Anyday Microwave Cookware

Anyday wants to change the way we think about the microwave. The company claims that by using its cookware and recipes, home cooks can have perfectly cooked, delicious meals (think sticky Honey Mustard Chicken Wings, Sloppy Joes, Bok Choy with Peanut Sauce, and even Garlic Butter Lobster Tails), all made in the microwave with minimal effort.

The cookware is available in three colors and  in four sizes (a large deep dish, a medium deep dish, a large shallow dish, and a medium shallow dish) that can be purchased individually, in pairs (large deep and large shallow or medium deep and medium shallow), or as a complete set of four. We tested all four dishes, sold together as The Everyday Set.

The dishes and lids are made of thick, frosted, shock-resistant borosilicate glass, which resists cracking when exposed to sudden shifts in temperature (e.g., taking a hot dish out of the microwave and putting it on a cold surface). Each lid has a silicone knob that pops up and doubles as a vent and a microwave-safe stainless-steel rim with a silicone gasket underneath to ensure a tight seal. The glass allows the microwave to cook the food through, and the lid captures the moisture released from the food as it cooks, preventing it from drying out.

We made eight Anyday recipes as well as our recipe for Microwaved Beets. (For comparison, we also cooked the microwaved beets and several of the Anyday recipes in similar-size bowls from our favorite glass mixing bowl set, the Pyrex Smart Essentials Mixing Bowl Set.)

A major perk of using the Anyday cookware set is the company’s free recipes. Each recipe was easily adjustable: Input the wattage of your microwave and the desired serving size, and the recipe automatically adjusts ingredient quantities and cooking times. Anyday also has simple, one-ingredient recipes for foods such as cooked broccoli, chicken breasts, and quinoa. 

Of the eight Anyday recipes we tried, we were impressed by the perfectly cooked chicken wings and sloppy joes, al dente pasta, crisp-tender vegetables, and succulent lobster tails. Because of the moisture trapped inside the dishes, meat came out tender and moist rather than getting browned; this result was appropriate for most of the recipes (e.g., sticky chicken wings rather than crispy fried buffalo wings). Our recipe for cooked beets also came out well in the Anyday dishes, with each beet cube cooked through.

In contrast, the Pyrex-cooked food was usually a little drier, particularly the chicken wings. We think this was a result of the Pyrex bowl lids and/or the plates not fully sealing off the contents inside like the Anyday lids do. We left these lids slightly ajar after discovering that the lack of a vent caused them to puff up when fully sealed. On the Anyday lids, the venting knob allowed built-up pressure to escape, but not enough to result in dry food.

The Anyday dishes and lids were easier to handle than regular bowls and lids. The dishes’ flat, wide bottoms and gently angled sides made them comfortable to grip (even when wearing bulky oven mitts), whereas the smooth-surfaced, curved Pyrex bowls were slippery and hard to get a hold on.

We also liked the silicone gasket on the Anyday lids; it kept the lids secure when maneuvering the dishes. We had particular trouble handling the Pyrex bowl when we used a plate as a lid when making microwaved beets (as the recipe called for)—the plate slid off the bowl in the microwave. The Pyrex microwave-safe plastic lids also emitted a chemical smell during longer cooking times, which didn’t happen with the Anyday dishes.

The Anyday cookware performed well in our tests; every recipe we made in the cookware, no matter the size of the dishware, came out perfectly cooked, and the dishes were easy to handle. We continued to use the dishes even after we finished our formal testing and came away with a newfound appreciation for microwave cooking.