How To Defrost Beyond Burgers In The Microwave

Whether you’re a plant-based consumer all the time or you’re simply opting for a meatless meal, if you’ve got Beyond Burgers in your freezer, they make a delicious and quick meal for any hungry human.

Cooking a Beyond Burger isn’t too much different from cooking a conventional beef patty, but they need to be defrosted before they can be properly cooked.

How do you defrost Beyond Burgers in the microwave? While it’s best to thaw Beyond Burgers overnight in your fridge, you can use your microwave to thaw your frozen patties in 30-second intervals to avoid overheating.

Follow our simple steps to perfectly defrosted Beyond Burgers and enjoy one of the best plant-based burgers in the comfort of your own kitchen, even quicker than fast food.

Best Way to Defrost Beyond Burgers

The manufacturer suggests that the best way to properly defrost Beyond Burgers is to take them out of the freezer the night before you intend on cooking them, allowing them to thaw slowly in your refrigerator.

The primary reason for this is because there isn’t as much fat in these patties as you would find in a conventional animal-based burger.

They only take 2 minutes per side to cook once they’re thawed, much less time than it typically takes to cook a beef patty.

You will notice these patties have a marbled look, much like real beef. Instead of animal fat, Beyond Burgers have coconut oil and cocoa butter in them to add fat, juiciness, and flavor, but it doesn’t cook quite the same as truly marbled meat.

What if you’ve just picked up a box of burgers from the frozen section of your grocery store on the way home from work and have a hungry family to feed within hours, let alone tomorrow?

Is there a faster way to defrost these vegan burger patties?

Defrosting Beyond Burgers in the Microwave

There’s a good chance you’ve used your microwave to defrost various frozen foods in the past. For many things, you can simply use the regular settings until you get the result you want, but this won’t work well for burger patties.

On regular microwave settings, Beyond Burgers will start to cook on the outside before the inside is thawed.

To prevent this from happening, you’ll want to find the defrost settings on your microwave. This will temper the heat to about 70% of its normal power. You also need to warm it slowly and carefully, in 30-second intervals.

If the patty stays in the microwave too long, even on defrost settings, it will either turn mushy as the fats leak out or cook unevenly.

For best results, follow these suggestions:

1. Use the defrost setting.
2. Heat your burger patty(s) in 30-second bursts.
3. Have a toothpick handy. As soon as you can poke through the patty, poke 5 or 6 holes throughout the patty, allowing the heat waves to penetrate the patty more evenly
4. If the outside begins to brown, stop heating it.
5. If it’s still frozen slightly, simply cook it in your frying pan at a slightly lower temperature for slightly longer on each side to compensate.

If you follow these steps and watch your patty closely, it will probably work for you, but the best way to thaw your Beyond Burgers is to leave them in an airtight container or their original packaging in your fridge overnight.

How to Cook Beyond Burgers from Frozen

If you don’t want to risk turning your burger patty mushy or unevenly cooked but you still want to eat it before tomorrow, you can cook your plant-based meat from frozen.

If this is your choice, you absolutely must cook over medium to low heat.

If you try to rush the cooking process on high heat, you will end up with a burger that is dark, maybe even burnt outside and still pink inside, which is no way to eat a burger no matter what it’s made from.

You will also have to cook each patty for 1-2 minutes longer on each side than the directions suggest. This will allow the heat to penetrate even the frozen center.

If you like your burger a bit more crisp on the outside, once you’re certain the center is warm you can increase the heat and finish the cooking this way.

Can You Refreeze Beyond Burgers?

All Beyond Meat burgers are frozen. Some supermarkets, however, will allow them to thaw as they’re sold in the meat or deli section of the store.

If you buy thawed patties, or if you defrost your patties and don’t use them all, it’s best to refrigerate them and use them within 2–3 days.

Don’t refreeze Beyond Burgers once they’ve been thawed.

If you have purchased frozen Beyond Meat burger patties, you can keep them in your freezer until you’re ready to cook them.

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