How often have you been to a dinner (or worse, hosted one) and thought everything was ready, only to find out the steak is frozen rock hard? It's like a cold rock on a plate.
We've all been there.
If you're like us (shout-out home cooks!), we love to keep our freezer stocked with frozen chicken thighs, hamburgers, beautifully marbled steaks, delicious pork loin, and various cuts of beef to prepare a delicious meal at any moment. We do love cooking, after all.
Today at Great American Griller, we're going to cover everything related to thawing steak quickly.
The Safest Way to Defrost Steak (Approved)
Undoubtedly, the safest method to thaw a steak is in the refrigerator. The fridge keeps the steak at a consistent, cold temperature while it defrosts. This keeps the steak out of the temperature danger zone (you know, the place where there is a high risk of bacteria).
Simply take your steak out of the freezer and put in the fridge overnight until it thaws.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) food safety guidelines recommend that a whole turkey requires a 24 hours for every 5 pounds, while 1 pound of ground beef / chicken breast will usually thaw in one day.
The Quickest Way to Defrost Steak (Unrecommended)
In the likely event you do not have time for this 24 - 36 hour process (i.e. you need your steak in a hurry) what do you do?
Before we get there, how do you not want to thaw your steaks?
We are going to cover a few methods used to incorrectly defrost your cut of meat.
Microwave Method
Despite the microwave having a rapid defrost option (sub 10 minutes), this method will end up partially cooking the meat, resulting in a grey color and chewy texture. While it is suitable for smaller cuts of meat, it's highly unrecommended for your protein of choice.
Now that we've covered the microwave method, one way we stress you avoid at all costs is setting your steak / chicken breasts out in room temperature.
Room Temperature Method
Just don't do it. Seriously.
Even in cooler areas like a basement, garage, etc. there is too much risk of bacteria growth from your meat, posing a big health risk. Even worse, do not let the meat sit in a bowl filled with room temperature water or on a plate on your kitchen counter.
Running Water Method
While some people recommend placing an unwrapped steak in a large bowl with a steady stream of cold water running on it, we highly recommend against that (it takes much longer than the alleged 30 minutes).
Why?
While the cold water helps keep the steak at a constant cold temperature, it means all the juices your steak releases naturally will go into thin air.
What does this leave you with?
A dry piece of meat.
The Best Way to Defrost Steak in a Hurry (Recommended)
Now that we've covered the fastest (although least recommended way) - what is the best way to defrost steaks?
After countless testing, we found that the best way to defrost a steak is with a defrosting tray.
What is it? Glad you asked.
What's a Defrosting Tray?
Head over here to find out what a defrosting tray is all about if you haven't already (we love defrosting our steaks with it).
Why we Love Defrosting Trays
1) Natural thawing keeps original flavor of your frozen meat in check
- Simply place frozen food onto the defrosting tray while maintaining the original taste, nutrition, and deliciousness.
- Save the original quality of your steak without sacrificing and damaging the original ingredients. Keep the essential nutrients and vitamins without wasting time. package information thickness pieces pinch steaks bowl meal cold water 10 minutes 30 minutes
2) Save Time
- Drastically cut down on the time required for defrosting food. Defrost frozen up to 10x faster than normal thawing. Save time and get rid of the headache of waiting for foods to thaw while your family's stomachs grumble with hunger.
3) Save Money
- Instantly pocket more money with no zero electricity used, freezer-burned food, or wasting money on picking up dinner all because you forgot to defrost your steak / chicken breasts.
Ready to start saving time and money?
The whole idea behind the defrosting tray is less is more. You shouldn’t have to waste money constantly on throwing away food or resorting to pick-up for dinner because you forgot to pull out your frozen food in time.
Rather make a one-time investment and save hundreds of dollars a year instead of constantly flushing it down the toilet (What could you do with an extra $421 a year, every year?).
Everyone knows you only need few tools to be truly exceptional. That’s why we created the Accelerated Meat Defroster Pro 3.0.
ABC15 is a defrosting tray lover
At Great American Griller, we say “less is more with grilling.” We offer only the essential grilling tools we know work.
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What grillers are saying about us...
“As a busy individual, the Accelerated Meat Defroster Pro 3.0 saves me an unbelievable amount of time and money every night when I cook.” — Richard