10 Of The Best Ways To Reheat Fast Food
Fast food is delicious when it's piping hot, with molten cheese, and all crunchy bits still crackling. A cold, soggy version of the same dish loses its appeal somewhat.
If you do have some fast food leftover after eating, The Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture says to never leave pizza (or anything else) at room temperature for more than two hours. After that window of time, you'll have to chuck it in the bin. Bacteria and mold thrive between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, so be careful or you could get sick. As soon as your food has reached room temperature, get it in the fridge as soon as possible, so you can enjoy it later.
However, all is not lost if you do need to reheat your fast food. You can use a variety of methods — microwave, air fryer, frying pan, oven, or even grill — but whatever you do, just make sure you do it safely and get the internal temperature high enough.
Warming up fast food is about more than just reaching safe temperatures, though. You want to revitalize that pizza, burger, meatball sub, burrito, or fried chicken so it tastes just as good — or at least nearly as good — as when you picked it up from your favorite fast food joint in the first place. These are the best ways to reheat different types of fast food.
1. Hamburgers
McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's all hold places in the top 10 ranking of fast food restaurants, according to QSR Magazine. They're all burger joints beloved by pretty much everyone.
Meat patties on sesame buns are one of the most iconic fast foods. The combination of the sweet, soft bun with sizzling, salty beef makes them irresistible to mere mortals. Unfortunately, they don't taste anywhere near as good once they've gone cold, and few people want a reheated burger.
Leave it to Chrissy Teigen, then, to make reheated cheeseburgers seem glamorous. In an interview, she told Spoon University that she buys McDonald's cheeseburgers in bulk, stores them in the fridge, and reheats them for 35 seconds in the microwave with the paper wrapper on. She described the reheated burgers as, "Like a warm soft pillow, they're so, so delicious."
If Chrissy's method seems too good to be true, you can use the oven instead. Separate the patty from the bun, and reheat for six to seven minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. That way, each element of the burger will reach the desired temperature without any parts drying out (via The Fork Bite). Throw out the old lettuce and tomatoes and switch in fresh veggies.
2. Fries
Crispy french fries are a common side in most fast food places, but if you don't manage to eat them while they're still warm, they quickly lose their crunch, and their appeal. At that point, why even bother? Throw them away and put them out of their misery, right?
Well, Rachael Ray's Takeout Twins bring some hope to anyone who has a bag of french fries left in the fridge. They say baking the fries in the oven for 10 minutes will return them to their former glory. There's no need to add any extra oil since there's still plenty on them from the initial frying.
If you want another option, Better Homes and Gardens says using an air fryer to reheat food keeps it crunchy on the outside, meaning this clever kitchen appliance is the perfect tool to give your fries their groove back. Insider, meanwhile, suggests quickly deep frying them again (if you have the option at home), giving them a blast in a very hot oven, or pan frying them in a little oil. If choosing to pan fry, make sure you give the fries enough space so they don't steam instead.
3. Pizza
Remembering that you have half a leftover pizza in the fridge is a relief — you won't have to make lunch after all. Best of all, it tastes almost as good cold so you don't even have to run the microwave if that seems like too much effort.
If you do warm it up, there are several methods to choose from to restore it to its former glory. The Take Out Twins from the "Rachael Ray Show" recommend a two-step process. First, put a slice in the microwave. Take it out when the cheese is melty. Then, sear the crust in a pan on the stovetop until it's crispy. The toppings will be heated through, but the crust doesn't become a droopy mess.
Spike Mendelsohn, on the other hand, says not to microwave pizza. He prefers using a waffle iron to warm pizza. Put two slices together, cheesy sides facing each other with the crust outside. Next, put the pizza sandwich in a waffle iron until it gets crispy and the cheese is gooey. The resulting creation will be the best unintentional grilled cheese you've ever made. You can even add extra ingredients, too.
4. Fried chicken
Fried chicken is a classic leftover and the perfect food to take on a picnic since you can eat it cold. We think everyone will agree it's better hot, though. What makes the likes of Popeyes' and KFC's fried chicken so perfectly delicious is the salty, crisp exterior combined with the juicy meat inside. Louisiana's local news source, NOLA.com, says that putting batter, flour, or breadcrumbs on chicken before frying protects its delicate texture and keeps it from burning. The same crispy exterior also makes it harder to reheat, as the microwave reduces it to a mushy coating.
If you're wondering how to get crispy fried chicken every time you reheat it, you can try reheating it in an air fryer or oven. In an oven, this should take around 15 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and does have the benefit of giving you less to clean up, especially if you put a sheet of aluminum foil on a baking sheet beforehand. In an airfryer, it should take around eight minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Either method will conserve the original texture far better than a microwave ever will. Just make sure the internal temperature hits 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Rice
If you've ever ordered a family meal from Panda Express, you know it comes with two sides and three entrees. One of those sides will likely be fried rice. It's tasty, but at dinner, people focus on the honey walnut shrimp or orange chicken and overlook the rice. The next day, this side doesn't look quite as appealing as it did the night before. That's because the water separates from the starch granules in rice leaving them brittle with a thin layer of water on top, according to PBS. That makes rice, fried or not, hard to revitalize.
