A mean-field, microscopic theory of an excess electron solvated in a molten salt is presented. Starting with the grand partition function of the system, we reformulate the problem to evaluate a mean field induced by charges and calculate self-consistently the electron density distribution. We obtain a Poisson-Boltzmann equation for the mean-field and Schrodinger equation for the electron wave functions with a potential dependent on the mean field and a local density of melt. We also derive expressions for electron-ion correlation functions. We demonstrate that the mean field is weak in molten salts and can be analytically evaluated in the Debye-Huckel limit. Using a simple variational treatment, we calculate energetic and structural properties of a solvated electron for a wide range of alkali halide melts. These properties are mainly determined by the polaron effect, while the repulsion between the electron and ion cores leads to a remarkable variance of the properties. The results obtained are in good agreement with path-integral simulations and experimental data on the maximum of the absorption spectrum of an electron solvated in these melts. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(00)51107-6].