This Viral TikTok Claims You're Making A Big Microwaving Mistake

There's nothing like opening up TikTok, expecting to spend a little time scrolling through and laughing at some good wholesome content, only to find out creators on the app are calling you and your microwave habits out.

A recent video by TikTok creator @tanyahomeinspo is going viral after causing quite the controversy on the app among microwave owners everywhere. "You know when you reheat food in the microwave and some parts of it are hot enough to burn your mouth and the other part of it is frozen?" she says at the start of the video, as she puts a frozen dinner into the machine. She then goes on to explain that "most" of us are using our microwaves wrong. For some, the information was "life changing."

"This is why TikTok exists," one commenter wrote. "Am I the only one that's mind blown?" another shared.

Still, some viewers claimed the hack didn't really matter at all. Keep reading to learn what's got microwave owners locked in a heated debate and whether you've actually been microwaving food wrong all of these years.

The video claims you should put your food at the edge of the tray

"You shouldn't actually have your food in the middle of the plate here," the video continues. "It should be on the edge, so it can actually rotate around and cook evenly."

While some commenters were "mind blown," others were much less convinced. "The whole plate is in the middle so it doesn't matter if it's in the middle," one wrote, "what works is making a [hole] in the middle of your food."

While the TikTok is recent, this is actually not a new discussion. Six years ago, a Reddit post shared that putting food on the edge of the microwave plate had many benefits. These include "consistent and energy-intense" microwaves hitting your food and a quicker and more consistent heating time, which the poster attributes to less "standing waves" creating a "more thermally consistent" heating experience. Still, the top response read, "Not necessarily true. It varies by microwave."

The effectiveness of this TikTok microwave hack probably does depend on your individual microwave, but it never hurts to try if you're not getting the results you want. Plus, if this method helped at least one person, it feels like a win.