11 Microwave Hacks That You Should Know
11 Ingenious Microwave Hacks
Microwaves are real all-rounders. In this blog post, we’ll show you why you should trust your microwave a lot more than warm up ready-made food.
You probably haven’t heard of these practical microwave hacks yet. Whether it’s freshening up crisps or bread or tear-free onion cutting, your microwave has a lot up its sleeve.
No More Soft Potato Chips
Who doesn’t know it: Once the bag of potato chips is open, the chips have to be eaten right away because the very next day, they’re already sticky and inedible.
Your microwave can help you with this problem. If you place the chips on a kitchen towel and warm them up for a few minutes, they will be crispy and fresh again and don’t have to be thrown away. The towel absorbs the moisture, and the chips are like new again.
Make Potato Chips Yourself
Even if you don’t like store-bought chips and prefer to eat homemade ones, your microwave can help because it’s is much less time-consuming than making chips in the oven. Besides, they are cheaper and healthier than ready-bought prepackaged chips, and you can decide for yourself how much spices, salt, and oil you add to your chips.
They are also cheaper and healthier than prepackaged chips, and you can determine how much seasoning, salt, and oil you add to your chips.
Making chips yourself with the microwave is super easy: just
potatoes with one Vegetable slicerCut into thin slices and tear them open on a skewer. Then drizzle a little oil on the potato slices if you like and heat at 750 watts for about 7 minutes. Depending on which microwave you use, the degree of browning of the chips can vary, which is why you should always keep an eye on the food.
Making your own chips with the microwave is easy: slice potatoes thinly with a vegetable slicer and thread them onto a skewer. Then drizzle some oil on the potato slices as desired and heat at 750 watts for about 7 minutes. Depending on which microwave you use, the browning level of the chips may vary, so always keep an eye on what you’re cooking.
Quick Cupcake
When that little cake craving hits you, you can make a quick mini-cupcake in the microwave. Mix the ingredients for one cake serving in a cup and microwave at 700 for one minute. The delicious cake snack for in between is ready! Some microwaves, such as this one from the Sharp company, even have a unique cake program that sends an alarm when the cake is made baking.
Steam Cooking With The Microwave Hacks
Cooking vegetables gently is one of the healthiest preparation methods, as a large part of the vitamins and minerals are preserved.
But you don’t necessarily need a steamer for this. You can also prepare vegetables quickly and gently in the microwave. Especially for the vitamin C and B content, this preparation method is enormous. These vitamins are susceptible to heat.
For cooking in the microwave, you should cut the vegetables as small as possible, reducing the cooking time even further. Put the vegetables together with one or two tablespoons of water in a microwave-safe bowl and cook the whole thing for 5-6 minutes at 600 watts.
Certain appliances, such as those offered by Bauknecht, come with steam cooking programs and special inserts that enable particularly gentle and simple food preparation.
Drying Herbs
Is your garden overflowing with herbs again, or have you overdone it with the three bunches of cilantro at the market? Instead of throwing away the herbs, you can preserve them by drying them in the microwave for a few minutes. To do this, pluck off the leaves, wash and dry them. Then, spacing the leaves a few feet apart, arrange them on the kitchen paper, and dry them in the microwave in 20-second intervals. Repeat with the remaining leaves.
Make Old Bread Edible Again
Stale bread will be fresh again in no time if you wrap it in damp kitchen towels and microwave for a few seconds. It’s best to check every 10 seconds to see if the bread is fresh and crisp again. Even rock-hard bread can be softened with the help of a damp cloth and a microwave.
However, you should not expect the same taste experience with ancient bread as fresh bread. Even frozen bread will become crisp and fresh in seconds if you defrost it in the microwave. Most microwaves also have special defrosting programs that use a low wattage for gentle defrosting.
Cut Onions Without Tears
Goodbye, tearful onion cutting: Cut off both ends of the onions and place them, including the peel, in the microwave for 30 seconds at full power. After that, you can cut the onion tear-free, guaranteed!
Pressing Lemons Optimally
Did you know that you can get up to 40 percent more juice from a lemon if you microwave it for ten to twenty seconds before squeezing? You can remove the lemon when the peel feels warm to the touch. The heat will soften and weaken the cells of the lemon, and the juice will come out more quickly.
Nuts Roast
Roasted nuts round off many dishes. Here, too, you can save time with a microwave. Place the nuts on baking paper and roast them at 600 watts for two to three minutes.
Make Tomato Pure And Peel Tomatoes
Your microwave can also be a great and speedy help when processing tomatoes. For example, it’s easier to remove the skin from tomatoes if you microwave them with the peel scored into them on full power for about 20 seconds.
You can also easily make tomato puree yourself in this way. Microwave the tomatoes in a small bowl for one minute. Then take them out, remove the skins, and press them down with a fork or puree them with a stand mixer.
Clean Microwave Hacks
And of course, if your microwave has gotten dirty from heavy use, there’s a hack that will have it shining again in no time! Place a bowl of water and lemon juice or a splash of vinegar in the microwave and heat for a few seconds.
Then briefly wipe out the interior with a paper towel or cloth – done! However, there are now also models on the market with a dirt-repellent interior, such as this microwave from Samsung, which has a dirt-repellent ceramic coating.