Most people never learn how to use the power setting to more evenly heat food when needed. Or to add some moisture to keep things from drying out.
If I have leftover Mexican food it generally goes in the microwave with wet paper towel to steam it back to temp. Wet paper towel while reheating rice gets it back to nearly the same texture! Soups reheat well in the microwave, although generally knocking the power level down slightly has far better results.
Fried food generally reheat better in an air fryer.
I don’t find the microwave to be the best option when cooking for the first time, but for a lot of foods it can be the best option to reheat leftovers depending on texture and moisture content.
The power level is the ratio of time it us sending power, so a power setting of 90 will send waves 90% of the time.at full power. 50 will send it 50% of the time at full power. If the power settings are 1 through 9 then they are really 10% - 90%. By stopping the waves for a bit of time it allows the heat to even out within the food, like stopping and starting it over and over so you don’t end up with a mix of hot and cold bits. That is also why defrost uses a lower power setting.
Like all cooking it will vary depending on wattage and what you are cooking. These are for my current microwave, and they are generally within 10% of my previous one.
The easiest example I can think of is melting shredded cheese on chips. At full power it will overcook some parts of the cheese whoch become hard without everything melting in about 30 seconds. If I instead run it at 80% for 40 seconds it melts evenly.
Since the microwaves excite/heat up different chemicals at different rates, anything with a mix of things that heat differently is best done at 70 or 80. Like soup with vegetables and meats. Or a plate with different sides like potatoes and beans, longer at lower power will heat it more evenly.
If I go down to 50 on this one it takes forever to cook, as it is not proportional to the total cook time. It isn’t 50 power for twice as long, more like 60 power for five times as long. So I rarely go under 70 power.
If the thing needs moisture I wet a paper towel and put it over, then do it at high for a little longer than I think as the water absorbed the microwaves and steams the food. This is great for reheating rice and enchiladas as long as the dish is tall enough that the paper towel doesn’t stick to the food.
All that said, if you want to reheating something crispy like fries or fish sticks do it in an air fryer or the oven or maybe the stove. Microwaves do not make anything crispy again, that requires hot air or a pan.
You can evenly heat pizza in the microwave with power level 80 or 90 if you don’t care about the crust being soft, but if you want that crispy the stove or air fryer is the way to go!
Most people never learn how to use the power setting to more evenly heat food when needed. Or to add some moisture to keep things from drying out.
If I have leftover Mexican food it generally goes in the microwave with wet paper towel to steam it back to temp. Wet paper towel while reheating rice gets it back to nearly the same texture! Soups reheat well in the microwave, although generally knocking the power level down slightly has far better results.
Fried food generally reheat better in an air fryer.
I don’t find the microwave to be the best option when cooking for the first time, but for a lot of foods it can be the best option to reheat leftovers depending on texture and moisture content.
Teach me? I need this skill.
The power level is the ratio of time it us sending power, so a power setting of 90 will send waves 90% of the time.at full power. 50 will send it 50% of the time at full power. If the power settings are 1 through 9 then they are really 10% - 90%. By stopping the waves for a bit of time it allows the heat to even out within the food, like stopping and starting it over and over so you don’t end up with a mix of hot and cold bits. That is also why defrost uses a lower power setting.
Like all cooking it will vary depending on wattage and what you are cooking. These are for my current microwave, and they are generally within 10% of my previous one.
The easiest example I can think of is melting shredded cheese on chips. At full power it will overcook some parts of the cheese whoch become hard without everything melting in about 30 seconds. If I instead run it at 80% for 40 seconds it melts evenly.
Since the microwaves excite/heat up different chemicals at different rates, anything with a mix of things that heat differently is best done at 70 or 80. Like soup with vegetables and meats. Or a plate with different sides like potatoes and beans, longer at lower power will heat it more evenly.
If I go down to 50 on this one it takes forever to cook, as it is not proportional to the total cook time. It isn’t 50 power for twice as long, more like 60 power for five times as long. So I rarely go under 70 power.
If the thing needs moisture I wet a paper towel and put it over, then do it at high for a little longer than I think as the water absorbed the microwaves and steams the food. This is great for reheating rice and enchiladas as long as the dish is tall enough that the paper towel doesn’t stick to the food.
All that said, if you want to reheating something crispy like fries or fish sticks do it in an air fryer or the oven or maybe the stove. Microwaves do not make anything crispy again, that requires hot air or a pan.
You can evenly heat pizza in the microwave with power level 80 or 90 if you don’t care about the crust being soft, but if you want that crispy the stove or air fryer is the way to go!
I believe this does not apply to inverter microwaves, which actually do reduce the power.
The stop/start to do power levels thing doesn’t apply, but the steps and using power levels are the same.