The Mug Hack To Try For Quick And Easy Omelets

You're in a rush to make it to your morning appointment but know that you don't want to skip your usual hot breakfast. You also don't want to come home to a sink full of dishes to clean later. What can you make that's no-mess, quick, and delicious? Taking a cue from microwave mug cakes, let's meet its savory cousin — the microwave mug omelet.

For its most basic iteration, you need just five items to make this power breakfast. Yes, five items, not five ingredients! They are: a mug, fork, cooking spray, salt, and an egg. Simply coat the inside of a clean mug with cooking spray, then crack an egg into the mug. Sprinkle in a tiny pinch of salt, then stir with the fork. Place everything except the fork (and eggshells) into the microwave and heat it in 30-second increments. Depending on your microwave settings, your omelet could be done in as little as those first 30 seconds, but it should not take longer than two minutes. Remove the mug from the microwave, let it cool for a moment, then enjoy your warm omelet. You can even add a variety of fillings after microwaving your eggs properly.

Before we get into ways of zhuzhing up your mug omelet, let's answer the question of whether it's safe to eat microwaved eggs in the first place. Everyone's used to reheating food in the microwave, but what about cooking something in it from scratch? According to the American Cancer Society, the microwave radiation that heats your food is non-ionizing, which means it's perfectly safe to use it to cook your eggs.

However, you do need to worry about the food exploding while in the microwave, and this is true no matter what type of food it is. So don't microwave eggs for too long or attempt to microwave eggs still in their shells, as those pose an exploding risk. It'll take a lot more than exploding eggs to short-circuit your microwave, but that said, it will still be pretty annoying to clean up. Other than making sure your mug is microwave-safe, any additional omelet ingredients ideally need to be finely chopped and well-mixed into the eggs so they don't explode out of the mug either.

So what else can you put into a microwave mug omelet? Because the microwave cooks eggs within two minutes, there isn't room for ingredients that take a longer time to cook. Shredded cheese, canned fish, and cooked deli ham are good choices, along with tender herbs like cilantro and parsley. Fresh ingredients can be added on top of the omelet once it's removed from the microwave, like sliced avocados and cherry tomato halves.

If the idea of microwaved omelets in the morning appeals to you, consider prepping a variety of preferred fillings beforehand. Omelet fillings that can be precooked and kept well in an airtight container in the fridge include bacon, ground turkey, button mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions. Mix and match throughout the week for a different omelet every morning, adding any spices you like. Dried oregano? Curry powder? It's your omelet; make it your own.

Once you've exhausted your personal options for mug omelets, expand your microwave eggs repertoire to include other techniques. Scrambled, poached, and even hard-boiled, there are plenty of ways to get a quick egg breakfast made in a microwave!