You can do many more things with a microwave than just reheating your leftovers. There are many common desserts that you can make using a microwave: mug cakes, puddings, brownies, fudge, and even apple crisp.
If you’d prefer savory snacks, you could also make “baked” potatos and potato chips within a couple of minutes. Even bread and pizza can be baked with a microwave! You can find plenty of creative microwave recipes online — for starters, check out these desserts that you can easily make with a microwave.
Plus, baking with microwaves has plenty of advantages over using conventional ovens:
- Microwaves consume much less energy than ovens. Choosing to cook the same food with a microwave over an oven can save from 30% to as much as 80% energy, according to ENERGY STAR.
- This is because the heating process works differently for microwaves and ovens. When you turn on an oven, electricity heats up metal elements in the oven. With the help of a fan to evenly distribute heat, the temperature slowly increases over the entire chamber, and this in turn heats up the food. A microwave, by contrast, makes use of electromagnetic radiation to generate vibration in water particles inside the food. This means that energy is efficiently used to heat just the food itself, not on the entire chamber.
- Microwaves also cook food faster than conventional ovens do. A microwave typically cooks 25% faster than a convection oven. Also, there is no preheating needed since microwaves heat up the food directly.
- Microwaves are more affordable! Not only do they cost less at purchase, but they also save you energy costs during usage.
Here are some tips for microwave baking:
- Adjust the timing based on the features of your own microwave. Microwaves can differ in wattage — those with higher wattages bake faster. So it would be a good idea to initially set a shorter baking time than the recipe, in case your microwave has a higher wattage than expected.
- Change positions to avoid uneven heating. One shortcoming of microwaves is that heat might not be distributed as evenly as in an oven. You could solve this problem by rotating the pan or changing the positioning of your food halfway.
- Use microwave-safe containers. Especially, do not put any metalware in the microwave.
So maybe try making some easy and quick microwave brownies or potato chips next time! And feel free to share a picture to our instagram @midd_ecodorms to get featured in our posts!
Sources
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/food-cocktails/a6110/microwave-foods/
https://smartkitchenimprovement.com/convection-oven-vs-microwave/
https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/articles/how-to-use-your-microwave-to-bake-cakes/
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