Cook in a Microwave Oven

Microwave ovens have become one of the core essentials of the modern kitchen. They're available practically everywhere, last for years, and can cook just about anything, including many specialized dishes created specifically for them by food companies, such as TV dinners. To get the most out of your microwave and move beyond dumping half a can of Chef Boyardee into an old plastic bowl to nuke yourself a quick lunch, read the article below.

Steps

The Basics

  1. Familiarize yourself with the basic buttons. Most microwaves come with a variety of face buttons you can press to program different cooking times and power levels. At the most basic level, there will be a numeric keypad (or a dial, on very old models) for programming cook times, plus a Start button and a Stop/Clear button. By entering a time and pushing Start, you can cause the microwave to cook whatever's inside of it for the specified number of minutes and/or seconds.
    • On some microwaves, you'll need to push the Stop/Clear button before you can enter an amount of time with the keypad. The Stop/Clear button, of course, can also be pushed to cancel cooking before the time is up. Opening the door of the microwave will also stop it.
    • Many newer microwaves have a fast cooking feature, which just means that you can pump the Start button to add time in 30 second increments. Once you stop adding time this way, the microwave will start automatically in about a second.
  2. Learn about cooking power and special settings. Nearly every microwave on the market is set to cook food at full power, also called “high power,” by default. However, there are times when it's prudent to be able to lower the intensity of the oven – for example, when softening butter for a baking recipe. Fortunately, microwaves also come with a wide variety of power settings and pre-programmed routines for commonly microwaved foods.
    • The most commonly used lower-power setting is Defrost, which tells the microwave to gently and steadily warm a frozen item to soften it up for cooking. Generally speaking, a microwave's Defrost setting cooks at 30% power. Depending on the power of your microwave and the size of the item you're defrosting, the process can take anywhere from five minutes to half an hour.
      • Many microwaves will chime at regular intervals during the defrost cycle, to remind you to check your food regularly and avoid actually cooking it.
    • To make custom adjustments to your microwave's power level, there's usually a Power button you can push. Some microwaves allow you to push the button multiple times to cycle through power levels in 10% increments; others require you to enter a number on the keypad (for example, 5 for 50%). Once power is set, time can be entered as normal.
    • Depending on the quality and power of your microwave, pre-programmed settings like the popular Popcorn button may or may not be useful. You can either experiment with them yourself, or skip them entirely and just manually enter cooking power and time to ensure that the appliance works the way you want it to.
  3. Don't use your microwave for everything. Microwaves are useful, time-saving devices that make cooking significantly easier in many ways. That being said, there are some tasks to which a microwave is much better suited than others.
    • Don't cook meat in a microwave. This isn't an absolute no-no unless you have a very weak microwave, but the way a microwave cooks (by bombarding your food with hot microwave energy) makes it difficult to get tasty meat out of one. The outside edges cook first, and then the interior parts cook much more slowly after that, leaving the finished dish dry and tough on the edges and soggy in the middle.
      • Contrary to popular belief, microwaves don't cook food from the inside out.
      • Microwaves also preclude any searing or browning to lock in flavors or brown the meat, so microwaved meat tends to be bland and pale-looking.
    • Reheat most already-cooked foods in the microwave. This is perhaps the most popular use for a microwave oven, because it's quick and painless. That being said, there are times when a toaster oven or conventional oven is a better reheating choice, particularly when dealing with wet solid foods like stuffing, or any kind of leavened bread.
    • Cook frozen vegetables. The extra water in frozen vegetables makes them an easy match for microwave cooking – they'll come out moist and tender. Fresh vegetables, however, are better cooked by steaming, sauteing, or stir-frying.

Combination Cooking

  1. Use your microwave to soften items for baking in an oven. Next to planning a day ahead and carefully allowing your ingredients to pre-soften, microwaving is far and away the best way to prepare things like butter and frozen ingredients for baking. It greatly reduces the risk of any problems with bacteria that might be caused by slower defrost times, and with a little practice, can produce perfectly-softened ingredients for any recipe.
    • Always start with minimal power and just a few seconds of time. If you soften your ingredients too much, they can melt, or lose stiffness that might be important to the finished texture of your baked goods. Err on the side of caution until you have a good sense of how harshly and how quickly your microwave performs the task of softening.
    • Turn your items regularly. Even softening requires constant rearrangement of your ingredients, even if your microwave has a rotating carousel platter inside. Flip your ingredients regularly and test them each time so that you can stop at the perfect consistency. Remember, the outside edges will always soften a bit faster than the center, even on low power.
  2. Cook side dishes in your microwave. A main dish of chicken or fish can be baked, fried, or prepared in any of a number of other ways, but as previously noted, cooking it with a microwave will lead to bland, unsatisfying results at best. Instead, find a side dish you can quickly prepare in the microwave to save time and space.
    • Steam vegetables. Although it's not quite as tasty as steaming them in a basket, fresh vegetables can be steamed in the microwave if you're pressed for time. Fill a microwave safe dish with your vegetables, add a thin layer of water on the bottom, put the lid on, and zap it a few minutes at a time. Check and turn the vegetables each time until they're properly cooked.
    • Make bacon and eggs. Again, these results aren't nearly as tasty as pan-fried bacon and hand-scrambled eggs, but if you're cooking pancakes for breakfast and you just don't have enough extra space to prepare hot bacon and eggs alongside, both items can be cooked in the microwave.
      • Scrambled eggs should be prepared in a quart-sized container, such as a 4-cup glass measuring cup. Whisk the eggs with a small amount of milk and heat in the microwave, stirring every couple of minutes.
      • Microwaving has been a common way to cook bacon quickly for many years. Microwaved bacon is remarkably bland compared to pan-fried bacon, but it's quite easy to prepare. Lay the strips down on a plate with a paper towel on it, then cover the bacon with another paper towel. Heat for a few minutes, turn, and repeat until the bacon is cooked.

