Petey Pablo -- I Had a Chef in Prison ... Best Microwave Cook EVER

Petey Pablo had a personal chef while he was locked up for his firearms conviction ... but picture less Wolfgang Puck, and more Miss Claudette.

Pablo tells TMZ ... he paid another inmate to cook his meals -- dishes like chicken, pizza, and rice and beans. Wolf ranges are not available in the big house, but microwaves were readily available.

The "chef" would buy ingredients from the prison commissary and whip up the meals. Pablo's favorite -- a spicy rice bowl with jalapenos and available meat. Pablo boasts, "It was some of the best food you could ever make in a microwave."