How To Preheat Microwave Oven?

Preheating a microwave oven at the right temperature decides the fate of your baking experience. 

Remember not to skip this key step irrespective of how your microwave functions if you want satisfactory results every time. 

So here is how to do it the right way:

1. First of all, press the Stop/Eco button or Stop/Clear button to erase all the previous cooking instructions to start afresh on your baking journey.

2. Now select the ‘convection mode’. 

3. The display will show you the default temperature, which you can increase or decrease at your preference.

4. After setting the required temperature, press the ‘start’ button to preheat the microwave oven. 

5. You will see the turntable starting to rotate while the display reads ‘Heating’ or ‘Pre-heating’. 

6. For preheating, you don’t need to set the time, as the microwave automatically stops with a sound after hitting the set temperature.

7. After the oven is perfectly warmed up, put the batter bowl or baking tray straight in without delay since the temperature decreases within a few minutes. Undoubtedly, this is the most crucial step to perfect baking.

8. Now, press the ‘convection’ button again, set the temperature, and time, and hit ‘start’ for a satisfactory baking experience.

Pro Tip: You can use a metal rack, steel bowl, aluminum tray, etc. inside your microwave when it is in convection mode. When in convection mode your microwave acts as a traditional oven. 

If your microwave does not have a convection mode you can use the heating mode to preheat it. Do not put metal items in your microwave if it is not in convection mode. Use only ceramic or glassware.

If you are confused about which containers you should not put in the microwave check out this article – Materials You Should Never Put In Microwave

The best way to know if your microwave has convection mode is by carefully reading every specification of that model in the user manual before confirming your buy.

If you are new to microwave cooking, reading the manual will help you understand the different cooking modes of your microwave and how it functions. 

Another way to confirm if your microwave has convection mode is to check the control pad for the convection button with a fan icon. Some microwave control panels simply mention Convection (without a fan icon).

If your microwave doesn’t have convection mode, you don’t need to preheat, instead turn the power to 100 percent and put the cake tin or baking tray straight in.

While baking in the normal heating mode of a microwave oven, never use metal containers as that can be super dangerous, leading to spark and arcing.

So, use ceramic, glass, or microwave-safe containers only if you don’t have a convection oven for baking safely.

The only problem with baking in a microwave oven without convection is the cake or cookies might come out a bit dry which can soften by dipping in a syrup.

Different recipes need different preheating temperatures. Here’s how you can prepare your microwave oven for baking cakes, cookies, and pizzas.

For Cakes

To bake a cake in a microwave, you need to preheat the oven for up to 5 – 6 minutes at 180 degrees Celcius, which is also the default temperature in most microwaves.

Remember, the preheating time for baking a cake is always faster in a microwave than in the OTGs by 6 – 7 minutes. 

However, you can also adjust the preheating temperature based on the cake recipe, and still, it hardly takes 5 – 6 minutes to warm up the oven.

For Cookies
For cookies, preheating the oven between 160-180 degrees Celcius is enough to ensure the cookies come out crunchier and tastier.

If you are using an older version of microwave, then preheating might take around 20 minutes, while in the advanced version of this kitchen appliance, preheating is faster. It just takes 6 minutes and stops automatically with an alert tone. 

Baking fluffy and crunchy cookies need moderate temperature that is less than baking cakes.

For Pizzas

To bake a crispy crust pizza, you need to preheat the microwave oven for at least 30 mins at 240 – 245 degrees Celcius. 

Yes, that’s a too long duration, but good for an evenly cooked pizza with the perfect crisp texture, it’s worth it.

Though 30 minutes is the minimum time recommended for preheating in the older microwave oven, the duration is lesser in the advanced ones. 

For large thick-crusted pizzas, the preheating time might get extended.

In general for any other dish

Whether you are baking, cooking, or grilling in a microwave, you must consider preheating it for a few minutes to ensure food is evenly cooked and doesn’t stain the oven cavity with stickiness.

For grilling and cooking, preheating the oven to 160 – 250 degrees Celcius for 10 – 15 minutes is enough.

Soon after you are done cooking in the microwave and want to bake a cake or tray of cookies, you need to preheat the microwave oven. 

But before preheating, you must remove all the previous cooking instructions by pressing Stop/Clear and then press ‘convection’ to preheat the oven for baking.

To conclude, every time you are up for a baking therapy, you must preheat the oven for fluffier and crispier treats that look and tastes great.

Not only baking, but you must also preheat your microwave in convection mode to a certain temperature before cooking and grilling. 

While many may debunk the importance of preheating a microwave, it is like heating a pan before cooking on the stovetop.

Preheating the oven ensures the food doesn’t stick to the griddle or bottom of the vessel and gets evenly cooked better and faster.

The thumb rule of preheating a microwave is to warm it up empty only with the rack inside. 

You should better avoid preheating with an empty baking tray to prevent it from getting extremely hot, burning the bottom of baked items, and charring cookies.

