Can you cook pasta in a microwave? The answer is yes!
Cooking pasta in a microwave isn’t something new. People who live in dorms have done it primarily because cooking stoves aren’t allowed in dorms or they need to save money.
For me, I’ve been eating out ever since I’ve moved out of my parents’ house. That’s because I don’t know how to cook. Whether in fast food restaurants or carinderias, I always look for something cheap, quick, and plentiful.
I also love using my microwave at home. Together with my fridge, it’s one of the most important items in my apartment. It’s just convenient to be able to reheat meals that I’ve kept in the fridge from my take-outs. But every now and then I get tired of eating in restaurants. Another problem is that it takes up a lot of my budget. I would love to learn how to cook but even if I knew how to, I wouldn’t have the time to do so.
So I started figuring out different ways to “cook” at home without really cooking. I needed something that I can make in big batches, store them in my fridge, and then just reheat them for later. So I went to the grocery store to check for options and I came to an aisle for pasta products and sauces. I realized that there were ready-made pasta sauces that you put on your cooked pasta. Thus came the idea of just cooking pasta in my microwave. After all, I’ve already cooked instant ramen in it several times so it shouldn’t be a problem with pasta.
If you need steps on how to cook pasta in a microwave, read on.
What you’ll need:
- A microwave of course!
- Your choice of pasta
- Microwaveable containers or bowls
- Salt
- Strainer
- Your choice of ready-made pasta sauce (bolognese, pesto, carbonara, etc)
So here’s the steps I took to cook it in my microwave:
1.) You need a microwavable container. Break your pasta to fit it in the container.
2.) Add salt and put enough water to submerge the pasta but don’t fill the container. The water level will rise when it starts to boil so it’s important not to fill the container. Close it with a lid but leave an opening where the steam can escape.
3.) Place in microwave and cook in the suggested temperature and time seen on the pasta’s packaging. My microwave’s temperature control can only be set to “low, medium, high, etc.” so I set it to medium high for 10 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on the water. Like I said, it will rise once it starts boiling. You might need to stop the microwave when that happens and wait for the boiling/foaming to subside before continuing.
4.) Once the pasta is cooked, just strain the water and transfer it to a new container.
5.) When ready to eat, choose you choice of ready-made sauces. I’m using Barilla Bolognese sauce and also San Marino Yellow Fin Tuna in Spanish style oil. You can also add shredded cheese to your pasta if you want. It makes it better, that’s for sure.
6.) Add the appropriate amount of sauces.
7.) Add the cheese
8.) Heat them again in the microwave to melt the cheese and mix. Enjoy!
Tip:
Look into the ingredients section of the pasta’s packaging. I recommend you use pasta that is made of Durum Wheat or Whole Wheat. It will give you the satisfaction of being full after eating. Do not use pastas made of Wheat Flour.
In my experienced, I tried this with wheat flour pasta and it wasn’t good. I’d go hungry again after eating a meal. So never go for wheat flour pastas. They’re only used for side dishes or salads.