to loosen a tight or stuck lid on a jar is to grab something flexible made of silicone, such as a dish drying mat, oven mitt, trivet, or even a silicone cake pan. Make sure that it can drape over the entire jar lid. This is the go-to tactic of Ronna Welsh, cooking teacher and the founder of Purple Kale Kitchenworks cooking school. "The silicone's grip supercharges my hand strength," she says.

Run Under Hot Water and Use a Spoon

If you are still struggling to get the jar open, try this old-fashioned method:

1. Run the jar lid under hot water to make sure nothing sticky is gluing it on, then wipe it dry.
2. Slide the edge of a spoon under the edge of the lid, applying pressure against the jar until you hear a pop (that is the seal releasing).

Hit the Bottom of the Jar

Another old-time method is to break the seal by hitting the bottom of the jar. Greg Lofts, food stylist and our former deputy food editor, uses this technique and says it works best with jars of sauce, specifically marinara varieties.

1. Turn the jar upside down and place it on a dishtowel on the countertop.
2. Use your flattened palm to bang the bottom of the jar to break the seal.

You can also just hold the jar with one hand and hit the bottom with your other hand. "I find banging on the bottom of the jar with your flattened palm is often enough force to create that pop sound, making the lid easy to twist and release," Lofts says.

Use a Can Opener

Other everyday kitchen tools can be handy for opening a stuck jar. A manual can opener with a key (the hook near the handle under the round blades) is well suited to the task, according to Welsh: Use the key part of the can opener to gently pry up the lid in several places around the jar lid, she says.