Warming up a cup of coffee, making some quick oatmeal in the morning, heating up last night's leftovers. There are many uses for the microwave, but many of us might overlook this appliance most of the time. It's not even always included when you rent an apartment and you have to bring your own (or maybe the previous tenant left one behind and -- score -- you can use it from now on).
We might assume that there's not much that the microwave can do besides heating things up. After all, it's not like you can cook a meal, like breakfast, or even dessert, in it, right? Don't you have to use the oven or the stove for that?
Actually, there are so many different meals that you can make in the microwave. And these are totally perfect if you're a foodie who wants to eat well but doesn't have the time (or doesn't really want to put in the effort, let's be real here). Read on to find out all about 20 easy microwave recipes for the lazy foodie.
20 Gluten-Free Microwave Enchiladas
Enchiladas seem like a super involved meal: you have your tortilla, cheese, meat, maybe some veggies, and your red sauce. You have to make the components and after all that, you can't even eat yet because you have to make it all in the oven.
This recipe has come to the rescue. Buzzfeed mentions these Gluten-Free Enchiladas from Flippin' Delicious and we're already in love.
This recipe has all the ingredients that we enjoy in enchiladas but the technique and method of making them in the microwave. We've got cheese, cooked chicken, enchilada sauce, and corn tortillas. It's time to make these immediately.
19 M&M Microwave Cookie
Did you ever eat M&M cookies as a kid? They might have been a staple of your childhood, whether you bought huge ones at your local bakery or a coffee shop, or you bought a bag of store-bought ones on a regular basis (or, more accurately, your mom bought them... unless you were a pretty entrepreneurial kid who had their own money).
These M&M Microwave Cookies from BitznGiggles seem too good to be true. We can make these cool cookies and we can make them in the microwave. It's almost too much happiness to handle, but thankfully, we can actually try this. We can literally make a cookie in a few minutes.
18 Mac And Cheese
Mac and cheese is a classic kid food that we love as we move into adulthood. How can we not? Melted cheese (that alone would be enough), pasta, and anything else that we feel like adding, from tomatoes to bacon to spices. Yum.
Did we know that we can literally make mac and cheese in the microwave? This recipe from The Kitchn has water, milk, pasta, cheese, plus chili powder, meat, or vegetables if we feel like it. First, we cook the pasta in the microwave with salt and water, and then add the cheese, and so on. We can't wait to try this.
17 Chocolate Mug Cake
Chocolate is good. Chocolate cake is good. Chocolate mug cakes are something to be admired because they are easier than baking a massive cake and take less time. Plus there's the fact that mug cakes are made via the microwave, which is really enjoyable and fast.
Table For Two has an awesome Chocolate Mug Cake recipe that has sugar, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, baking powder, all-purpose flour, mini chocolate chips or hazelnut chocolate spread.
Who wants to make this for dessert tonight... or right now?! That would be all of us, and all of our hands are raised super high.
16 Savory Microwave Breakfast Mug
Whether we love our eggs scrambled, fried, over-easy, over-hard, or in a fancy frittata or omelette (with a side of bacon and toast, please), we can't argue with the fact that eggs seem like something that need to be made in a pan on the stove. Sure, we might have heard of people making scrambled eggs in the oven, which is a thing, but we might not have ventured away from the stove yet.
That will change right now because this recipe from Budget Bytes for a Savory Microwave Breakfast Mug sounds amazing. With pieces of stale bread, shredded cheese, an egg, butter, meat that is already cooked, vegetables, salt and pepper, and milk, we'll make an amazing breakfast... in the microwave. So cool.
15 Pumpkin Butter
We know that we love peanut butter and regular butter (and they both make toast even more delicious). But what about pumpkin butter?
Yes, pumpkin butter is a thing and since it's officially fall, it's definitely time that we learn about it because it sounds epic. Best of all, we can make it in the microwave. Our day just got made. This awesome recipe from Eating Bird Food includes spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger, and also has water, maple syrup, canned pumpkin, and coconut sugar. After just a few minutes in the microwave, we will have delicious pumpkin butter.
