16 Microwave Recipe Hacks You Should Know
Using a microwave for reheating leftovers is just the tip of the iceberg. It saves your valuable time and effort while also serving as a great oven substitute. The culinary wizards across the globe are exploring the unlimited potential of microwaves in inventing new recipes.
Did you know you can bake a brownie in a cup, make crunchy non-oily potato chips, crisp bacon, scrambled eggs, froth milk for preparing cheese bowls, and dry herbs with your microwave?
This article will unravel the amazing microwave tricks that will revolutionize your cooking and make you a better chef.
16 Amazing Microwave Recipe Hacks
Are you ready to boost your microwave skills to the next higher level? Then, get your microwave-safe bowls and plates for trying out these amazing microwave recipes and tricks.
Make Scrambled Eggs Within 3 Minutes
Don’t we all rush through morning hours and sometimes skip our breakfast to avoid being late to the office? With a microwave by your side, you can prepare a quick and delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs within 3 minutes.
To prepare scrambled eggs, beat two eggs with cheese and little milk in a microwave-safe bowl. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper. You may also add herbs as per your preference. Zap it in your microwave for about a minute and a half. Halfway through the cycle, stop and stir the eggs.
This way, you can quickly treat yourself to an easy plate of scrambled eggs.
Prepare Microwaved Brownies In a Mug
Have you ever thought of making brownies in a mug? Well, innovative recipes are among the striking features of microwave cooking.
To do so, mix all the dry ingredients, including flour, cocoa, sugar, cinnamon, and salt, in the mug. Now add the wet ingredients, including vanilla, oil, and water, to this mix and ensure no lumps are present.
Keep the mug in the microwave and turn it on high for about a minute and 40 seconds until it gets cooked thoroughly. These microwaved brownies work great when you are looking to prepare a quick dessert to satisfy your sugar craving.
Peeling a Head of Garlic Without Any Hassles
Peeling garlic is a messy and time-consuming task. It not only feels daunting, but the smell of garlic juice remains stuck to your fingers throughout the day.
With a microwave, peeling a head of garlic feels like a cakewalk. Instead, heat a head of garlic for about 20 seconds in your microwave. This makes the garlic soft and ensures hassle-free peeling. The cloves slide out of their skins effortlessly without any mess or smelly garlic juices.
Making No-Fry Potato Chips
Being on a weight-loss journey doesn’t mean you have to stop eating potato chips. With a microwave, you can prepare the crunchier and tasty no-fry potato chips. The microwaved potato chips are surprisingly crispy and retain the earthy and sweet potato flavour.
For that, you need to slice potatoes to the right thickness of 1/8th inches. Place these thinly-sliced potatoes in a microwave-safe plate in a single layer. Microwave these sliced potatoes for about 3 minutes in one cycle. After every round, reduce the power and flip the slices.
This provides a great way of enjoying homemade and no-fry chips.
Frothing Milk for a Foamy Latte
To froth the milk by using a microwave requires you to put some effort up-front. Fill a milk jar up to the halfway mark or less, and shake the jar vigorously with the lid on for 30 seconds. This froths the milk. Now remove the cover and microwave the frothed milk for half a minute.
This causes the foam to rise to the top of the jar and get stabilized. Now pour the milk into your mug while holding back the foam using a spoon. Now scoop the foam on top of your coffee for enjoying a barista-style latte.
Rise Bread Dough
Who doesn’t love smelling and consuming freshly baked bread? However, bread needs a warm place to rise optimally, and it becomes tricky to do so in colder climatic conditions.
To ensure that your bread dough rises well, microwave a bowl of water for 2 minutes and then keep your bread inside the microwave with this warm bowl of water. It makes your bread double in size within no time.
Extract More Juice From a Lemon
Won’t you love to extract more juice from your lime or lemon? Simply nuke them in your microwave for about 10-20 seconds till their skin gets warmer to touch.
This makes the lemon easier to squeeze and causes the membranes holding the juice to burst easily. Thus, nuking your lemons serves as an easier way to get more juice out of your lemons.
Reducing Onion Tears
How many times have you cried while cutting onions? Guess what? You can chop the onions without any tears by microwaving whole onions for 45 seconds. This heats up the onion before cutting and breaks down the chemicals responsible for tears.
Toast Nuts Quickly
What if you want to toast a few nuts for adding to your morning salad or dinner salad? Using an oven for toasting the nuts is a time-consuming process. Instead, simply microwave these nuts to toast them quickly.
Arrange a few nuts on a plate in a single layer. Keep the plate inside the microwave and zap the nuts for 4 to 8 minutes. Ensure to stop after one-minute intervals for mixing them. This results in toasted nuts with a flavour similar to over-roasted nuts.
Dry Herbs
Drying herbs in a microwave is way quicker than drying them in an oven. With a microwave, it only takes 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the herbs being dried.
Arrange washed, dried, and de-stemmed herbs in a layer on a paper towel or a paper plate. Microwave these herbs on a high in intervals of 30 seconds. Ensure to flip the leaves at the end of each cycle.
Prepare Homemade Caramel Sauce
Making a homemade caramel sauce entails careful watching a pot of bubbling sugar syrup on the stove. Any miscalculation on your side may result in overdone or burnt caramel. However, using a microwave makes it a tad easier to make caramel sauce at home.
Take the appropriate quantity of sugar, water, lemon juice, and corn syrup. Whisk these ingredients together in a microwave-safe measuring cup. Nuke these ingredients for 5 to 7 minutes on high in your microwave. This turns the mixture into light golden colour.
Take the microwaved mixture out, allow it to cool, and pour in the cream. Whisk in the butter and vanilla, and you have the delicious, sweet, and thick homemade caramel sauce ready.
Steam Veggies Without a Steamer
It’s very convenient to steam various types of veggies in your microwave. Thus, you can steam vegetables like broccoli, green beans, carrots, artichoke, asparagus, etc., within 5 to 10 minutes.
To do so, add some water in a microwave-safe bowl containing veggies, cover it with a microwave-safe plate, microwave it for 5-10 mins depending on the veggies, and you have perfectly steamed vegetables ready.
Cook Corn On the Cob
There is no better way to cook corn on the cob than by placing it in the microwave. It not only makes your corn sweet and tender but also ensures that the husk slides right off without any hassles.
Make Stale Bread New
Have you ever thought about converting stale bread into new? With a microwave, you can revive stale bread. To do so, use a damp paper towel for wrapping stale bread and keep it on a microwave-safe dish. Then, nuke it on high for 10 seconds to make it look new.
Alternatively, you can place a glass of water with the bread in the microwave for achieving enhanced softness.
Use Lemons for Steam Cleaning Your Microwave
As you keep trying various innovative microwave recipes, your microwave may likely get dirty. To clean your microwave quickly, you can use lemons.
To do so, place two lemon halves into a microwave-safe bowl of water and nuke it for 5 minutes in your microwave. Take out the bowl carefully as it would be hot. Then, wipe down the inside walls of your microwave to enjoy the effortless and chemical-free cleaning of the microwave.
Decrystallizes Honey
If your honey is solidified, you can get it back to liquid form using a microwave. To do so, uncover the jar and heat it for 30-60 seconds on medium power in a microwave.
This quick zap in the microwave recrystallize your honey, and it gets ready to drizzle over cornbread or into your herbal tea.
