Is it ok to microwave veggies without water instead of blanching them in a pot of water?

My kitchen manager (fine dining restaurant) said that that the only thing a microwave should be used for in a professional kitchen is to heat water.

Microwaving tends to dry out the outside of vegetables, and hurts both texture and flavor. Proper blanching takes about 5 minutes once you have water at a boil, and maintains both the crisp, fresh flavor and full texture. Blanching also tends maintain color better, because the outside of the vegetables heats to the same extent as the inside, and this is doubly true if you use an ice bath to cool vegetables after blanching.

So yes, you are Doing Things Wrong. That said, we all take shortcuts at times, and microwave ovens do work rather well for thawing frozen vegetables. With frozen vegetables you've already lost a lot of the texture, so the microwaving doesn't do much further harm.

Much depends on how you cook your vegetables in the microwave. I like to add butternut squash to pad out Chicken Maykupi (my own completely inconsistent curry recipe, using whatever comes to hand, and whichever spices I fancy on the day) and reduced the amount of chicken needed. If I add it raw, it's never cooked enough, if I add it cooked it falls apart. So I dice about half a squash into 3/4 inch cubes, put it in a bowl with a splash of water (2 tbsp-ish), cover with film and microwave for 4 minutes (850W). It works a treat every time, and takes less time than boiling a pan of water to achieve the same result.

My rules of thumb for microwave cooking of veg are: always cover with film (or loose-fitting lid) cook for half the time, give it a good shake, then finish off. Always cook for less time than you think, then give it another 30-60 seconds if necessary. Don't get obsessed with always using full power. 50% power for 50% longer can give a better result with heftier veg (e.g carrots). Use little water so that it gets absorbed rather than rinsing vitamins etc away.

I recommend looking at studies conducted in a scientific manner, instead of relying on anecdotal evidence. The link below covers a pretty good effort by graduate students, concludes microwaving is good. However, if you are having fun doing the blanching, then do it. Being happy and sharing your cooking with appreciative guests is a great way to spend a evening. (My college buddies from 30 years still recall my cooking and they drinking beer, just watching me.

When I go their houses, they tell their kids and I end up cooking. So blanch if you want to, microwave if you are short of time, the good will taste the same. ? Microwave Blanching Superior In Vegetable-Preservation Process

Microwaving vegetables is completely safe and actually enhances the flavor - providing you dont overcook the product. I am a food technologist and have tested the products I use the microwave for all my vegetables and have done for 50 years. Using a saucepan and boiling water washes the goodness out of the vegetable and then you throw the water away and the goodness with it. Cooking in a microwave is as healthy as it is possible to achieve - other than eating the product raw. I have achieved excellent results using a microwave with no more than a spoonful of water. The only thing you need to watch is mixing the size of the vegetables and the cooking times. If you are microwaving then ensure that the size of the items are about equal. I would not mix beans with say a potato or other larger items. The mix Cauliflower and Broccoli are perfect. Pumpkin and potatoes the same.

Years passed since the question was asked, but finally mainstream chefs do recommend microwaving food. David Chang in particular - he even came up with a cookware line for microwave.

In this interview, he says

I’d suggest cooking vegetables in your microwave. You’ll be amazed at how perfectly and fast they cook, all while staying crisp and delicious.

Personally what I do is, like David Chang suggests, actually steaming the vegetables in the microwave.

• Use a container with a lid (either with a small vent or leave a tiny opening to avoid creating excess pressure inside the container)
• most of the time I add no water, most vegetables have plenty of water in them already.
• It does go faster than blanching since you don't have to boil any water, and there's no loss of nutrients since I add no water for it to leach to - but there's also no seasoning up to this point.
• there's no noticeable loss of texture or flavor compared to blanching, and nothing to drain after it's done
• it's still the same amount of containers to clean: 1 :)

The main difference between microwaving and blanching is you can add salt to the water.

Proper blanching takes 1-5 mins depending on what your blanching and how soft you want it. There is no issues using a microwave you still have a container to clean. Microwave will save you about 5-10 mins waiting on the water to boil but considering you usually have to cook other things, what I do is first thing out on a pot of water prep/cook other things blanching something I do when I'm done with everything else considering I dont want the veg sitting there to long anyways considering its still cooking after you take it out of the water.

Personally I don't like microwaving veg cause I have never found one to cook the food evenly, compared to blanching.

Microwaves do not heat food, they activate the water molecules in the vegetable and cause it to boil. This is why melting things like chocolate take a long time to heat and meat doesn't roast.