Carrots are one of the most popular components of various dishes - salads, soups, side dishes, baby food. It is very useful, and it costs literally pennies in the fall season. Most often, boiled carrots are used in recipes. How to do this quickly and literally in a matter of minutes? It turns out that a microwave, which often stands idle, will come to the rescue.
Cooking carrots in the microwave in a bag is not as difficult as it might seem. And most importantly, during the preparation of this vegetable, all the nutrients and beneficial vitamins remain in it.
There are many options for cooking orange vegetables in the microwave. And they are all quite simple, which means everyone can cope with them. But I would like to tell you about the most popular methods that every housewife should have.
Features and time of cooking carrots in the microwave
In order for the vegetable to retain maximum nutrients and cook quickly, when boiling carrots using a microwave oven, you must observe the following subtleties:
- with any cooking method (whole, in pieces), the carrots must first be thoroughly washed; it is not necessary to remove the peel;
- when boiling the whole product, to speed up the cooking process, you should pierce the carrots with a fork in 5-8 places (the number of punctures depends on the size of the vegetable);
- when boiling the product in its unpeeled form, it retains the maximum amount of nutrients, and the carrots become more juicy and tender;
- There is no need to salt carrots when cooking, as salt will worsen the taste of the finished product;
- when boiling carrots in a bag or sleeve, about 5 punctures should be made in them with a thin needle, otherwise the bag/sleeve will burst from the steam;
- the finished carrots should be removed from the container/bag after cooling, then they will turn out more tender;
- If possible, you should boil the carrots (if using a microwave) without water, then the product will retain more nutrients. Otherwise, some of the vitamins and minerals go into the water;
- When boiling a product for salad, the vegetable should be heat treated entirely in its peel. For baby food, carrots must be grated and boiled without using water. And when preparing the product for a side dish, it must be cleaned and immediately cut into circles or cubes;
- To cook carrots, you should use a special container with a lid (the lid must have a hole for steam to escape) that is suitable for a microwave oven (made of glass, plastic, ceramics). It is important that there should be no metal parts on the dishes, including silver patterns.
If the device has a “boiling vegetables” function, then it is better to boil carrots in this program, then the cooking will be more gentle. When boiling carrots in the device, you should take into account the heat treatment time, which depends on the form in which the vegetable is cooked (whole or pieces).
Approximate time for boiling carrots in the microwave:
Type of carrot | Cooking time (min) |
Whole in uniform weighing approximately 100-150 g | 7-10 |
Medium sized pieces | 3-5 |
Grated | 2-3 |
The boiling time also depends on what kind of carrots are boiled (fresh or already stale).
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Benefits of microwaving
You can cook carrots in the microwave in several ways (whole or pieces, in a bowl or in a bag).
When choosing heat treatment of vegetables in a device, you should consider a number of advantages:
- cooking time is reduced;
- carrots retain a maximum of nutrients, especially when cooked whole in their skins;
- the vegetable is cooked evenly and retains its elastic texture;
- When boiling carrots in a bag, there is no need to wash dishes.
In the microwave you can boil not only carrots, but also other vegetables.
ATTENTION!!!
Potatoes are known to be rich in minerals, mainly potassium, and are especially beneficial for people with heart and kidney disease, but eating them causes a rapid increase in blood sugar levels and leads to the development of diabetes. To avoid this, you need to include whole grains, legumes, and fiber-rich fruits in your diet. Boiled potatoes, especially young ones, are one of the healthiest foods. The advantage of young potatoes is that they contain less starch than old ones, but early potatoes are rich in other carbohydrates that are even more slowly absorbed than starch.
The traditional way to cook carrots in the microwave in water
With the traditional method, carrots should be boiled whole using a special container. The container must have a hermetically sealed lid with a hole for steam to escape.
What to prepare
To boil carrots in a microwave oven in a bowl you will need:
- carrot. Vegetables should be used of approximately the same size and average weight - 300 g;
- boiled water – 100 ml.
Additionally, it is necessary to prepare appropriate containers.
Boiling stages
When boiling a vegetable in a device in the traditional way, the action items are arranged in the following order:
- The vegetable needs to be scraped with a knife to remove dirt, cut off the tail and the place where the tops were attached.
- Rinse each carrot individually. Make punctures in each carrot with a fork (about 4 punctures).
- Place the vegetable compactly in the prepared bowl. The carrots should be laid out so that the wide part of one fruit is in contact with the narrow part of the other carrot.
- Pour the prepared water over the carrots and cover the dish with a lid. Open the hole on the lid to allow steam to escape.
- Place the container and contents into the device.
- Turn on the appliance at maximum power and set the cooking time to 8-10 minutes.
After cooking, it is recommended to carefully drain the water (through the steam outlet) and leave the vegetable to cool in the container. Cooling in a closed container results in softer carrots.
Useful tips
Is it possible to quickly cook carrots in the microwave? We figured it out. Everything is simple and easy. But there are a few recommendations that it wouldn’t hurt to know for anyone just starting to get acquainted with microwave cooking.
What should you pay attention to?
- Before you cook carrots in a microwave oven, you need to know that water must be used to boil vegetables. Otherwise, the carrots will turn out not boiled, but baked.
- For faster boiling, it is recommended to pierce the root vegetable in several places with a fork.
