Advice on how to do things and what to avoid is rampant on the Internet, but even with the best of advice, it is possible to overlook it or not think to look it up at all. It is easy to make mistakes, and the public is recently learning the dangers of microwaving items they should not. Why should you never microwave a hard boiled egg? Here’s the science behind it and how to proceed.
Why Should You Never Microwave a Hard Boiled Egg?
Microwave ovens energize molecules to create energy, thus cooking or warming up whatever is in them. Hard boiled eggs contain moisture, and when they are in an operating microwave oven, that moisture will turn into steam. When water turns into steam, the H2O molecules want to spread out. The problem is that there is nowhere for them to escape within the hard eggshell.
If the microwave oven runs long enough with a hard boiled egg inside of it, the egg will explode and possibly ruin your microwave oven. If the egg does not explode in the microwave, it could very well explode in your face and cause steam burns.
Can You Hard Boil an Egg in a Microwave Oven?
You should beware of warming up hard boiled eggs in the microwave oven; it is much safer to eat them cold or reboil them. If you are skeptical, see any of the videos of people cracking newly-microwaved hard boiled eggs.
On the flip side, you can safely hard boil a raw egg in the microwave oven. You generally want to avoid microwaving anything that has an enclosed shell, like an egg, but microwaving a raw one will merely cook the egg and not cause an explosion. If you do boil an egg in a microwave oven, limit it to 100% power for 40 seconds max.
