Autumn, chestnut season, a delicious and very nutritious fruit that can be enjoyed roasted (the exquisite roasted chestnuts!), baked, on the stove, boiled, or used in many different recipes. The only downside of this typically autumnal product is that it’s not exactly ready to eat: cooking chestnuts can be very tedious, especially if you don’t have a nice fireplace or grill available. Cooking chestnuts can indeed take up to 40 minutes, and baking them in the oven always carries the risk of drying them out excessively.
A less orthodox method but capable of delivering excellent results in a short time is microwaving chestnuts. In just a few minutes, you can get chestnuts and marrons soft and easy to peel, ready to enjoy or use in numerous preparations. Moreover, by microwaving chestnuts, you can satisfy the craving for a chestnut or two whenever you want, even cooking small quantities in little time (microwaving a single chestnut takes about 20 seconds). The result is akin to roasted chestnuts, although you won’t have the characteristic grill aroma of this type of cooking. The microwave chestnut recipe is designed for small quantities of chestnuts: like all things microwaved, the more you cook, the longer the cooking time will be, and for large quantities, the time advantage over traditional cooking will be lost. For uniform cooking of microwaved chestnuts, it’s essential to arrange them in a single layer, with the cut side facing up (don’t forget to cut them or they’ll explode). Another good habit, also common in the preparation of classic roasted chestnuts, is to soak chestnuts for at least 10 minutes before cooking them and, once cooked, transfer them to a paper bag or cloth for the time needed to peel them.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 10 Minutes
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 2 people
- Cooking methods: Microwave
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Fall
- Energy 197.88 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 42.78 (g) of which sugars 8.56 (g)
- Proteins 2.56 (g)
- Fat 1.78 (g) of which saturated 0.33 (g)of which unsaturated 1.31 (g)
- Fibers 4.12 (g)
- Sodium 1.64 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 70 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 10 microwaved chestnuts
- 10 chestnuts (or marrons)
- to taste water
Tools
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife sharp
- 1 Microwave
- 1 Bowl microwave-safe
- 1 paper bag like bread bags
How to Microwave Chestnuts
To microwave chestnuts, start by making an incision in the rounded part of the chestnuts (1). Soak them in cold water for at least 10 minutes (2). Drain them but leave them moist and place them in a microwave-safe container or a microwave-safe bowl, in a single layer with the cut side facing up (3).
Place the plate in the center of the microwave and set a power of 700 W and a cooking time of 3 minutes if you have large chestnuts or marrons, 2 and a half minutes for smaller chestnuts. You can assess the cooking level from the aroma they will start to emit.
At the end of cooking, the microwaved chestnuts will start to open like classic roasted chestnuts (4). Immediately transfer them to a paper bag or inside a clean cloth (5) and leave them there until you peel them one by one. The shell and inner skin will come off very easily (6).
You can enjoy the microwaved chestnuts immediately or use them for desserts and other preparations. Like classic roasted chestnuts, they tend to harden as they cool, so it’s advisable to cook only the chestnuts you know you will use.
How to Store Cooked Chestnuts
You can store microwaved cooked chestnuts at room temperature for 2 or 3 days.
Tips and Variations
As mentioned, this method is particularly useful if you need to cook a few chestnuts, as with large quantities, the time advantage over other methods (oven, salted chestnuts, pressure cooker chestnuts) is lost. It’s difficult to give exact cooking times for all quantities of chestnuts, so adjust by eye, considering that a single chestnut takes 20-30 seconds, 10 chestnuts about 3 minutes, 20 chestnuts about 5. If you notice they are not perfectly cooked, you can put them back in the microwave and extend the cooking time by 30-60 seconds.
