Leftovers are a great way to stretch a meal and ensure that you’re really getting your money’s worth out of each week’s groceries. Whether you’ve decided to start meal prepping as part of your New Year’s resolution or you’re stretching out one night’s dinner into two, knowing how to properly reheat a meal is crucial. That means knowing when not to use the microwave.
I stopped reheating most foods in the microwave a while back, and I don’t regret it. Sure, the microwave is quick, but it typically robs food of its flavor and texture — which is the last thing you want for certain meals.
These days, I rely on an air fryer or a skillet to reheat meals, and the results always justify the means. Your leftovers deserve a second life that’s just as delicious as the first serving.
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If you’re ready to forgo the microwave for crispier chicken and springier noodles the second time around, here are the best ways to reheat every type of leftover.
Pizza and flatbread
Best way to reheat: Air fryer or toaster oven
There are a handful of reasons I love my air fryer, but none more notable than reheating leftovers. Microwaves destroy pizza, so let’s cross that one off. A toaster and convection oven do better, but they still take longer to heat and can dry the pizza out by the time it’s heated through.
The quick blast of an air fryer’s superconvection will reheat your pizza to crispy perfection in about two minutes at 400°F, depending on its size and thickness. Be sure to use the basket or grate; otherwise, the hot, flat bottom of the air fryer basket could burn the bottom of your slice. I won’t heat leftover pizza any other way. If you didn’t have enough reasons to spring for one, air fryers use less energy than a big oven.
Read more: Air Fryer Hacks to Prevent Grease Fires in Your Home
Fried food
Best way to reheat: Air fryer
Leftover fried foods have historically been among the most challenging to revive. Enter the air fryer, which can revive fried chicken, fried dumplings, mozzarella sticks, egg rolls and even French fries like nothing else in the kitchen. Like pizza, it’ll take only a few minutes to heat through, and you should have a crispy outer shell, just like when the food was initially cooked.
For thicker pieces of chicken, cook at a lower temperature of 325 to 350 degrees F for three minutes or so to ensure the outside doesn’t burn before the center has time to warm through.
Side note: Beyond reheating fried chicken, a good air fryer makes delicious “fried” chicken and other foods with less oil than traditional methods.
Noodles, pasta and rice dishes
Best way to reheat: Nonstick skillet
This wide-ranging category of classic takeout includes Italian pasta dishes, Indian curries served with rice, Thai, Vietnamese and Korean noodles, as well as Chinese stir-fries. We’re discussing any dish featuring starch, such as rice or noodles, diced vegetables, meat or plant-based protein, and a sauce. The one thing they all have in common is that they’re best reheated in a nonstick skillet or wok.
While you can probably get away with nuking simple fried rice, a microwave tends to overcook pasta and noodles, and will likely turn your chicken, shrimp, or sliced beef into rubber. Instead, simply throw it all into a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Toss intermittently, and in a few minutes, you’ll have something nearly as good as when it first arrived at your table or door the night before. Nonstick pans typically take all of 15 seconds to rinse clean.
Consider a stainless-steel, carbon-steel or cast-iron skillet for rice dishes to get crispy rice.
Read more: What Is ‘Teflon Flu’? What to Know About Nonstick Cookware
Steak, pork chops, burgers and grilled chicken
Best way to reheat: Cast-iron or nonstick skillet
Cuts of meat, including steak and pork chops, are another food that can be tough to resuscitate. Fear not, because there is a way. While reheating grilled steak or fish in an air fryer or oven isn’t impossible, you’ll likely dry out the meat. Instead, I suggest re-searing it quickly in a covered hot cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan for no more than a minute on each side. The hot surface of the skillet should revive the crust. Keeping it covered will help warm it through before the pan heat has time to overcook it. You might want to use a nonstick skillet for delicate fish to keep the flesh from sticking or falling apart.
Fair warning: These types of reheated foods will never be as good as when you first pulled them from the grill, pan or plancha, but this method should leave them more than edible.
Braised, roasted or slow-cooked meat
Best way to reheat: Covered skillet with a splash of liquid
Braised dishes, such as chicken in wine sauce or short ribs, should be reheated to replicate their original cooking method. Heat them gently for a few minutes in a covered nonstick or stainless steel pan with a small amount of water or chicken stock. The hot liquid will revive the braised or slow-roasted meat, returning its juicy tenderness.
For more tasty tips, see how to find cheap wine at the grocery store and how to cook a perfect whole chicken in the air fryer.
The microwave is rarely the best way to reheat leftovers
The microwave is the appliance most commonly employed to reheat leftovers, and it may be the fastest, but I’d also contend that it’s the worst. Most reheated food from the microwave has a degree of rubberiness, dryness or mushiness that it didn’t have when it was originally cooked.
Microwaves don’t typically heat food evenly, resulting in areas that are either too hot or too cold in places — sometimes both. Plus, microwaves are prone to messy explosions. If you have to clean your microwave after reheating food, it’s not a time-saver.
“But it’s so much faster!” you say, but is it? Most of the methods outlined below can be completed in less than five minutes. The air fryer cooks almost as fast as a microwave and, in my opinion, much better. Adding an air fryer to your kitchen may be an up-front cost, but these budget-friendly super convection ovens are the best first step toward better leftovers. Plus, they’ll save money on your energy bill over time.
Is there any food you should reheat in the microwave?
Although most dense foods shrivel up or dry out in a microwave, some softer foods handle the microwave heat better. Items such as soup (covered), sauce, plain rice, or mashed potatoes won’t lose too much oomph if you nuke them.
The microwave is also a great place to quickly soften butter, make popcorn, or warm water, baby formula and other liquids. It’s even one of my favorite ways to poach an egg, so it’s far from a useless appliance.
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