Have you ever hastily tossed a bowl of chocolate into microwave, set it to one minute, and come back to find burned bits of chocolate around the bowl and big clumps of chocolate unmelted? Oh, no? I guess that's just me. Well, in case you need chocolate for dipping holiday cookies, coating truffles, or adorning berries, this is a foolproof method for melting chocolate in the microwave.

How to Perfectly Melt Any Chocolate in the Microwave

Two key steps will give you perfectly melted chocolate using the microwave, every time. The first is making sure the chocolate is in small, uniform pieces. Chocolate chips do well here, because they are petite and all the same size. Chocolate blocks and bars should be finely chopped for melting. Move the chopped chocolate to a glass bowl for melting. Glass insulates the chocolate better, preventing scorching.

Secondly, heat the chocolate in 30-second bursts and stir between each. For the first burst or two, stirring will feel arbitrary, but by the third, you see plainly that the edges of the bowl are melting faster than the center and distributing their heat will melt everything more evenly and quickly.

How to Use Microwave Melted Chocolate

This microwave method won't keep your chocolate in temper (that is, it won't set up snappy and shiny for coating candies or cookies to be kept at room temperature); you'll need our cooking lesson on how to temper chocolate for that. But this melting method can be used for chocolate destined for batter or topping and coating refrigerated treats like homemade truffles or strawberries.