Dear microwave, let’s just be friends

I love some of the tools in my kitchen but I do not love my microwave.

I hide it in the cabinet under my junk drawer. That sounds mean, but my microwave doesn't care. Its heart is a thing called a magnetron. It's here to send short electromagnetic waves through food to make the water molecules in it move around so fast they heat up. I do not love it but I use it every day. It is important.

There are plenty of things I know never to put in a microwave*. The waves are a good way to wreck crispiness, make bread perplexingly tough, and disrespect chicken. Yet, we all know that a quick spin is the perfect way to melt, toast, dry, heat and poach. Heating leftovers right in their containers, popping popcorn, and nuking a mug of hot cocoa are popular for a reason. Here are a few surprising things I microwave all the time:

Chocolate: Microwaving in 30-second increments is the only way to melt chocolate. A tablespoon of coconut oil in a quarter cup of chocolate = DIY chocolate shell.

Sweet potato: A whole sweet potato cooks in 6 minutes while the rest of the dinner comes together somewhere else. (It works with other potatoes, too.)

Corn on the cob: Have you tried this? Next time you have an ear of corn, put it in there, whole, for 3 minutes. Then, cut about an inch from the stem end and grasp the silk with a towel and shake the perfectly naked cooked cob right out of the husk onto your plate.

A cake: Making a cake in a mug caused both happiness and sadness on TikTok. Mug pie can't be far behind.

Emergency bacon: Sometimes bacon is urgent. Tuck it between too many paper towels and cook until crispy but not charred.

Toasting peanuts or pumpkin seeds: The moisture in the nuts heats up, the oil toasts and the flavor comes out! This actually seems magical and works with other nuts.

"Poaching" salmon: This is one of my favorite ways to cook it because the result is tender, silky and mild, as if it were poached. Don't use a public microwave or someone will get mad at you. Sorry, Michelle.

Scrambled eggs: Mix 2 eggs, half and half and salt and pepper in a mug for 1 minute. Stir it then microwave it for 30 more seconds. Stir again and rest it for a minute. Sometimes, add cheese and spinach.

Each microwave is different. The better you get to know yours, the more delicious your recipes will be. What do you like to microwave? Please tell me about it because I would like to try it out.

- Heather Ramsdell
Editorial Director, The Spruce Eats

*Once, I forgot that I could look things up on the internet to see if they were safe. Microwaving eggs in their shells is not safe. They explode. Sometimes they explode in the microwave and create a stinky disaster. But sometimes they wait until you have them on a plate, and then they explode and burn your cheek, eyebrow and ceiling with sulfurous lava. Do not ever do this!