Microwave Recipes

  1. Prepare a quick ravioli casserole. Unlike most microwave recipes that call for meat, you can actually cook the meat for this recipe in the microwave. Since it blends with other ingredients, there's not as much of a loss of flavor as usual.
    • Start by collecting your ingredients:
      • 1 lb. lean ground beef
      • ¼ cup chopped yellow or white onion (about 1 small onion)
      • 2 15 oz. cans of ravioli with sauce
      • 1 cup shredded cheese (mozzarella or cheddar), about 4 oz.
    • In a 2-quart casserole dish that will fit in your microwave, crumble the ground beef and then mix in the onion. Cover the dish and microwave it for 3 minutes, stir it, then cover and cook for 2-3 more minutes until the beef isn't pink anymore. Drain excess liquid.
    • Stir in the cans of ravioli, cover the dish tightly, and microwave for another 3 minutes. Stir, then re-cover and cook for 2-4 more minutes.
    • Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the casserole, then cover once more and wait for the cheese to melt before serving. Makes 6 servings.
  2. Microwave an easy jambalaya dish with chicken and sausage. You'll need to precook and chop the chicken for this recipe beforehand. Precooked sausage is easily found at any grocery store.
    • Gather your ingredients:
      • 1 cup frozen mixed bell peppers and onions, from a stir fry bag
      • ½ cup chunky salsa
      • 1 can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, undrained (14.5 oz.)
      • ¾ cup instant white rice, uncooked
      • ¼ lb cooked sausage, sliced into ½-inch segments (kielbasa recommended)
      • 1 cup precooked chicken, chopped
    • Mix bell peppers and onions, salsa, and stewed tomatoes together in a 1 quart casserole dish. Cover and cook to boiling, about 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
    • Stir in instant rice. Cover and cook for 1 minute, stir, then re-cover and cook for 1 minute again.
    • Stir in sausage and chicken. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes until meats are thoroughly heated. Makes 3 servings.
  3. Whip up some healthy black bean and chicken burritos. This recipe calls for enough food to make 8 servings – ideal for entertaining guests or ensuring leftovers for the next night. It's tasty, but low in fat and cholesterol.
    • Gather your ingredients:
      • 1 box instant brown rice
      • 1/8 teaspoon salt
      • 2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
      • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (15 oz.)
      • 1 cup salsa
      • 2 teaspoons chili powder
      • ¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro, or 1 tablespoon dried
      • 1 tablespoon lime juice
      • 8 8-inch wheat tortillas
      • 1 cup grated reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese (about 4 oz.)
    • Prepare instant brown rice as directed on box, except use only 1/8 teaspoon of salt, and omit butter if the box calls for it.
    • While rice is cooking, mix chicken, black beans, salsa, and chili powder in a medium microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes or until hot, stirring halfway through.
    • Pour cooked rice into a large bowl, stir in cilantro and lime juice. Mix until blended.
    • Heat tortillas, then fill as follows: roughly ½ cup of chicken and salsa mixture, ¼ cup of rice mixture, and 2 tablespoons of grated cheese. Fold tortillas over into burritos and serve.

Warnings

  • Do not attempt to microwave food in a metal bowl, as this can be a fire hazard.

Food related illness

  • Unhealthiness or worse caused by eating microwave cooking, as reported by researchers:[1]
    • Dysfunctions in the lymphatic and digestive systems of those who ate microwaved foods,
    • The formation of free radicals,
    • Decreased nutritional value in many nutrients,
    • Destabilized proteins.
  • Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that food cooked using microwave ovens is more likely to cause cancer than food cooked using other methods. [2][3] However, heating foods can create carcinogens, with or without a microwave.

Microwave sickness

  • Exposure to microwave rays in workplace and such, include (early problem):[4]
    • "Low blood pressure and slow pulse."
  • Then the "later and most common manifestations are chronic excitation of the sympathetic nervous system (stress syndrome) and high blood pressure." The later phase also often includes:
    • "Headache, dizziness, eye pain, sleeplessness, irritability, anxiety, stomach pain, nervous tension, inability to concentrate, hair loss, plus an increased incidence of appendicitis, cataracts, reproductive problems, and cancer".
  • Crisis in the long-term: "chronic symptoms are eventually succeeded by adrenal exhaustion and ischemic heart disease (the blockage of coronary arteries and heart attacks)."

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Sources and Citations

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