If you’re wondering how you’re supposed to survive with a kitchenette and some frozen tofu from your local dining hall without spending every last penny on DoorDash, you should learn how to use your microwave – properly. 

One of my biggest regrets from my first-year at college was only using the microwave for heating leftovers and instant ramen. I believed that the only thing wasting my time, money and health was the lack of a kitchen, until I actually got a kitchen the next year. That’s when I realized the problem was never the microwave — it was me. So here it is: the official breakup cookbook with depressing reheated meals and the beginning of our microwave era. Try these five easy microwave recipes, with accessible ingredients that can be bought from either H Mart or Trader Joe’s, and break the ice with your microwave. When done right, microwaving proves to be efficient and effective for busy students who can’t cook. 

Coke-Braised Pork

Ingredients:

• 200 grams pork belly chunks
• 1 stalk of scallion
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup mirin
• 7 tablespoons Coke

Instructions: 

1. Chop the pork belly chunks and scallion into bite-sized pieces and poke holes in the pork belly pieces with a wooden pick.
2. Place all ingredients in a microwave-safe container and wrap with a clear plastic wrap.
3. Heat for 10 minutes in the microwave.
4. Make sure the pork is thoroughly cooked by poking it with a wooden pick. You will know it’s done when juice comes out.

Drizzle the sauce from the meat over microwavable rice and you have yourself a hearty braised pork don. It comes nowhere near the braised pork that takes my grandmother hours to make me, but it’s good enough. That said, it’s fairly practical considering you could always save the sauce for other purposes: another meal with rice or make a Japanese soft boiled egg topped with it. Place a peeled, 8-minute boiled egg in the same container for over an hour in the refrigerator, and it’s good to go!

Korean Steamed Egg

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 crab sticks
• 1 teaspoon of chicken powder
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 cup of water
• Some chopped scallion

Instructions:

1. Crack the two eggs into a bowl.
2. Beat and strain eggs. 
3. Pour egg mixture into a microwave safe container.
4. Tear crab sticks into thick pieces.
5. Add chicken powder, salt, crab sticks and water to the egg mixture and cover the top with a clear plastic wrap.
6. Make sure to poke into the plastic wrap with a wooden pick so it’s not airtight.
7. Microwave for two minutes and then mix with a spoon.
8. Add sesame oil and re-cover with poked plastic wrap before microwaving again for two to three minutes.
9. Sprinkle fresh, chopped scallions.

My favorite recipe out of all five, the steamed egg is soft, fluffy, flavorful and just as good as those steamed the proper way with steamers or rice cookers. Make sure to use a bigger bowl than you would expect because the egg will rise while it cooks. Adding chicken powder gives it the warm, comforting feel you need to combat the seasonal depression that comes along when the temperature drops and the sun sets too early.

Spaghetti Napolitan / Japanese Ketchup Pasta

Ingredients: 

• 80 grams of spaghetti
• 2 sausages
• 1 green bell pepper
• ¾ cup of water
• 1 teaspoon of chicken powder
• 3 tablespoons of ketchup
• 1 tablespoons of shredded cheese

Instructions:

1. Slice the sausages into coin-shaped pieces and green bell pepper into thin slices.
2. Break the spaghetti so that it can fit into the container.
3. Add the spaghetti, water, sausages and green bell pepper pieces into a container and microwave for one minute longer than the estimated cooking time written on the spaghetti package.
4. Mix with chicken powder, ketchup and shredded cheese.

I know pasta is usually a sensitive topic when it involves breaking spaghetti and making it into a one-pot meal, but I want to prove that microwave cooking can be diverse! You don’t need to order an electric cooker and risk having it confiscated by the resource center just because someone thought it was a good idea to print a picture of the cooker right on the delivery box. The pasta itself is decent. It won’t blow your mind, but it’s really not much worse than what you can do with a pot and a saucepan.

Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients:

• 30 grams pancake mix
• ¼ cup milk of choice
• 5 grams chocolate – dark chocolate recommended
• 1 tablespoon of sugar – depends on personal preference, but I recommend less if your pancake mix and/or cocoa powder contains sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Instructions: 

1. Place all ingredients into a mug and mix well.
2. Microwave for one to two minutes.

This chocolate cupcake was genuinely beyond my expectations and surprisingly easy to make. It has the texture of a pancake and the rich chocolatey flavor of a brownie — what more could you ask from a microwaved cupcake? Do remember to mix well for a smoother texture, though. One tablespoon of sugar was too sweet for my personal taste, though similar to other desserts, so adjust accordingly. Paired with a cup of Earl Grey tea, it would make the perfect late-night snack to fill your cravings.

French Toast 

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 7 tablespoons of milk
• 2 slices of white bread
• 2 tablespoons of sugar

Instructions:

1. Mix the egg, milk and sugar well in a microwave safe container.
2. Tear bread into bite-sized pieces and place into the container.
3. Microwave for three minutes without plastic wrap.

Hear me out — as long as you get the bread to milk and egg ratio right, it can taste good. It’s only French toast in spirit because it doesn’t look appetizing at all and leans more towards the bread pudding side. But, you can think of it as an easy solution to not wanting to deal with a leftover egg and milk mixture like you’d have to if you’re actually making French toast. It could also be a great breakfast alternative if you typically only use the microwave for oatmeal in the morning.

Contact Katie Liao at [email protected].