How to Unthaw 1lb of Beef

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Were you all prepare to grill the burger of a lifetime, only the solid brick of basis beefiness in your freezer had other plans? Don't fret. There are quick, rubber ways to save your cookout and thaw that icy beefcube. If you're willing to push button back the start time of your meal, the safest manner to defrost ground beef is in the refrigerator. Merely, if you're in a pinch, the microwave and a bowl of cold water are speedy and efficient ways to defrost mr. beefiness. We'll brand certain you avoid bacteria and follow USDA-approved methods to get that beef prepare for activity.

1. 1

   Programme ahead i-24 hours to thaw your meat completely. If you freeze your ground beef yourself in thin packages (under two inches (5.1 cm) thick), you lot can thaw ground beefiness in the refrigerator in under an hour.^[i] Otherwise, plan for 24 hours for every i pound (450 thousand) of footing beef in the package.^[ii]

   • Proceed in mind that the colder you go along your refrigerator, the longer the defrost fourth dimension will be. Ground beef volition thaw quicker in a refrigerator kept at twoscore °F (4 °C) than it will in one kept at 35 °F (two °C).

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   Place the ground beef in a plastic purse or dish. The beef may leak through its packaging as information technology starts to defrost, leaving behind blood and bacteria. Go out the ground beef in its packaging, and fix it on a tray or in a plastic pocketbook to catch annihilation that may drip as it defrosts.^[three]

   • The beef doesn't demand to exist covered, other than by its own packaging.

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3. 3

   Refrigerate the beefiness on a lower shelf. Detect a place toward the dorsum of your refrigerator to identify the package of ground beef. A lower shelf is a skilful idea, because there's less of a risk of the beef dripping on something beneath it.^[four]

   • Placing the beefiness near the dorsum of the refrigerator ensures it stays at a steady temperature.

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   Bank check the ground beef before yous use information technology. With clean easily, gently press down on the basis beef through its package. If you are able to leave an indentation in the heart of the beef, nearly of information technology will be defrosted enough to utilize.^[5]

   • To check further, break the majority of ground beef in half and press into the eye. If the meat is soft enough to press, it is thawed all the fashion through. If parts of the beef notwithstanding seem solid, it is not completely defrosted.
   • If necessary, you lot tin can cease up the defrosting process in the microwave.

5. 5

   Utilise the beef inside ane or ii days. Defrosting ground beef in the refrigerator is the slowest method, but it's besides the safest, as the beef is kept at a steady, cold temperature. When defrosted this manner, you can go along the ground beef in the refrigerator for an boosted 24 to 48 hours after thawing.^[6]

   • Y'all tin can besides refreeze the ground beefiness if you thaw it this way. If you decide not to use the ground beefiness after all, stick information technology back in the freezer inside 24 to 48 hours of defrosting information technology.

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1. ane

   Plan on threescore minutes per one pound (450 g) of ground beef for thawing. First at least an hr alee of when you need your ground beef. That manner, you'll be sure you accept enough time to thaw your meat.^[7]

   • Proceed in listen that a larger package will take longer. A package that is 3 to iv pounds (1,400 to 1,800 g) can accept 2-3 hours.^[viii]
   • Very sparse packages (0.five inches (1.3 cm) or less) may thaw in every bit niggling as 10-20 minutes.^[9]

2. 

   2

   Secure the footing beef inside a resealable plastic purse. Place the package of ground beefiness inside a leak-proof plastic handbag. Seal it up every bit securely every bit possible by zipping the bag shut.^[10]

   • If the bag leaks, bacteria tin can get to your food. Plus, y'all may finish upward with watery basis beefiness if it absorbs too much h2o.

3. 

   three

   Submerge the beef in cold tap water. Place the wrapped parcel of ground beefiness in a large bowl or dish and cover it with cold tap water. Make sure that the beef is completely underwater. Leave the dish of water and the beefiness out on the counter equally it defrosts.^[11]

   • But use cold water. Hot, warm, or even room temperature water can create a breeding basis for bacteria. If your tap water is too warm, add an ice cube or 2 to absurd it downwardly a little.
   • Yous could besides fill a clean sink with cold water and submerge your beef in that. Merely brand sure that the plug has a tight seal and that the sink is clean before yous start.

4. 

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   Change the water every 30 minutes. Drain the former water and refill the bowl with clean, cold h2o. This procedure allows the meat to continue defrosting while preventing the water from gathering as well much leaner.^[12]

   • Plus, y'all ensure the water stays cool. Proceed adding 1-ii ice cubes if your water is too warm.

5. 

   5

   Cheque to see if the beef is thawed after an hour. Press on the basis beef package with clean fingers. Once it is soft enough to press, the majority of the basis beef is thawed.^[13]

   • Interruption the cake of footing beef open and press the middle of the inside. If it is still difficult, the eye of the beef is nevertheless frozen.

6. 6

   Use the footing beef immediately. In order to prevent bacteria from growing, you need to use ground beefiness thawed in this manner within ii hours. If you are going to look 2 hours, stick information technology in the refrigerator for that period after it's thawed.^[14]

   • Do not refreeze basis beef that you thawed in cold h2o, every bit it is more than likely to grow leaner. If you cannot employ it within 2 hours of defrosting it, your best option is to melt it before refreezing information technology.

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1. 