High heat can also lend a dry texture to the cake and uneven baking. 

So, wait till your microwave stops preheating with a ding alert, and then put the baking tray inside for a mindblowing experience.

Many often get confused about how to preheat a microwave oven to 180 degrees for baking cakes with perfection.

That’s simple if you have an advanced microwave oven with the default temperature of 180 degrees which you can adjust at your preference. 

All you need is to press the ‘start’ button to initiate preheating as soon as your oven gets into convection mode.

In an advanced model, you don’t even need to worry about overheating as it would stop automatically after reaching 180 degrees Celcius within 10 – 15 minutes. 

For an older microwave, use an oven thermometer to scale the temperature.

To preheat a microwave oven at 180 degrees Celcius, you hardly have to wait for 10 – 15 minutes or even lesser in any modern microwave oven. 

However, in traditional ovens and OTGs, the preheating duration extends for up to 20 minutes and may vary based on various mechanisms of the model. 

If you have an advanced microwave oven, you don’t need to worry about preheating. 

Once you set the desired temperature to preheat, the process will stop automatically after reaching the set temperature with an alert tone.

For older models with no alert and temperature settings, you can wait for 10 – 15 minutes, assuming it is ready for baking.

If your microwave permits switching to convection mode, then yes, you can and must preheat the oven empty to bake and cook food better and faster.

But if you are using a microwave oven without convection then don’t preheat the microwave oven empty as the electromagnetic waves will reflect on the cavity walls of your microwave and may damage the magnetron.

In fact, when in a non-convection mode your microwave oven does not need preheating as the heating mechanism is direct and starts heating the food right away when you hit the start button.

Yes, in non-convection mode preheating an empty microwave oven will damage your microwave. If your microwave does not have a convection mode, it’s best to avoid preheating it altogether.

If your microwave has convection mode, make sure to switch to convection, before you start preheating your empty microwave. 

If you love baking or are an enthusiastic beginner trying to master the art, then preheating the microwave oven is a very crucial step you cannot skip. 

So, before baking in a microwave, select convection mode to preheat the oven for perfection. 

However, if you regularly use a microwave for cooking, there is no need to preheat every time, as you do for baking. All you need is to stir the ingredients after a few minutes to ensure even cooking.

Here is your quick guide to preheating a Samsung microwave oven

1. Switch on the microwave.

2. Press the Start/Eco button to erase all the previous cooking instructions.

3. Then, press the ‘convection’ button on the control panel of the kitchen appliance, and soon you see the display showing 180-degree as default.

4. If you want, you can increase or decrease the temperature by pressing the up and down arrow buttons.

5. Now, press the ‘select’ button and hit ‘start’ to initiate the warming up of your microwave.

6. Wait till your microwave stops with an alert beep after reaching the set temperature.

Bake like a pro using the following steps in an IFB microwave oven

1. Power on the oven.

2. Now press the ‘convection’ button once and look into the screen showing 110 degrees as default with ‘Conv’ displaying at the bottom of it.

3. If your recipe needs to be baked at a certain temperature, keep pressing the ‘convection’ button till hitting the desired temperature.

4. Now press ‘start’ for preheating, and the display will confirm with ‘PREH’ flickering on it.

5. As soon as the preheating reaches the preset temperature, the “PREH’ will stop flickering to confirm now your oven is ready for baking.

Preheating the Panasonic microwave oven is even easier when you follow the simple steps below

1. Turn on the microwave.

2. Look at the control panel to spot the ‘convection’ button.

3. After pressing the ‘convection’ button, the screen will display the default temperature at 180 degrees, needed for baking. If you wish you can alter the temperature with the ‘up’ and ‘down’ keys at the bottom.

4. Now press ‘start’ to preheat, which will hardly take 15 minutes for the process to complete. The oven will stop automatically after reaching the desired temperature.

5. Put the baking tray inside and press the ‘start’ again for the ultimate baking process.

Switching to convection mode in an LG microwave oven is very simple, but the features may slightly vary in different models.

1. Power it on.

2. Set the temperature and press the start button.

3. Now press the ‘convection’ button on the control panel.
 
4. The display will show the default temperature at 180 degrees.

5. If your recipe needs a different temperature, you increase or decrease the temperature as per your need.

6. Once you have set the desired temperature, press the ‘start’ button again. The preheating will start.

7. The oven will stop automatically with a beep, indicating completion of preheating.

Here is your ultimate guide to preheat a Morphy Richards microwave, which can vary in different models.

1. Turn on the kitchen gear.

2. Check the control panel for the ‘convection/grill’ button and press it.

3. After pressing, you will see the screen displaying ‘Convection’.

4. Now set the desired preheating temperature your recipe needs and press the start button.

5. Once preheating starts, the display will show you the preheating duration.

6. Wait till the preheating time gets reduced, and you will get beep alerts for the remaining few minutes before the preheating finally ends.