- If you do not peel the peel, you can preserve the beneficial composition as much as possible. In addition, the peel will retain moisture, and this will result in soft, uniform and elastic pulp.
- There is no need to salt carrots while cooking in a microwave oven. This can ruin its sweet taste.
- If you decide to cook in a bag, you will need to make 2-3 punctures in it with a toothpick. Otherwise, the risk of the package exploding increases.
- Some microwaves have special modes for cooking vegetables, such as “Fresh Vegetables” or “Cook Vegetables”. So before you cook carrots in the microwave, you don’t always need to select the power and set the cooking time. Just select the desired program and the carrots will be ready in the microwave in a matter of minutes (provided that the microwave has this program).
We looked at methods that allow you to quickly cook carrots in a microwave oven. Recipes for quickly cooking carrots in the microwave are so simple that after trying one of the options at least once, you will forget about boiling vegetables on the stove.
Whole microwaved carrots in a bag
You can cook carrots in the microwave using a baking bag or oven bag. In this case, you can boil the vegetable with the addition of water or oil, or without these ingredients.
What to prepare
The following is a list of ingredients required when boiling carrots in a bag with water, oil or without these ingredients.
How to cook carrots in the microwave whole in a bag.
List of products | Quantity of ingredients |
Boiling with water | |
Carrots are about the same size and light weight | 300 g |
Filtered or boiled water | 100 ml |
Boiling with butter | |
Carrots are dense, juicy and light in weight | 300 sh |
Unscented sunflower oil | 30 ml |
Boiling without water and oil | |
Using this method, it is recommended to boil juicy fresh carrots, since a flabby vegetable will not turn out juicy. | 300 g |
When boiling carrots with butter, salt and spices may be included in the recipe.
Boiling stages
Next, the stages of boiling in the package are considered individually: for carrots with water, carrots with oil and carrots without additional ingredients.
Boiling carrots with water in a bag
When water is added to the bag, the cooking process consists of the following steps:
- The vegetable should be peeled with a special knife (you can scrape the peel with a regular knife).
- Cut off the stems and stems of each carrot.
- Place the vegetable in a baking bag/sleeve and add water.
- Seal the bag/baking sleeve with a special paper clip or tie it.
- Near the paperclip/knot you need to make about 5 holes with a needle. Steam will escape through them, otherwise the bag/baking sleeve will burst.
- Next, the bag/sleeve with carrots should be placed in the microwave.
- Turn on the device at maximum power. The time should be set to approximately 5 minutes.
- Then (after 5 minutes) you need to carefully open the bag/sleeve (make sure that the steam does not burn your hands), and check the carrots for readiness with a knife. When the vegetable is ready, transfer it to a plate using tongs. If the inside of the carrots is a little tough, then you need to close the bag/sleeve again and place the carrots in the microwave for about 2 more minutes.
To prevent water from accidentally leaking out of the bag/sleeve when cooking vegetables, it is recommended to place the bag/sleeve in a container suitable for the device.
Boiling carrots with butter in a bag
The scheme for boiling carrots with vegetable oil consists of the following steps:
- The vegetable must be cleaned of the “tips” and peel.
- Cut the carrots into circles or cubes approximately 0.5-0.7 cm thick.
- Place the carrots in a bag/sleeve and pour over the oil.
- Seal the bag/sleeve (with a paper clip or tie) and shake until the oil coats each carrot piece.
- Make about 4-5 holes in the top of the bag/sleeve using a sharp needle.
- Place the bag/sleeve with carrots in the device and set the time for approximately 5-6 minutes.
- The finished carrots need to be cooled in a closed bag.
Boil carrots with butter to serve as a side dish.
Boiling carrots in a bag without water and oil
The algorithm for boiling carrots without using additional ingredients is as follows:
- Carrots need to be boiled in their skins. To do this, the vegetable should be washed very well with a sponge, but it is important that the peel is not removed. Cut off the ends of the carrots.
- Place the vegetable in a baking bag/hand.
- Seal the bag/sleeve, and about 3 punctures with a needle are required in the upper part of the bag/sleeve.
- Place the bag/sleeve with carrots into the device. The time needs to be turned on for approximately 8-10 minutes.
It is recommended to cool boiled carrots in a bag/sleeve.
Helpful tips on the process
If you want to learn how to cook carrots not only correctly, but also deliciously, you should learn a few recommendations for the process:
- The microwave may have a special mode called “Cooking Vegetables” or “Fresh Vegetables”. It was created specifically for such cases. Therefore, before starting work, you should read the instructions.
- If you salt ready-made carrots, and not the preparation, the product will turn out juicier, sweeter and will not fall apart into fibers.
- Boiling vegetables as a whole allows you to preserve their useful substances and nutritional components as much as possible.
- To quickly boil whole carrots, you can shorten the processing time and place the product in very cold water immediately after the signal. Due to the temperature difference, the pulp will cook faster.
Of course, carrots can be boiled using a microwave oven and the traditional way, using water, but with this approach the end result leaves much to be desired. The vegetable releases a lot of vitamins and minerals into the liquid. At the same time, its texture noticeably suffers; it is problematic to use such a preparation for salad.
Greetings, my curious readers. Have you heard that our favorite carrots will be healthier if you boil them? I think that now raw foodists are ready to throw slippers at me or whatever comes to hand