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Place your choice of cover loosely over the food.
Put your dish of food in the microwave and put the cover over the food so it’s not touching. Remember to keep the cover loose or use a cover that has slits so steam can escape.- If your dish of food is spilling over the sides, divide the food between 2 plates and reheat them separately.
Microwave the food, stirring it halfway through the heating time. Put your dish into the microwave and program your machine for half of the amount of time you think it will take to heat the food. Then, open the door and carefully lift the cover away from you. Stir the food so the microwave can finish heating the food evenly.
Heat your food until it’s steaming. -
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Wear oven mitts to remove the dish and carefully take the cover off. If you’ve microwaved food for more than 1 minute, the dish might be too hot to simply take out of the microwave. Put on mitts to protect your hands and set the hot dish on the counter. Then, slowly take the cover off so the steam goes away from your face.
- If you’ve cooked food in the microwave, follow any standing times before you check the temperature. For example, if you cooked an eggy casserole, let it sit for 3 minutes and check the temperature to ensure it’s reached 160 °F (71 °C).
Lay the cover back over the food and close your microwave door. Microwave the food until there aren’t any cold spots in the food and you can see steam rising from the surface. If you’re microwaving something for more than a few minutes, you may want to stop and stir the food 1 more time.
- If you’re reheating a leftover meal, plan on microwaving the food for a total of 1 to 2 minutes.
- If you’ve cooked food in the microwave, follow any standing times before you check the temperature. For example, if you cooked an eggy casserole, let it sit for 3 minutes and check the temperature to ensure it’s reached 160 °F (71 °C).
Skip covering your food with brown paper. In a pinch, you might think you could lay a sheet of brown paper, newspaper, or a brown paper bag over your food to prevent splatters in the microwave. Unfortunately, these are highly flammable and could start a fire inside your machine.[10]
- Newspaper and printed bags can also release toxic fumes from the ink and glue that’s on them.
Never cover your food with anything metallic. Don’t put metallic things into your microwave since the radio waves reflect off of metal and can spark. Check your containers for metallic paint and remove metal twist ties from packages.[11]
- Styrofoam or foam-insulated containers
- Yogurt tubs
- Margarine or whipped topping containers
- Takeout trays
- Heavily-scratched reusable containers
- If you have a metallic pan of takeout or a takeout container with metal handles, transfer the food to a glass or ceramic before heating the food.
Don’t heat food in takeout or single-use storage containers. It’s tempting to toss your leftover container of takeout into the microwave to save a little time, but don’t do it! Single-use containers and tubs might melt or leach toxins into your food. Never microwave your food in any of these containers:[12]
