For a recent revamp of our guide to microwaves, I spent six months nuking boxes of bean and cheese burritos, interviewing microwave engineers, and reading dozens of microwave manuals cover to cover.
Along the way, I became a master microwaver. I can make anything, in any microwave, come out less dry, less soggy, and more evenly cooked—and without splatter to clean up afterwards.
I have to admit that most of what I learned came not so much from my hands-on testing, but from learning how microwaves work. Like many people, I had thought microwaves cook from the inside out, by heating up the water in foods. That’s not true. Microwaves—as in the non-ionizing form of electromagnetic radiation, not the machine—make molecules in water, fats, sugars, and carbohydrates vibrate, creating friction and heat. But they still heat from the outside in, just like most other forms of cooking. The heat mostly spreads to the center of food through conduction.
The second thing I learned is that despite engineering tricks designed to move microwaves around the interior of these machines (and a spinning carousel), all microwaves struggle to heat foods evenly. A component called a magnetron emits microwaves through a metal tube called a guide, which sends the waves bouncing around the oven’s metal cavity. (Metal reflects microwaves.) Some machines add a metal stirrer or additional bumps and contours to the inside of the walls to better distribute the waves. But despite those tweaks, foods aren’t enveloped in an even cascade of microwaves.
With all of this in mind, the following seven tips can help improve anything you cook in any microwave—especially the cheap ones we don’t recommend.
