The quickest and safest methods for defrosting food
By Amy Sheehan
ABC Lifestyle
Topic:Food Safety
12m ago12 minutes agoTue 11 Mar 2025 at 3:45am
A person's hand holding a packet of frozen mince
Experts say defrosting food correctly allows for it to remain safe and of good quality (Supplied: Adobe Stock)
No matter how well you plan, chances are you will need to defrost something to cook or eat during the week.
Even experts like food and nutrition scientist Emma Beckett often get caught short.
She admits to sometimes getting home from work to realise, "Oh gosh, I wish I'd remembered to defrost something, I need some dinner."
We asked Dr Beckett, and food safety scientist Rozita Vaskoska, to explain the quickest, and safest, methods for defrosting food at home.
If you've been impacted by power outages as a result of ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred, here's what you need to consider before using items in your fridge or freezer.
In the fridge if defrosting in advance
This method is number one, and while it's not the quickest, it will avoid your food ever going into what food scientists call the "danger zone".
Dr Vaskoska, who is based in Bunurong country in Werribee, Victoria, says the danger zone is where your food reaches temperatures anywhere between 5 degrees Celsius and 60C.
The CSIRO senior research scientist warns that when the food stays in this zone, pathogenic microorganisms (microorganisms that can cause foodborne illness) can grow and cause illness if consumed.
"Defrosting food correctly allows for the food to remain safe and of good quality.
"The bottom of the fridge is the best place for defrosting food, as the risk of dripping into ready to eat foods (cross- contamination) is reduced."
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Dr Beckett, based at Newcastle/Awabakal, says defrosting in the fridge means it takes longer, "but for texture, for quality, for safety, that's 100 per cent the best".
"If it's something big, like a frozen chicken or turkey, it could take a few days, but something smaller could take a few hours."
This can apply to frozen meals or frozen meat that needs to be thawed.
"If it is something like a chunk of meat, I'd be getting that out of the freezer in the morning, ready to cook in the evening time."
In the microwave if you need something sooner
This is the quickest method to defrost food, but to ensure it's safe there are a few things to remember.
Dr Vaskoska says microwave defrosting is practical solution mainly in situations where we intend to use or cook the food immediately.
"Defrosting food evenly is important when we intend to cook foods like meat.
"The inside of the food will need longer to reach the desired safe temperature if it is still frozen."
Dr Beckett recommends always using the defrost setting on your microwave, for both meat and frozen meals.
A microwave door open with a frozen container of mince inside
Microwave defrosting is a practical solution mainly in situations where we intend to use or cook food immediately. (ABC Lifestyle: Amy Sheehan)
If you put it straight onto a heat setting you risk cooking the outside before the inside is defrosted.
"Using the defrost setting first before you cook really speeds up that process."
The microwave may be faster, but this method is going to have an impact on texture and potentially taste, Dr Beckett says, particularly for meat.
"It's a less preferred option from a culinary point of view.
For example, Dr Beckett says if you try to defrost meat in the microwave, "it tries not to start cooking, it tries just to defrost it, but it's not always very good at it."
Another thing that will impact the taste and texture, regardless of the defrosting method, is how food is stored in the freezer.
"Freezer burn is when your meat goes really tough and chewy ... that's the water evaporating, and you get that change in texture," Dr Beckett says.
Use caution if defrosting in water
If you're going to use water to defrost meat or food in the sink, Dr Beckett says it needs to be (cold) running water, not sitting water.
Stagnant water poses a risk of leaking through any unsealed or broken packaging and has the potential to breed bacteria.
"I would only recommend using cold running water for something that is in completely sealed packaging," she says.
She also recommends using this method for small portions of frozen food.
"If I've vacuum sealed my individual steaks and put them in the freezer, I can see one steak being ready (to cook) within 20 to 30 minutes (when running under water for that time).
"If you've frozen something straight from the supermarket in its bag, and it's properly sealed, and you want to defrost it quickly, running it under cold water is going to kind of balance out the temperature like the fridge, keeping it cold."
But she says she would not recommend this method due to the large volume of water needed.
Cooking from frozen in a hot pan
Depending on the product, you can skip all three of the above methods and put it straight into a pan for cooking.
"Some products are perfectly fine to cook from frozen," Dr Beckett says.
"If you've frozen mince already in the shape of hamburger patties, you could just cook that on the frying pan, or on the barbecue."
Dr Emma Beckett
Emma Beckett says defrosting food in the fridge is the safest method. (Supplied: Emma Beckett)
Start by preheating your pan over medium-high heat, to ensure it's hot before the meat hits the surface.
Dr Beckett says the standard advice is that it takes approximately 50 per cent longer to cook frozen food than the recommended cooking time for a fully thawed product.
"That's for meat and poultry and fish," she says.
"Again, it will depend on thickness and size… I would always recommend cutting (the meat) open to check it's cooked."
Defrosting don'ts
There is one defrosting method that both our experts recommend avoiding at all costs — defrosting on a benchtop.
Dr Vaskoska says defrosting potentially hazardous food at room temperatures for longer than four hours is an absolute "no-go".
She defines potentially hazardous food as raw or cooked meat, dairy products, eggs, seafood, cooked rice, raw and cooked pasta, sprouted seeds, cut fruits and vegetables, or the products containing either of those.
Dr Beckett says defrosting on a kitchen bench means "the outside of the food is going to be hot while you're waiting for the inside of the food to still defrost."
A picture of a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a lab coat, standing in a lab with equipment on teh desk behind her.
Dr Rozita Vaskoska says defrosting potentially hazardous food at room temperatures for longer than four hours is an absolute "no-go". (Supplied: Rozita Vaskoska)
"So you risk growing bacteria on the outside of the food."
She says the same rules apply no matter where you live in Australia.
"Because the danger zone for bacteria growth is between 5°C and 60°C, no matter where you live in the world, unless you're somewhere so cold that it's not going to defrost, I can't see that really being an argument."
Of equal importance is making sure food isn't staying in a freezer for long periods before being defrosted or cooked, a freezer 'rotation system' of putting the oldest food at the front and newest to the back can help.
Posted12m ago12 minutes agoTue 11 Mar 2025 at 3:45am
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