What Is A Grill Microwave Oven?

What Is A Grill Microwave Oven? (3 Great Advantages)

There are so many different types of microwave on the market today and I have so many questions. What is a grill microwave oven and how is it different from a regular microwave?

If you want to know the answer to this, as well as some more detailed information about grill microwaves then read on.

So what is a grill microwave oven? A grill microwave uses the same cooking method as a regular microwave. You can heat, reheat and defrost food with it. It has the addition of a grill plate to use to brown and crisp food. Combining both methods allows for faster cooking, browning or crisping the outside whilst cooking the inside.

It’s really quite a simple answer when you see it written like that. I’ve added further information below about exactly how a grill microwave works.

I’ve also gone into some detail about how much you can expect to pay, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of cooking with a grill microwave. If you want to find out more then keep reading!

What Is A Grill Microwave Oven?

So with so many different types of microwaves on the market today, let’s take a closer look at exactly what a grill microwave is. As I said above, a grill microwave oven combines all of the cooking advantages of a microwave oven, and adds a grill plate into this.

There are of course other microwaves you can look at too. I’ve written about flatbed microwaves, inverter microwaves and convection microwave ovens if you are interested in these.

With a grill microwave oven you get all of the functionality of the regular microwave. You can easily and quickly heat food. You can also reheat food quickly and without mess, and you can quickly defrost food as well.

There are also however some limitations with a regular or solo microwave oven. You obviously can’t get the desired cooking outcome that other appliances give you in the kitchen. A regular microwave oven does not give you the ability to grill, brown or sear your food.

This is where the grill plate comes into play in a grill microwave. The addition of this allows you to do all of the things a solo microwave does, with the added ability to grill and brown your food.

This means that the choices of what you can cook in a microwave are opened up. For example it is possible to cook and grill a burger or other meats to look and taste like they have been grilled. You can also cook things like pizzas without them feeling and tasting quite soggy.

How Does A Grill Microwave Oven Work?

Now that we’ve looked at what a grill microwave oven is, how does it actually work? Like I said above, a grill microwave combines the functionality of a regular microwave, with the addition of a grill.

So let’s talk first about exactly how the regular part of a grill microwave oven works.

A grill microwave first and foremost uses the same microwave technology as regular microwaves. A regular microwave uses as it’s main component something called a magnetron.

The magnetron works to charge electrodes which are passed between a cathode and an anode. Underneath the magnetron is a powerful magnet. This magnet disturbs the flow of electrons, causing them to fly around in a circular direction.

As they fly around, they pass over something called cavities. This is what gives this type of magnetron the name of a cavity magnetron. When they fly over these cavities, the electrons begin to resonate.

As they resonate they then begin to create microwaves. These microwaves are then sent into the cooking compartment of the oven by something called a waveguide.

Once inside the cooking chamber these microwaves bounce around the inside of the microwave oven. When food or liquid is placed inside of the microwave to be cooked, they absorb these microwaves.

The microwaves excite the water molecules inside the food or liquid. This causes them to vibrate extremely quickly, and this causes heat to be produced. Food is cooked from the outside in, with the outer edges of the food receiving heat first.

The Grill Plate

The addition of a grill plate to your microwave takes the cooking process inside of the microwave even further. As well as the creation of microwaves to cook food, the grill microwave also provides power to heat the grill plate. The grill plate is provided with enough power so that it is hot enough to cook food.

So you can use the regular functions of a microwave to cook food, and add the grill functionality to also brown or crisp your food. This then gives a different texture and taste to things like meats and vegetables.

What Can You Cook In A Grill Microwave?

The beauty of adding a grill to your microwave is how much more you can cook with it. A grill microwave oven can function without the grill as a regular microwave.

This means that you can heat and reheat food, as well as defrosting frozen foods. You can still cook a whole range of things such as pasta dishes, fluffy rice, scrambled eggs, soups and so much more.

However the addition of the grill allows you to cook some things even better, and add more things that you can make. Whilst not an exhaustive list, below are some things you may want to try by combining the grill element in your microwave oven:

  • Burgers
  • Pizza
  • Bacon
  • Toasties/Grilled Sandwiches
  • Vegetables
  • Pasta Dishes

How Much Does A Grill Microwave Oven Cost?

It is fair to say that buying a grill microwave oven is going to work out quite a bit more expensive than a regular microwave. This is simply because of the additional technology required to add the grill function.

Cooking is such an important part of many peoples lives these days. For this reason people generally don’t mind spending a little more on kitchen appliances.

If grilling food is something you are into, then adding this to your microwave makes sense. As with every kitchen appliance, there are models that you would describe as more at the budget end, and others much more expensive in price.

What you are paying for at the higher end is ultimately going to be more functions and programs, more cooking space and more than likely higher power. You can expect to pay somewhere between $100 and $300 for a grill microwave oven.

You can buy even more expensive grill microwaves than this. They however tend to add other technology such as convection technology, which is another type of cooking altogether. Below are just a couple of options at either end of the market.

The below Faberware Grill Microwave is at the budget end of the market. It does still however have some great features and a ton of positive reviews on Amazon.

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At the opposite end of the scale is the Panasonic NN-GN68K Grill Microwave. This uses a slightly different type of grill to the microwave above. It uses infrared technology to brown and crisp foods.

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What Are the Advantages Of Using a Grill Microwave?

There are many advantages to microwave cooking in general. Not just cooking with a microwave grill oven.

Below I am only talking about the advantages of using a microwave grill over a solo microwave rather than advantages of microwave cooking in general.

Cooking Style

This is really the most obvious advantage of a microwave grill oven. By this I mean obviously you are adding the ability to grill when cooking with a microwave.

You are able to brown and crisp foods that you would not be able to with a regular microwave. This means you can say goodbye to things like soggy pizza if you are using a microwave grill.

Faster Cooking Time

By adding the grill function to your microwave, you can rapidly increase cooking times. This works in two ways. You can increase the speed of cooking in a microwave by also grilling the food.

However, you can also increase the speed of using a standalone grill by partly cooking food with the microwave function before grilling.

Saves On Washing Up

Combing a microwave and a grill can really save on washing up and tidying. First off you are only using one appliance instead of two.

No need to clean out the grill after use. Just clean out your microwave as and when needed.

Also you will only use one set of cookware instead of two, meaning you halve your washing up when you are finished. Ideal!

What Are the Disadvantages Of  Using A Grill Microwave?

Again the disadvantages discussed below are really just between a solo microwave and grill microwave oven.

Cost

As I said above, you can expect to add more to what you will pay for a grill microwave oven. If you are prepared to use it regularly then I don’t see this as being a problem.

I think the extra versatility far outweighs the extra cost of this appliance.

Weight

The addition of the grill part of the microwave will add some extra weight to your appliance. This really only affects you if you need to move the microwave for cleaning purposes.

Some Cooking Limitations

Even though it is more versatile than a regular microwave, the grill microwave still has limitations. You can’t bake or roast food with this.

Whilst it is true that you can’t do this with a solo microwave either, a convection microwave is capable of doing this.

Conclusion

I hope I have answered the question about what a grill microwave oven is. Very simply it is a microwave that combines the functions of a regular microwave with the ability to grill food.

It makes cooking faster, and it allows you to crisp and brown your food too.

I’ve tried to add as much information as I could find and that I thought was useful.

If you have anything you would like to add please feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading.

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