If you bought yourself a new oven and have just been using it to heat leftover meals, you’re not maximizing its true potential. This post will teach you some tricks and techniques that many oven owners have mastered through years of oven use.
Note that this guide isn’t talking about the heavy-duty, all-around convection oven, but focuses on the underdogs and the possibly perfect microwave for your home– the microwave and toaster ovens.
How to Maximize Your Microwave Oven
Microwave ovens are popular for defrosting and reheating food magically quickly. But they can also be used in uncommon cooking prep and techniques such as:
- Make homemade herbs. Get some thyme or rosemary from your garden, place them between two paper towels, and microwave for about 3 minutes to dry them out.
- Melt ingredients. A microwave oven can melt chocolate bars, butter, hardened honey, marshmallow, and other ingredients VERY quickly.
- Make single-serve recipes. Craving for a cake or chocolate chip cookies, but don’t want to make a huge batch? A microwave oven lets you “bake” one or two pieces at a time. I have this wonderful microwave chocolate cake recipe for you to try! Cakes can also be mixed and cooked for under 15 minutes in a mug! How cool is that?
- Peel garlic quickly. If you’re not a fan of peeling garlic but LOVE garlic as part of any recipe, use your microwave oven to peel a bunch of garlic without the hassle.
- Cook grains. Quinoa, rice, oats, and other grains can also be cooked quickly in a microwave oven. Just place them in a microwave-safe bowl, add water, and wait for the grains to cook.
- Reheat bread properly. You might think that only convection and toaster ovens can reheat bread the right way, you’re wrong. Microwave oven is able to bring to life bread like baguettes and pizza crust to perfection. Just make sure to add a small cup of water while reheating.
- Do any egg dish you like. Turn into a pro chef by making simple to complex egg dishes, from the ordinary scrambled eggs to poached eggs,
- Baked goods in a flash. Save time in baking potatoes, beans, and other favorite veggies and dishes by using your microwave oven. You’d be surprised at how well they turn out that you’d never go back the traditional way.
- Make healthy chips from scratch. Just like drying up herbs, you can also make your own healthy chips from kale, spinach, and your other preferred veggies. Just add a bit of salt, pepper, some herbs and spices to make variations and kick your cravings for store-bought chips.
- Ripen bananas and make lemon more squeezable. If you need a banana for your banana bread or other recipes, but they’re not just ripe yet, poke the skin with a fork on a few parts, then place them in the microwave for a minute or two to ripen. This is also the case with lemons that are too hard to squeeze – microwaving them quickly lets you squeeze their juices more effortlessly than before.
How to Maximize Your Toaster Oven
Yes, the toaster oven offers the crispiness that microwave ovens cannot provide. But if you’re just toasting ingredients with your toaster oven, you may be missing a lot.
The following tips, tricks, and dishes make the toaster oven a go-to kitchen appliance for many people:
- Make unlimited pita dishes and quesadillas. Don’t be afraid to cook pita dishes in an oven toaster, if you’re afraid it would toast them completely. You can make unlimited gooey cheesy quesadillas and pita dishes with all sorts of filling of your choice, without crisping it completely. Just cook it for less time and don’t leave it until they’re done.
- Bake cookies like a pro. The key to baking perfect cookies is using the exact temperature. One way to accurately measure temperature is by using a thermometer for your toaster oven.
- Dehydrate fruit. Have a blueberry, cherry, peach or apple tree and want to preserve them? Use your toaster oven to dehydrate and store for year-long use.
- Broil fancy meals. You don’t need to warm up your big convection oven if you wish to broil meat with potatoes. Most toaster ovens have the “broil” function ready. Use it.
- Roast all types of nuts.The perfect combination for your dehydrated fruit? Roasted nuts, of course! And what’s great is that you could roast it on your toaster oven as well – just don’t combine it with dehydrating fruit since they’d require different temperature levels and cooking times.
- Cook ribs. You may not see this often, but the toaster oven can handle your go-to ribs recipes. If you have an instant pot, cook it there first, then let your toaster oven do the finishing touches.
I hope this comparison of uncommon cooking techniques used in both microwave and toaster ovens helps you decide which kitchen appliance is best for you.