Some dishes are best cooked the traditional way while others can use alternative methods to achieve gastronomical excellence. For instance, if you wish to make a breakfast casserole with golden-brown cheese, a conventional oven or a convection microwave oven is the way to go.
So yes, making stovetop hardboiled eggs is easier than microwaving hardboiled eggs for sure. But can you microwave hard-boiled eggs? Well, it depends.
What did you mean by that question? Did you mean reheated eggs that are already hardboiled? Or do you mean make hardboiled eggs with the microwave?
How to Boil Eggs with Your Microwave
Boiling eggs with your microwave is a bad idea for the clueless. This is a surefire way to end up with an exploded egg. Sure, “eggsplosions” can also happen when cooking eggs on the stovetop, but usually, it happens more often with microwaves compared to a boiling pot of water.
As much possible, boil your eggs on stovetops but if push comes to shove, here’s how you can instantly make them on your microwave.
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Egg Poacher Method
Regarding how to boil eggs inside the microwave exactly, you can buy a $5 to $20 egg poacher or boiler, which is a microwave-safe plastic container that can hold several eggs at a time. They work by breaking the egg and putting it inside their holes or cavities.
From there, you boil them inside the microwave until they’re either poached, softboiled, or hardboiled. Some poacher designs allow you to boil the egg without breaking their shells, but that necessitates putting a pressure hole on them regardless.
Some recommend you prick a pressure hole into your egg in order to serve as a pressure release, but others recommend leaving the shell intact. Go with what works for you but you can err on the side of caution too.
Bowl of Hot Water
You can also try out this method that doesn’t require an egg poacher or boiler device to work.
Place the egg into a (microwave-safe) bowl of water that’s already hot. Cover it with a plate but not too tightly. Have the lid slightly ajar. Afterwards, microwave the hot water at 50 percent power for 4 minutes straight.
If you want your yolk to be runny (soft-boiled), take out the egg after microwaving and peel it. If you want a cooked yolk, leave the egg in the hot water for about 2 more minutes. Be careful because the egg can be quite hot.
The insides of the egg might even be superheated (hot without the water boiling). Be caution when opening the egg up or even biting into it. Let it cool off a little bit. They’re like hot pockets. They can have extremely scalding temperatures.
Why Do Eggs Explode When Microwaved?
Hardboiled eggs are small, mobile, and can last a week in your refrigerator. However, if you wish to have fresh boiled eggs, you can get them through microwaving. However, you risk having them explode in your microwave oven and dealing with terrible cleanup later.
However, eggs explode when microwaved because microwaves heat up food from the inside by exciting water molecules. An egg is a closed-off space with a shell containing its yolk and white. You need to puncture the egg carefully in order to have a pressure release of sorts.
It’s better to make boiled eggs in the weekend (with a stove or a microwave) versus eating pop tarts, junk food, or salty instant noodles in the morning. It’s already cooked, they last about a week in your fridge, and it guarantees you extra seconds or minutes of sleep.
Weekend Meal Prep for the Morning
If you rush out to the door for school or work in the mornings, you should have a weekend meal prep to make those Monday to Friday mornings tolerable and easy to deal with. The prep ensures you have something to eat when you don’t have time to sit down for a meal.
Cooking hardboiled eggs is a solid breakfast choice in this scenario, since it’s probably easy to eat while on-the-go when made during the weekend before (especially if they’re already peeled). You can make meals in advance then store them in your refrigerator during the week.
However, they’re served cold or at room temperature if you wait a little bit. With that said, it’s better to reheat your hardboiled egg the right way to get a hot meal during breakfast.
Reheating Hardboiled Eggs the Right Way
An egg heated up inside the microwave for half a minute or less is a cleanup or even fire hazard. The egg, even eggs that are already hardboiled, can explode all over your microwave oven’s interior. This is because cold hardboiled eggs have moisture inside that should be released safely.
The shell keeps the water inside the egg from expanding as it gets hotter and hotter. It’s like a shaken soda exploding when you open up its bottle lid. The pressure from the egg collected from within it will leave your microwave quite messy, when push comes to shove.
Here’s a foolproof way or even a non-explosive trick to heat your hardboiled egg as safely as possible. First, place the egg or eggs in a heatproof bowl. Afterwards, pour boiling water over them until they’re submerged.
Now wait ten minutes before removal. You’re essentially re-cooking your eggs with the hot water. Now you can crack, peel, and eat them safely. In other words, don’t microwave them. You can also pierce holes on your hardboiled eggs before microwaving them, but that’s also risky.
Items to Consider
You’ll need a plastic egg poacher device in order to consistently boil and egg to hardboiled perfection without making a mess of your microwave oven. Otherwise, use the tactics explained above to go about it.
Making hardboiled eggs or heating them up in your microwave is something you can use if you’re rushing to get your kids to school or yourself to work. Few things are as delicious as fresh eggs over fried rice and sausages, especially if you add cheese into the mix.
Your microwave can be your best friend when it comes to giving you instant breakfast pronto. You’re more likely to poach an egg instead of hard-boiling it though.
References:
- “Is Cooking Eggs in the Microwave Safe?” SauderEggs.com, September 18, 2018
- Amy Schulman, “The Only Way to Reheat Hard Boiled Eggs“, MyRecipes.com, February 13, 2018
