Will Smashing Lettuce on the Counter Make Your Salad Better?

There’s nothing we haven’t learned from TikTok.

Sorry, I mean there’s nothing useful we haven’t learned from TikTok. Today’s Hack or Wack test is no exception.

A recent video from TikTok user @nutritionbabe suggests that instead of going through all the trouble of peeling off individual romaine leaves, you can just smash the entire head of lettuce on the counter, neatly removing the core and separating all the individual leaves

While it’s always nice to if one motion can be employed to replace several motions, is one violent thud really better, easier, safer or cleaner than just peeling off the leaves? We set out to determine if this “hack” would fix all of our salad-related problems.

The first thing we learned is to only test this with an actual romaine heart, which will be tight enough for the actual process of smashing. Any fancier (and therefore better) greens will probably not work with this method at all; their leaves are fluffy, tasty and nutritious, but not cut out for shattering on your counter.

So did this TikTok hack work? Did one forceful burst of energy provide us with a whole head of usable salad greens, leaving us ample time to assemble accoutrements and a vinaigrette? Check out the video below to find out.