How Long to Thaw Ground Beef in Fridge Reddit
What is the best way to defrost ground beef without heating it.
So I need to cook dinner tonite I'd like to make Taco's I have 2 pounds of frozen ground beef. What is the quickest way to defrost ground beef so I can make dinner tonite.
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level 2
This is the only answer you need, OP. This is the fastest, safest, most effective method. Even if you skip cutting it into smaller pieces, cold running water is THE best way.
I freeze everything in vacuum bags and make them as flat as possible and I can make dinner from frozen meat with only about ~10-15 minute thaw time.
level 2
A neat trick to get the air out of the bag is to submerge the bag in water until just the opening is out of the water before sealing it.
level 2
Ok, this is dumb but I can't stop myself. No disrespect intended. The water actually allows heat to transfer more efficiently into the lower temperature item. Heat moves better through water than air, so your method of having little to no air in the bag is spot on. Just wanted to correct the physics aspect in your comment. For some reason I always notice when people refer to transfer of cold vs transfer of heat. It probably doesn't matter most of the time. Maybe if you put something hot in the freezer, gotta remember that heat will go into your other food items. I dunno.
level 2
Second this, bit with the caveat that it be cool water. Your instinct might be to use warm, but this is still gonna take a couple hours and if you use warm water the outside of your meat is gonna spend a lot of time in the bacteria temperature growing range (40f-140f). It'll be like the meat is in some sort of zone. In said zone, in addition to your meat, there will be danger. Lana
level 2
Also, the faster the medium is moving, the quicker the energy transfer.
level 2
the meat draws the heat from the water
FTFY
level 2
The tub works faster than the sink. More water flow. Also if you have an immersion blender you can basically do the same thing without wasting so much water.
level 1
I've put ground beef on the stove frozen. Covered, low heat, mixing occasionally. If you're ever in a bind.
level 2
Yep. Just flip the frozen block to opposite sides every minute or so and use the spatula to scrape off the parts that are thawed after the flip.
level 2
I do this all the time. I add a little bit of water to the pan too. Mostly just because that's what my parents always did.
level 1
Cook it from frozen, it just takes a bit longer.
level 1
Not exactly food safe but you can leave it out on the counter until it's thawed. Or a safer option would be to submerge it in water and change the water out every 30 mins until thawed and then refrigerate it until you're ready to cook it.
level 2
When i first get my ground meet (tge big 10 lbs packs of it from sams club) i weigh it out into 1lb chunks and put those into seperate quart freezer bags and flatten/stack em. I can store a lot more this way and it makes the above defrosting pricess much quicker
level 2
This is what I do. I don't know why it's not food safe, as long as you clean and sanitize the area after you have the meat thawed in case any blood or juices seat out during the following process. I find this will thaw out the meat in under 3 hours, often under two.
level 1
Put the ground beef in a large bowl in kitchen sink. Fill it full of cold water. Leave frozen beef package in it. Start a slow, tiny stream of cold water in the bowl, letting the bowl overflow in the sink.
I guarantee that it will thaw you beef in about 2 hours.
EDIT: Clarified a sentence.
level 2
Yep, the aluminum baking sheet trick works great. Sometimes I'll put a second one on top to speed it along.
level 1
I just throw it in the microwave. Hit defrost, 1, then 2.0. Walk away. Done.
level 1
Just cook it frozen. Throw a partial cup of water in there for some steamy heat and make sure that it doesn't sit on one side for too long. Just keep flipping, scraping, moving and it will turn out fine.
level 1
A lot of people in here are going to get people sick by forgetting to mention you have to use cold water, not hot water.
level 2
Why would warm water make people sick?
level 1
Zip top bag and cold water.
If it's not totally soft after that, cook it from frozen. Use a spatula to break it apart as it cooks.
Ground beef (especially in tacos) will put up with being over cooked without deteriorating the flavour significantly. Cooking from partially frozen is safe and easy.
level 1
Cold water. So long as the beef is well wrapped to avoid water coming into contact with the meat.
level 1
The bag/cool water trick mentioned here works well.
If it's in a big brick you're having problems breaking up, you can nuke it on your microwave's lowest power level (defrost, I find, is usually too high) for about 30 mins then recheck it.
level 1
The larger the surface area when you freeze it, the less time it'll take to thaw. I always freeze my meats flat in gallon freezer bags, and store them in the freezer like books. Then thaw overnight in fridge.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/9a72bk/what_is_the_best_way_to_defrost_ground_beef/
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