If your food is unevenly heated it’s probably because you need to adjust the cook time and power settings. Heating it longer at a lower power setting will let the heat spread more evenly.
Alternatively, check your microwave’s wattage. I always have to adjust microwave instructions to be about 10% longer because my apartment’s microwave is weaker than companies assume the standard microwave is.
✨ May better heated microwave food await you ✨
Except the food has localized concentrations of oil, fat or water or differences on overall density.
That’s why you lower the power. Leave enough time for entropy to distribute the heat before dumping more energy into the food. The more heterogenous the food is, the more you need to lower the power (down to maybe even 200-400 W for mixed leftovers). And make sure all your foodstuffs are touching each other to allow heat to homogenize.
“How about I just heat the plate instead dipshit?”
In the kitchen it hums with delight,
A mischievous microwave, quite a sight.
With a twist of its dial, a dance begins,
Uneven warmth, where chaos wins.
With a flicker and a sarcastic hum,
Microwave, oh marvel, where chaos is spun.
A promise of warmth, a comedic jest,
In your reheating quest, you give us the rest.
Wavelengths oh do cancel when a crest and a trough
Do meet one another and, energy, not enough
Yet center the plate, or a bowl, it’s your choice
So the food spins round the high points and molecules, excited, rejoice
I just started doubling time and using half power. It works sooo much better!
I do this with Taco Bell leftovers. They all work outside of the actual tacos (specifically Doritos locos) most everything else comes out deliciously.
I still prefer to reheat crunchwraps in a skillet though.
This is because all microwaves have terrible UI/UX. If you are supposed to use less than 100% then why do I have to hit 9 buttons every time I want to use less than 100% power? And only 1 button to use 100% power for a variety of different settings.
Why is it not you hit Cook, then enter Power, then enter time? Like every single other stove in existence
I usually just use high power. I should try this sometime, although I don’t tend to have issues with stuff having cold spots. Something I think that helps is stirring stuff half way through and letting it sit for a min after it’s done.
Stirring definitely helps. The exact setting to use will vary depending on the microwave, what is being heated, and how much of it there is, but my usual go-to for a starting point on a full, regular-sized bowl or plate of food is: 3 minutes at 40%, remove and stir or flip as appropriate, then another 2-3 minutes at 30-40% depending on how hot it was. This approach will end up heating most things evenly without drying them out or burning anything.
Some things can be more sensitive, so if I’m ever unsure about what would be safe, I’ll start at 30% for 1 minute just to get a baseline for context. Below 30% is usually only useful for frozen things. Soups usually require several stirs - you don’t want to let it sit still for too long, or use too high a setting, or it can explode.
No, if you’re using high power for anything longer than like 20 seconds to nuke a coffee or something, you’re microwaving wrong.
Most things are 👌 3:00 @ Power Level 6 (60% on, 40% off)
Yup, totally agree. Changed my microwaving habits a few years back. 3 minutes at about 600 watts works like a charm for just about everything. Add a minute or so if you’re heating soup or something else with a lot of mass/water.
I always did 2 minutes at maximum power previously and it was always like the surface of the sun on the outside and cold on the inside.
Among the other suggestions people have made in this thread, I’d like to add that just covering something and allowing the food to steam-heat makes a big difference. For instance I will usually poke a well in the middle of leftovers, put a tiny bit of water in (especially with rice, which dries out) and cover it with a plate. The water boils and heats it much better.