Chef David Chang knows how to deal with this situation. When he has extra rice, he creates single-serving packages with plastic wrap and freezes them. When he wants some, he pulls a little bundle out and heats it in the microwave for three minutes.
You can also repurpose leftover white rice into fried rice like Chang does (via YouTube). Just heat a frying pan, add a bit of oil, chop up some odds and ends from the fridge, mix in eggs, and stir fry everything with the rice — it doesn't even matter if it's already fried rice or not. Serve it for breakfast or a snack.
6. Hot sandwiches
Meatball subs, grilled cheese, sloppy joes, and sliders are conundrums when it comes to reheating. If you get the temperature and texture of the bread just right, the filling will be cold. If the filling is at optimum temperature, the bread has likely disintegrated into something no one would want to eat.
Separating the filling from the bun or bread means that you can heat each part to get it just right, but that can sometimes take more effort than it's worth. Meltz Extreme, an Idaho-based grilled cheese shop, says its sandwiches are best to eat two minutes after they come off the grill, but offers sage advice for those who need to reheat them and don't want to do any dissecting. Put your sandwich on aluminum foil in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 10 minutes. Flip it over and bake for another 10 minutes. This is the best option for a cold sandwich from the fridge.
If your sandwich simply cooled down too much on the way home, warm it up a bit in a non-stick pan on the stovetop — still in its foil wrapping. Five minutes on each side should get it to the perfect temperature to enjoy.
7. Mexican
If you're headed to Taco Bell, Taco John's, or Chipotle, you'll probably come back with a bag bursting with tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. If you know it's too much to eat, focus on scarfing down the parts of your order that are harder to reheat, says Mattito's, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Dallas. That includes most fried or crunchy entrees like flautas, hard-shell tacos, and tostadas.
The oven is the best way to reheat most Mexican food — using the microwave will likely result in an unappetizing, mashed-up mess. When reheating in the oven, use foil to keep tortillas from drying out too much. If you're already resigned to the fact that your order has lost its lusciousness, you can always chop it all up, mix it with eggs, and transform it into a breakfast scramble. The Seattle Times suggests warming up quesadillas on the stove for a couple of minutes on each side since they get soggy in the microwave and dry out in the oven.
8. Chinese
It's time to talk about microwaves. If you have a box of broccoli beef in the fridge, the easiest course of action is dumping it into a microwave-safe bowl, heating it for two or three minutes, and chowing down. That leaves exactly one dirty dish to wash and one paper bucket to recycle. It's quick.
Unfortunately, not everyone loves using a microwave. According to CNET, you should forgo the microwave and use a non-stick skillet to reheat Chinese entrees. But once you've taken your broccoli beef out of the fridge, put it in the pan, moved it around the pan with a wooden spatula, and served it in another bowl, you've ended up taking twice the amount of time compared with a microwave, and you have twice the number of dishes to wash.
The Guardian, on the other hand, defends the humble kitchen appliance, saying it is more efficient than using the oven, both in the amount of time and energy it consumes. That means that as long as your doggy bag doesn't have anything crunchy like wantons or egg rolls in it, you're probably best off microwaving your Chinese fast food leftovers back to life.
9. Pasta
You might think good pasta is only available at a fancy sit-down Italian restaurant. But that's no longer true, with everywhere from Domino's to Pizza Hut delivering it right to your door. However, once it gets there, it might not be as hot as you want it.
In the best-case scenario, you should store your pasta separately from the sauce, according to Better Homes and Gardens. Put the noodles in boiling water for just a minute or two and heat the sauce in the microwave. Unfortunately, most restaurants like Pizza Hut serve pasta already mixed with sauce. If that's the case, chef Giada de Laurentiis says to gently reheat pasta in olive oil in a pan on the stovetop.
If your pasta leftovers are mac and cheese from Panera, the Take Out Twins know what to do. Add a splash of cream or milk and then microwave in increments of 15 seconds until it's just right. You should end up with mac and cheese that tastes just as good as when it was fresh.
10. Egg rolls
Egg rolls pose the same problem as every other crisp, deep-fat-fried food — they lose their crunch when they go cold. Putting them in the oven on a baking sheet for around 20 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit works really well, and air fryers keep them even crispier. However, the Golden Palace Restaurant in Ottawa has a more novel idea — put your cold egg rolls on the grill to warm them up.
First, preheat your barbeque to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, turn off the central burner, but leave the side burners on to keep your spring rolls from burning. Set the rolls on the grill for 10 minutes. Flip them over and leave them on for another 10 minutes. Finally, it's time to dig in. It's not the quickest method to reheat your fast food, but you will notice that your egg rolls have a nice smokey flavor to them.
Egg rolls aren't the only fast food you can heat up on the grill, either. Try using this method for pizza, hamburgers, hot sandwiches, and burritos as well.