Ditch the Microwave and Explore Better Methods to Reheat Your Leftover Meals

A reliable microwave is not with out goal: softening butter, defrosting a slice of frozen bread that is destined for the toaster or rapidly reheating tea that is gone chilly. However in my kitchen, the makes use of are few and much between. Earlier than I get too excessive on my horse, let me make it clear that I adore shortcuts. Look no additional than the stack of meal kit bins folded neatly in my recycling bin for proof. However kitchen effectivity cannot come on the expense of style and texture.

The microwave earned its place as a kitchen staple largely on speed-heating and cooking, however the outcomes — typically chewy, overdone or erratically heated — depart a lot to be desired. There are higher methods to reheat virtually any sort of meals and most of them take the identical quantity of effort and time because the microwave. 

Should you like your wings crispy, your meat tender and your noodles with bounce, take into account sparing your subsequent prepared meal or plate of final night’s dinner from being nuked to demise and take a look at these superior methods to reheat each sort of leftovers. 

For extra on microwaves, we discovered why pasta sauce always explodes in the microwave and outlined the five things you should never put inside one.

Microwaves are dangerous at reheating most meals. There, I stated it

The microwave is the equipment mostly employed to reheat leftovers, however I might additionally contend that it is the worst. Except for meals like soup, plain rice or mashed potatoes, something that comes out of the microwave is sort of definitely going to have a level of rubberiness that it did not have when it went in.

“Nevertheless it’s a lot quicker!” you say. Is it although? Many of the strategies outlined under take lower than two or three minutes. Plus, microwaves are vulnerable to messy explosions. If you must clear your microwave after reheating meals, it is positively not a time-saver. 

The air fryer cooks virtually as quick as a microwave and, for my part, significantly better. Including an air fryer to your kitchen might really feel like an upfront value, however these budget-friendly superconvection ovens are the most effective, first step in the direction of higher leftovers. Plus, they’re going to save money on your energy bill over time. 

Meals sort: Noodles, pasta and rice dishes

Finest technique: Nonstick skillet

This wide-ranging class of traditional takeout cuisines contains Italian pasta dishes, Indian curries with rice, Thai, Vietnamese and Korean noodles and Chinese language stir-fries. Actually we’re speaking about any dish that includes a starch akin to rice or noodles with diced greens, meat or plant-based protein and a sauce. The one factor all of them have in frequent is that they are greatest reheated in a nonstick skillet or wok. 

When you can in all probability get away with nuking easy fried rice, a microwave tends to overcook pasta and noodles and can seemingly flip your hen, shrimp or sliced beef into rubber. As an alternative, simply throw the entire thing in a nonstick skillet on medium warmth. Toss intermittently and in a couple of minutes, you will have one thing practically pretty much as good as when it first confirmed up at your desk or door the night time earlier than. And nonstick pans sometimes take all of 15 seconds to rinse clear. 

For rice dishes, take into account a stainless-steel, carbon-steel or cast-iron skillet to get crispy rice.

Meals sort: Pizza and flatbread

Finest technique: Air fryer

There are a handful of causes I like my air fryer, however none extra notable than for reheating leftovers. Microwaves completely destroy pizza, so let’s cross that one off. Even toaster ovens take far too lengthy, in my expertise, and find yourself drying the pizza out by the point it is heated by way of.

The short blast of an air fryer’s superconvection will reheat your pizza to crispy perfection in about two minutes at 400 levels F, relying on how giant and thick it’s. You should definitely use the basket or grate or else the recent, flat backside of the air fryer basket may burn the underside of your slice. 

I personally will not warmth leftover pizza every other method, and I counsel you do not both. And if you did not have sufficient causes to spring for one, air fryers use way less energy than a big oven.

Meals sort: Fried hen, french fries and different fried meals

Finest technique: Air fryer

Leftover fried meals have traditionally been some of the tough to convey again to life. Enter the air fryer, which may revive fried hen, fried dumplings, mozzarella sticks and even french fries like nothing else within the kitchen. Just like pizza, it’s going to take just a few minutes to warmth by way of and you need to have a crispy outer shell identical to when the fried meals was initially cooked. 

For thicker items of hen, use a decrease temperature round 325 to 350 levels F for 3 minutes or so to make sure you do not burn the surface earlier than the middle has time to heat by way of.

Facet notice: Past reheating fried hen, a great air fryer additionally makes scrumptious “fried” hen and different meals with far much less oil than conventional strategies.

Meals sort: Steak, pork chops, burgers and grilled hen

Finest technique: Solid-iron skillet

Cuts of meat, together with steak and pork chops, are one other meals that may be powerful to resuscitate. Concern not, as a result of there’s a method. Whereas reheating grilled steak or fish in an air fryer or oven is not unattainable, you are more likely to dry the meat out. As an alternative, I counsel re-searing it rapidly in a lined sizzling cast-iron skillet for no multiple minute on all sides. The recent floor of the skillet ought to give life again to the crust. Preserving it lined will assist heat it by way of earlier than the pan warmth has time to overcook it. For delicate fish, you may wish to use a nonstick skillet to maintain the flesh from sticking or falling aside.

Honest warning: A lot of these reheated meals won’t ever be fairly pretty much as good as if you first pulled them from the grill, pan or plancha, however this technique ought to depart them extra than edible. 

Meals sort: Braised, roasted or slow-cooked meat

Finest technique: Lined skillet with cooking liquid broth

Braised dishes akin to hen in wine sauce or brief ribs ought to be reheated in a method that mimics how they have been cooked. Simply warmth them gently for a couple of minutes in a lined nonstick or chrome steel pan with an oz. or two of water or hen inventory. The recent liquid will heat and revive the braised or slow-roasted meat, giving it again its juicy tenderness.