   1

   Have the beef out of its packaging. It's non a skilful thought to thaw basis beef in its packaging, as you don't know if information technology'south microwave safety. Some tubes even have metal ties on the ends which tin spark in your microwave.^[fifteen]

   • Since this is a quick method, y'all can practise it right before starting dinner. You lot do not need to worry equally much nearly starting the defrosting procedure in advance.
   • Prying the footing beefiness out of the package can exist hard if it is fully frozen and sitting on a styrofoam tray. If you lot have difficulty removing the beef from its backing, place the beef inside a resealable plastic bag, and zip it airtight. Rinse the tray side of the beef under cold running tap water until it loosens enough to remove.

2. 

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   Place the beef in a microwave-safety drinking glass dish. Set the raw beef into the dish. Brand sure the dish has sides high enough to foreclose any spills from defrosted juice. Cover the dish with a lid or some other dish.^[16]

3. 3

   Microwave the beefiness at 50 pct ability. Aim for 3 minutes per ane pound (450 g) of ground beef. Employ 50 percent ability instead of 100 percentage to help prevent the meat from showtime to cook.^[17]

   • Some microwaves take specific defrost settings. These settings automatically summate how long to microwave the meat and at which ability percentage. Select the defrost setting on your microwave, if yous have 1, and punch in the number of pounds being thawed.

4. 

   4

   Check your meat every 45 seconds, especially after the commencement minute. Even with defrost settings, meat tends to defrost unevenly. It can assist to turn information technology over every 45 seconds, equally well as check on how well information technology's defrosted.^[18]

   • Most microwaves accept rotating turntables that continuously turn the contents of the microwave. If yours doesn't, withal, plough the plate every time you check on the beef.

5. 

   5

   Determine whether or not the beefiness has defrosted enough by pressing on it. Starting time with clean hands. Press into the eye of the mass to feel for spots that are still frozen solid. Remember to launder your easily again subsequently touching raw meat.^[nineteen]

   • If necessary, dissever the block in half and feel the inside of the meat for frozen spots, which will still be solid chunks.

6. 6

   Apply your ground beef immediately. When thawing basis beef in the microwave, you should use it within 2 hours to be rubber, equally information technology has warm spots that can grow bacteria. Put in the fridge if you plan to wait that long.^[20]

   • Do not endeavour to refreeze raw ground beef that has been defrosted in the microwave. You can, however, cook the beef and refreeze information technology subsequently.

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Add New Question

• Question

  What if at that place is a sour smell to the ground beef after thawing it?

  

  Bank check the date or cheque for discoloration. In that location shouldn't exist a sour olfactory property if everything was handled properly. Simply it is better to be safe than sick , so throw it out if you have to question.

• Question

  Can y'all defrost ground beef with the packaging still on?

  

  If you defrost in the microwave, no. If you are defrosting information technology in the refrigerator, remove it from the original packaging and place information technology in a bag with all the air removed.

• Question

  Why not use hot water to thaw meat in a plastic bag?

  

  It is important to avert using hot water directly in contact with any food due to the risk of legionella contamination. Also, plastic numberless can cook or may leach chemicals at loftier temperature.

• Question

  How tin I tell if my beef is good?

  

  If its looks good and doesn't smell, its skilful. If it was fresh earlier information technology was frozen it will be fine. The worst that can happen is freezer burn.

• Question

  Can I defrost ground beef in a sink overnight?

  

  No, because the ground beef volition be infested with harmful bacteria--fifty-fifty if you submerge it in common cold water. If y'all desire to defrost the ground beefiness overnight, identify information technology in your refrigerator.

• Question

  How far in advance should I accept the meat out of the refrigerator if it hasn't been defrosted?

  

  Information technology depends on how frozen the beef is. It can take a few hours, or you might have to exit it out overnight. Usually people take it out in the morning to be ready past dinner.

• Question

  Can I use milk to defrost my ground beef?

  

  No, equally milk goes bad when left out for likewise long.

• Question

  Practice I take to cook the meat in burger form to utilise these methods?

  

  No, y'all do not.

• Question

  If I have a 5 pound package of ground beef, and I thaw it through the cold water method, tin can I cut a clamper off and refreeze it?

  

  No. Don't ever thaw something out so refreeze it. This creates harmful bacteria and y'all will become sick.

• Question

  Is it ever advisable to turn the refrigerator temperature downwards in order to defrost meat quicker, or leave information technology lower in case I desire to defrost meat?

  

  No. Everything else in your refrigerator will be affected as well, which is a recipe for food-born disease. It's also not energy efficient to be raising and lowering your refrigerator temperature frequently.

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• Consider cooking the meat directly from its frozen country or from a partially frozen state. If you're crumbling the beefiness and using it for tacos, skillet casseroles, or traditional casseroles, you can intermission the meat apart defrost and melt the beef at the same time. Just be enlightened that your dish may take up to fifty percent longer to cook.^[21]

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• Exercise not attempt to defrost footing beef at room temperature. The ground beef will sit out at temperatures between 40 and 60 °F (4 and sixteen °C) for likewise long, which is ideal for growing unsafe bacteria.

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Things You'll Need

• Tray, optional
• Large bowl, optional
• Common cold water, optional
• Resealable plastic bag, optional
• Microwave-safe glass dish, optional

About This Article

Article Summary 10

To defrost ground beefiness, kickoff by taking it out of the packaging and placing it on a microwave-safe dish. And then, microwave the beef at fifty-percentage ability for three minutes per 1 pound of beef. Rotate and the beef every 45 seconds and then it defrosts evenly. If it's taking a long time to defrost, endeavour splitting it in one-half so it thaws faster. To learn how to defrost footing beefiness in the fridge or using cold water, continue reading!

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