TikTok's Microwave Trick Is Reinventing Parmesan Rinds

Say what you will about the time-sucking void that is TikTok, but in the spaces between doom-scrolling content, the app is chock full of tips and tricks and serve us in life outside the metaverse. Recipes, kitchen hacks, and other food-related videos draw in a particularly large viewership, from budding cooks to professional chefs to hungry passersby. Even casual users are aware of the biggest hits, like the viral baked feta pasta that captured the attention of celebrity chefs like J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. 

So in that sense, you may want to turn to TikTok if you're not in the mood to do a lot of prep work but are craving something that tastes a little more gourmet, elevated fare than the stale chips in your snack drawer. Lucky for us, TikToker Gray Davis shared a recipe (if you can even call it that) that requires three things you almost certainly have in your kitchen: a plate, a microwave, and a parmesan rind. 

Got a few extra parmesan rinds languishing in your fridge? Whatever you do, don't throw them out. Instead, peel off their wax, cut them into bite-sized pieces, and pop them in the microwave for one minute. The result is not the lacy, wafer-like crisp that occurs when cheese hits a hot pan or oven (like in Martha Stewart's cheddar frico recipe). Instead, the parm bits turn into elevated cheese puffs — sort of like French gougeres, but without the choux pastry. 

If you're a visual learner, follow along with Gray Davis on TikTok. The ASMR of his crispy bite at the end of the video is compelling enough to spur even the most casual viewer directly to their fridge in search of parmesan remnants (at least in our opinion). By all appearances, Davis' cheese trick does, indeed, yield a delightfully airy treat that feels decidedly fancy. It also appears to have inspired viewers to come up with ways to repurpose these parm bits for uses outside the purview of snacking, like one user who reported in the comments that the puffs are also great in soup. 

If you're not into cheese puffs, we still implore you to save your parmesan rinds. They may not look like much, but the nubs are packed with flavor that can add rich, umami goodness to any savory dish that simmers on the stove. (Think of them as anchovies, but, you know, cheese.)

America's Test Kitchen provides a number of ideas, including adding them to risotto, soups and stews, beans, and grains and lentils. MasterClass suggests adding rinds to Italian tomato-based sauces, which lends a cheesy base to pasta dishes topped with even more cheese. Our favorite use is to make them the star of the show by turning them into their own broth. Julia Sherman's recipe in The New York Times maximizes flavor with onion, garlic, fresh and dried herbs, and black peppercorns. The result is a rich, golden liquid gold that can be used in place of any other stock or broth.