How To Make Spaghetti In The Microwave – Noodles And Sauce Included
Spaghetti is one of those classic dishes that sticks to the ribs while feeding a crowd. However, it can take a hot minute for the pasta to boil, and if you're making the sauce from scratch, you could end up with a mess on your stove. Plus, there are times when you only need to feed yourself, and you don't have the desire or energy to stir multiple steaming pots. Enter: microwave spaghetti, a dish that can be cooked entirely in that trusty appliance. It's the ultimate lazy-day hack, and really, all you need is a microwave-safe bowl or container.
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To start, you'll add as much pasta as you want to a medium-to-large-sized microwavable container (feeling hungry or feeding two? Go with a larger vessel; if you're just feeding yourself, you can probably get by with a medium container). If you're using actual spaghetti or any long noodle, you'll want to crack it in half so that it can be submerged completely in the water that you'll add next. You don't have to use long noodles here because shorties like penne, rigatoni, or even conchiglie work, too.
Pop it in the microwave on high for the al dente cook time on the box, with two minutes added. You might want to stop it every few minutes to give it a stir, but when it's done, strain any leftover pasta water. Then top it with pasta sauce and pop it in the microwave for about another minute. To prevent the sauce from popping while cooking, you can place a dampened paper towel over the top of your bowl.
Upgrade your spaghetti, using the microwave (or nothing at all)
If your taste buds require something a bit more complex than mere noodles and sauce, there are plenty of ways you can upgrade the bowl, and you'll still only need to use the microwave (who says it's becoming a thing of the past?), or you won't need to cook anything at all. First up: protein. Adding meatballs certainly makes for a heartier meal, but if you're going to be microwaving your spaghetti, you likely don't want to make meatballs from scratch. Buy them pre-cooked and frozen in a bag, instead. You'll likely want to heat them up separately from your noodles and sauce because they won't take nearly as long to heat through. Or you can add pre-packaged, fully cooked sausages, which come in a variety of complementary flavors these days, like tomato and basil or spinach and garlic.
To give less-than-vibrant sauce a kick, you could also add a step in your easy-peasy dinner process where you fry garlic in olive oil with your microwave (this would also work for shallot or onion). Then you can mix the fried aromatic in with your noodles and sauce, or even toss your pasta with the infused oil.
Finally, a flavor boost that requires no microwaving at all — just some chopping. If you have any fresh herbs on hand, like basil or parsley, their pop of bright flavor and glorious greenness, sprinkled on just before eating, can liven up any dish, but especially one that was made entirely in the microwave.