Up until Hungry Hubby and I moved into the Apple Chapel, we hadn’t owned a microwave in years. We’d both grown up in homes with them but we didn’t have the space to accommodate even a small one, but there is one built into the kitchen here. I will admit to belonging to the “anti-microwave” brigade for a long while but really, it’s a senseless prejudice I can’t quite understand anymore.

Obviously the original besmirching of microwave cooking is justifiable – no one should be eating microwave meals from a plastic tray, full of artifical preservatives, salt, sugar and all kinds of nasties if you have any concern for your health, but they do have their uses.

Besides reheating meals I’ve batch cooked, frozen then defrosted (in the fridge overnight, I draw the line at using the microwave to defrost my food), I’ve recently discovered that you can make the most Luscious Lemon Curd you’ve ever tasted in the microwave!

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Believe me, I understand if you are sceptical. It sounds like a lemon scrambled egg splattered nightmare waiting to happen but I promise this works brilliantly. A foodie friend of mine called Rita shared her recipe for Microwave Lemon Curd a while back and our mutual buddies have been going crazy for it.

I’ve already made a heap of it myself (and rumour has it, you will need some for an upcoming recipe or two… 😉 ) and have barely adapted the original recipe to what you see here today.

It’s thick and smooth and utterly delicious to eat. Making it in a double boiler has landed me in trouble over the years as I’ve either overcooked it or I’ve not got the heat high enough and it hasn’t set, which worries me as I’m never sure it’s safe to partially cook then reheat the curd to try and get it to set the next day.

This way, you get a perfect set every time. If your microwave is super high-powered, you may want to zap it in 30-second increments until you know how it will cook for you but don’t be scared – like melting chocolate, you’ll wonder why you ever bothered with a bain marie and make your lemon curd this way every time from now on! Thanks to Rita for a genius recipe 😀

And psst, I use Clarence Court eggs and they are perfect here as their crazy deep orange-yellow yolks give this beautiful, vivid, all natural sunshine yellow colour to the finished lemon curd.

5 from 2 votes
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Microwave Lemon Curd
Quite the simplest way to make lemon curd ever. There's no need to worry but if you are a 'fraidy cat like I was, just go in 30 second increments until you've seen the magic work in your own microwave. Makes about 750ml of curd.
: 1985 kcal
Author: Just Jo
Ingredients
  • 175 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 225 g caster sugar
  • 115 g very soft butter
  • 4 small-medium sized eggs
Instructions
  1. Mix the lemon juice and caster sugar together in a large microwave safe jug or bowl (I use my Pampered Chef batter bowl here which is a heavy duty large glass jug which is safe in the oven as well as the microwave so do check if yours is before you make this).
  2. Stir in the butter.
  3. Whisk the eggs very well until combined and pass through a fine sieve into the jug of lemon juice etc. Discard any stringy bits in the sieve then wash and dry it thoroughly as we'll need it again later.
  4. Stir well then place in the microwave for 60 seconds on high. Take the jug/bowl out and whisk it well - it's unusual to see any change after the first zap.
  5. Return to the microwave and give it three more 60 seconds on high, followed every time by taking it out of the microwave and whisking it throughly - it should be thickening with every zap, initially around the edges. I find after 4 minutes, it just needs another 30 seond pulse before it's thickened enough to set on cooling (it will be like thick double/heavy cream when it's ready), so do feel free to go with lower increments of time as you approach the end of cooking if you think it's almost there.
  6. Pass the curd through the clean and dry sieve to catch any tiny bits of overcooked egg (I've found you barely get a single grain with this method but feel happier giving it a second sieve to ensure smoothness) into sterilised* jars and once cooled to room temperature, store in the fridge.
  7. I've found it lasts up to 2 weeks in the fridge, if you don't eat it all!
Recipe Notes

*= I sterilise jars by running them through the dishwasher on hot and using whilst still warm.

Adapted from From my friend Rita Fraser's recipe

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