14 Microwave Carrot Cake Muffin
Carrot cake is beloved by many and muffins are something that we can all get behind. We would assume that we have to make both of them in the oven... and wait super impatiently for them to bake. While eating these baked goods is absolutely fun, the waiting part sucks.
Well, this recipe from Dessert With Benefits is here to show us that we can make a carrot cake muffin (what?! So amazing) and make it in the microwave. In just five minutes, we can make this dessert out of grated carrots, ground flaxseed, oat flour, unsweetened applesauce, and a few other ingredients. Now that we know that so many delicious desserts can be made in the microwave, we're going to try out all kinds of recipes, including this one.
13 Microwave Mug Pizza
We all have fond feelings about pizza. It's one of those foods that we could eat anytime, anywhere. We seriously wouldn't say no to eating it seven nights a week... although we might not want to whip it up from scratch that often. And delivery does get kind of pricey.
Enter this Microwave Mug Pizza recipe from Bigger Bolder Baking. Oh yes, our dreams have come true. We can make pizza in the microwave.
After putting cheese, pepperoni, tomato sauce, dried herbs, milk, flour, and a few other ingredients into a mug, we'll microwave our way to pizza happiness. We need to try this ASAP.
12 BBQ Chicken In The Microwave
Barbeque chicken is obviously delicious, but it might seem like it takes forever. Plus, you know, it has to be made on a barbeque.
Actually, it doesn't, and we have this recipe from Martha Stewart to thank. If we use this method, we can literally make it in the microwave, which is really cool. All we need is chicken (of course) and barbeque sauce, along with a few other ingredients (the recipe also includes a side of coleslaw), and we'll microwave it for around 15 minutes and have this perfect chicken. Dinner, anyone?! It's exciting to know that we can make this summertime cook-out staple at any time.
11 Microwave Cinnamon Role
We couldn't mention all these awesome microwave desserts without bringing up this delicious little treat. To the non-bakers who wish to create something yummy and sweet, Cooking Classy's got you covered with their microwave cinnamon role.
Take some flower, baking powder, vanilla, sugar, cream cheese, and of course cinnamon, mix it all with some love, put it in the microwave, and 3 minutes later, you got yourself a delicious dessert. It's always good to know you can impress a guest by quickly whipping up a cinnamon role in the microwave.
10 Microwave Egg Caprese Breakfast Cups
Eggs are the best. Caprese salad is the best. Foodie Crush has a recipe for Microwave Egg Caprese Breakfast Cups and they sound and look delicious (and isn't that such a great blog name? We're all foodies here so we can relate).
This recipe has a basil pesto sauce, ham, eggs, cherry tomatoes, and cheese, and, yeah, we're already drooling a lot. The ham is the cup that contains all of the other ingredients. In a matter of minutes, we'll have these ready, and we can make them for every breakfast this week if we want (which we probably will because, again, they seem so awesome).
9 Microwave Veggie Chips
Everyone loves chips. They're the ultimate party snack and great when we're craving something crunchy. We also love veggie chips since, come on, they're just as crunchy and delicious. We might think that they're super tough to make as well as time-consuming since we have to make them in the oven.
Well, that's not true. We can make veggie chips in the microwave. Yes. This is awesome new.
Thanks to Slender Kitchen, we have this perfect recipe: sweet potato and salt and pepper. After slicing the sweet potato so it's super skinny and microwaving it for a few minutes, we'll have chips. What could be more exciting than that?!
8 Blueberry Pancake In A Jar
Blueberry pancakes are almost too delicious. Okay, so we might be more in the chocolate chips always belong in pancakes camp and no one can tell us otherwise. Or perhaps we're equal pancake add-in opportunists and anything is cool with us. After all, pancakes have the word "cake" in them and that's good enough for us.
This recipe from Boy and the Rabbit means that we can make blueberry pancakes in the microwave, and that is just too awesome. To make Blueberry Pancake In A Jar, we microwave flour, sugar, baking powder, milk, melted margarine, and blueberries in a jar for one minute to one minute and a half. We're in.
