These Bowls Help You Make Impressive Meals in the Microwave

Simply Recipes / Sabrina Tan

I have long loved microwave cooking. As kids of the '90s, my brother and I microwaved Hot Pockets, ramen, and soggy nachos while we waited for my mom to get home for dinner. I even used it often in culinary school, mostly to reheat cafeteria leftovers after late nights out. Yet once I started a family, I deemed microwave cooking too cumbersome and messy—each recipe required me to know the proper wattage, a cover, frequent stopping and stirring, and it always ended with food splattered inside the machine.

Before air fryers and multi-cookers, microwaves promised to make cooking at home faster and easier with the push of a button. They became so ubiquitous that now nearly 90% of US households have a microwave in their kitchens. Yet many homecooks, my past self included, don’t use our microwaves for cooking. I mostly used it as storage to hide things from my counter-surfing dogs, and occasionally empty it out for reheating leftovers. That’s until two years ago when I found a cookware that changed the way I use the microwave—now I use it almost daily to cook family dinners and quick snacks: Anyday cookware.

How I Use the Microwave Almost Daily

Anyday cookware solved all my microwave woes, resulting in more successful microwaved foods than I've ever made before. Their website recipes also gave me confidence to try microwaving things I hadn’t tried before.

This week alone I’ve used their microwavable bowls to braise greens and beans as a quick side dish, made creamy garlic mashed potatoes for a big family dinner—both the “roasted” garlic and the potatoes cooked in the microwave—steamed whole eggs for lunch boxes, made a cake for a quick weeknight dessert, and even cooked perfect rice, all in the microwave.

Even my 11-year old is learning to microwave her beloved boxed mac and cheese in an Anyday bowl without turning on the stove. And yes, I still use the microwave, with Anyday, when we crave ramen as an afterschool snack like I did as a child.

Why Anyday Microwave Vessels Are Better Than Any Microwaveable Bowl

Created by Steph Chen, a mom who wanted a juicy chicken without having to turn on the oven, Anyday harnesses the power of microwave cooking with smartly designed cooking vessels. Its microwave-safe glass dishes are uniquely shaped to gently cook the food. Plus, they are oven-safe, so I can quickly broil melted cheese or juicy chicken thighs for a crispy finish after they are cooked in the microwave, something I’d never attempt in a regular microwave-safe bowl.

Each bowl has a tight fitting microwavable lid with an air vent that also allows me to control the steam and moisture content of the food. I can pull open the vent to let moisture out when making crispy microwaved bacon or keep the vent closed for perfectly steamed rice. I’ve never had the same success just covering dishes with plastic wrap or a plate. I also really like being able to store the leftovers directly in the Anyday vessel—no need to transfer leftovers into separate storage containers.

Yes, you will have to find your microwave's wattage to get started—look for it on the door edge or google your particular make and model. The Anyday website is a treasure chest of reliable microwave recipes and tips for adjusting serving sizes and cooking times based on your microwave’s wattage. There is a learning curve to cooking in the microwave no matter what vessel you use (it took me three tries to cook eggs the way I like), but Anyday gave me the confidence to embrace the microwave as the equipment it was meant to be—a culinary workhorse that makes cooking faster, easier, and better. 

The Anyday Cookware I Recommend

The sets are the best place to start—I have the Everyday Set and that feels perfect for our always-cooking-and-eating-at-home family of four. I also recommend the two-piece Starter Set to my single or partnered friends. One of them even added the Small Dish 2-pack for easy office lunches.

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