Cooking with the MicroPro Grill

The MicroPro Grill is a grilling dish built for the microwave, with 66 recipes on the site. It browns a surface while cooking through, without going anywhere near a conventional oven.

Cooking that stays almost entirely in the microwave

Out of 66 recipes, only one mentions an oven step, at 200°C (392°F). Everything else cooks fully in the microwave, most often at full power: 66 recipes use 1000 W, 15 use 500 W and 8 use 900 W.

The median total time drops to 32 minutes, prep included, which makes this one of the fastest tools on the site for a main dish, well ahead of most oven recipes. The textured surface of the dish plays a part in the result, soaking up some of the moisture released while cooking.

That behaviour puts the MicroPro Grill closer to a frying pan than an oven in how it gets used, even though the heat source is completely different. The same idea of direct contact between the dish surface and the food explains the colour it gives without an oven.

What it's used for

Mains lead with 22 of the 66 recipes: chicken, fish, vegetables that need a browned finish. Savoury snacks follow with 12 recipes, then desserts with 9 and baking also with 9, often cakes cooked in one go in the microwave.

The dish suits meals for one or two people well, given its size and short cooking times. It also handles everyday jobs like a hot sandwich or a reheated pizza slice, with a crust that stays less soft than a plain microwave gives.

The near-even split between desserts and baking is a surprise for a dish built for browning. It comes down to how quickly it bakes a cake compared with an oven, which matters for recipes built around speed rather than a long, unhurried afternoon in the kitchen.

Six recipes to start with

From pizza to a chilled dessert, these six show the range this one small dish covers entirely on its own, without ever touching an oven.

• No-Bake Cream Cheese and Berry Dessert
• Savoury Cherry Tomato Crumble with Pesto
• Tall Malted Chocolate Cake, Microwave Sponges
• Filled Flatbread with Ham, Spinach and Cream Cheese
• Homemade Pizza with Courgette Ribbons and Parmesan
• Balsamic Herb Chicken

Avoiding common mistakes

Overloading the dish stops the surface from browning properly, since steam gets trapped between the pieces of food. Leaving a little space between them gives a result closer to a proper grill.

For chicken or fish, turning the piece halfway through spreads the colour on both sides. Checking chicken with a thermometer stays essential, since the high power of the microwave can make the surface look cooked well before the centre is.

A rest of 1 to 2 minutes after the microwave stops helps here too, especially for thicker pieces, since heat keeps moving toward the centre during that short pause after the timer runs out.

Care and adjusting the wattage

Wash the dish in hot water once it has cooled, rather than moving it straight from the oven into cold water. It is not built for a flame or a hob.

To adjust a recipe written for 1000 W on a weaker microwave, the usual rule applies: multiply the time by 800 divided by the actual wattage, then watch the food rather than relying only on the timer, since dish shape and food quantity both shift the real result in ways a formula cannot fully predict.

With 66 recipes on the site, the MicroPro Grill stays a niche tool compared with the MicroCook Pitcher or the Ultra Pro, but it fills a specific gap for anyone who cooks mostly in the microwave and wants to avoid the soggy finish that plain microwave cooking can leave.

Practical guides

• Microwave cooking times chart
• Which Tupperware product for which recipe?
• Cooking with the Ultra Pro dish
• Cooking with the MicroCook Pitcher