7 Microwave Egg Sandwich
Sandwiches are one of the most fun things to make. They're also a perfect lunch option because otherwise, you're looking at a salad or some leftovers, and you might not be into salad... and you might not think ahead to have enough leftovers for lunch. So sandwiches are a lifesaver when it comes to what to eat in the middle of the day.
This recipe for a Microwave Egg Sandwich from Joanie Simon is so smart. We're seriously in awe. All we have to do is whisk eggs, salt and pepper, salsa, spinach, and peppers in a mug and microwave that for two minutes. Add the bread of our choice and there we go, we have an epic sandwich (and we made in the microwave).
6 Microwave Meal Prep Lasagna
Oh, lasagna. Does it conjure up memories of family dinners on Sunday nights? Are we immediately drooling because we're thinking of the combination of red sauce, ground beef, and cheese that is so amazing? It might seem like something that is too time-consuming to make.
We know that lasagna is a labor of love. Or is that a layer of love?
Well, that changes right now. We have found this recipe for Microwave Meal-Prep Lasagna from Buzzfeed and it is the best thing ever. All we have to do is layer the components in a dish and microwave that for seven minutes and we have this carb-heavy masterpiece.
5 Single Serve Microwave Baked Coconut Oatmeal
Oatmeal doesn't only have to be made on the stovetop. If we immediately picture our mom standing at the stove and wishing that oats could be cooked quickly and that's what we associate with oatmeal, we definitely need to know about this microwave version.
This Single-Serve Microwave Baked Coconut Oatmeal from Hello Veggie sounds like a perfect thing to eat in the morning. It's got rolled oats, coconut oil, cinnamon, honey, coconut milk/non-dairy milk, and an egg white. We'll microwave these ingredients together and top with coconut flakes. The idea is to get the "baked oatmeal" thing in the microwave instead of the oven, and we love that.
4 Single-Serve Microwave Shakshuka
Shakshuka is a wonderful breakfast, lunch, or dinner. If we've had this before, we know that the meal that features spices, tomato sauce, and eggs is incredible. It's easy to make but it can be even easier with this recipe from The Kitchn that uses the microwave.
We'll put everything into a bowl: one egg, cooked chickpeas, tomato sauce, salt, and red pepper flakes. Then we'll microwave for only a few minutes and, voila, we'll have shakshuka. If we love eggs in general but haven't tried shakshuka yet, this simple microwave recipe will make us big fans in no time.
3 Apple Cinnamon Crumble For One
We know that pumpkin is a big deal in the fall culinary universe but so are apples. And, hey, who doesn't love a crispy, crunchy, juicy apple? It's a perfect snack and if we love peanut butter, we know that is a classic snack that's always delicious.
This 5-Minute Microwave Apple Cinnamon Crumble For One from Averie Cooks is a thing of beauty. It not only looks gorgeous and sounds amazing but it's made in a microwave, and that is so cool. With nutmeg, cinnamon, rolled oats, brown sugar, butter, and flour, we'll have an apple crisp in no time.
2 Microwave Baked Potato
What? A baked potato made in the microwave?
Doesn't a baked potato mean that, well, it's baked in the oven?
Not so. While we might associate this creamy and amazing carb-heavy spud with being baked for at least 45 minutes in the oven (while we wish that it would hurry up already), we can also make this popular side dish in the microwave. Thanks to this recipe from The Kitchn, we know that we can add olive oil and salt and pepper and poke the potato with a fork. So cool. We can't wait to try this out and we're sure it'll be a staple of our weeknight dinners. Best of all, it only takes a few minutes.
1 Microwave Pumpkin Buckwheat Cake
By now we've figured out that dessert can definitely be made in the microwave and that is very happy news. If we make this 5-Minute Single-Serving Pumpkin Buckwheat Microwave Cake, well, we're also going to be very happy.
This recipe from Dessert With Benefits is epic. We'll microwave unsweetened vanilla soy milk, buckwheat flour, pumpkin puree, ground flaxseed, apple pie spice (or cinnamon), baking powder, and a natural sweetener, and we'll have this amazing dessert. If we're already pumpkin obsessed, then we're probably already making this and can't wait to dig in.
Sorry, microwave. We'll never underestimate your culinary powers ever again.
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