Foods You Have To Be Careful With When Reheating, And The Safest Ways To Do It

Reheating leftovers is a great way to make your food go further, which is even more important than usual these days. Some foods take to it well, while others can be a little more tricky. There are certain food items that it's best to avoid reheating unless you know you can do it in a totally safe way.

So, here are the foods that you have to be extra careful with, and the best ways to reheat them. Including, how to reheat rice and how to reheat chicken.

Yes.

Good Housekeeping Institute’s Cookery School Head Tutor Cher Loh says, “Rice is tricky, not because of the reheating but because of how the cooked rice has been stored. If cooked rice is left out at room temperature for a few hours, toxins build up because of the spores in rice (bacillus cereus). These can survive cooking. So cooked rice should always be stored in the fridge. "

The two best ways to reheat rice is to either stir-fry it in a hot frying pan until it is hot all the way through. Or by microwaving it with a couple of tablespoons of water for 3 - 4 minutes. Make sure it is piping hot before you eat it.

Only reheat rice once. And never reheat fried rice, because it is essentially rice that has already been cooked twice.

Yes.

The main issue with reheating potatoes isn't the actual reheating, it's the fact that they may have been left out for too long once cooked. If cooked potatoes are left out at room temperature for too long, the bacteria that causes botulism may form, which could make you ill.

So, as soon as your potatoes have cooled down after being cooked, get them in the fridge. Then your best bet for reheating them is popping your potatoes in the microwave for 3 - 4 minutes, or until piping hot.

Yes.

Fresh seafood, like prawns, that have been caught and immediately frozen should be safe to reheat. According to Seafood Site, The best way to do this is by microwaving it or stir-frying it and making sure it's piping hot all the way through before eating it.

However, fresh or cooked seafood that has spent any time at room temperature might be harbouring dangerous bacteria, which could make you ill.

Seafood should be thrown away if it's been left out of the fridge for more than two hours in cool weather or one hour in warm weather.

Yes.

Like a number of other foods, the issue with reheating mushrooms isn't necessarily the reheating process, it's the way in which they've been left after cooking. If you leave mushrooms out after cooking without refrigerating them, they can give you stomach ache.

According to the Independent and the European Food Information Council, you have to get them in the fridge as soon as they've cooled down after cooking. Then, stir-fry them or reheat them in the microwave until they're piping hot.

Yes.

Not reheating chicken properly is a pretty surefire way of giving yourself food poisoning. Take it from someone who knows first-hand how bad that can be...

Chicken is fine to reheat as long as you get it piping hot The Food Safety Information Council told SBS that it’s okay to reheat chicken, as long as you get it up to 80º. If you don't get it as hot as that, the bacteria that gives you food poisoning won't be killed. So when microwaving chicken, make sure it's piping hot all the way through before eating it.

Plus, you need to keep it refrigerated after you've cooked it, otherwise that can make you ill too.

Yes.

As with other meats, pork must be piping hot before you eat it when it's been reheated. So be sure to check the temperature when you take it out of the microwave. Same goes for reheating it be stir-frying it.

Yes.

Sure, cold pizza is delicious the next day, but if you can reheat it, you might as well, eh?

According to Domino's, the best way to reheat pizza is to put a slice of pizza in the microwave for 30 seconds with a glass of water, it will come out hot and crispy.

Yes.

Cold, sad and soggy chips and fries are the worst. So, we bet you'd like to know how to reheat them, right?

The first thing to do is to pre-heat your oven to as hot as it will go. Most ovens go to 250 °c, so that’s ideal.

Now spread your chips across a baking tray in a single layer – overlapping the fries is a no-no as you want the heat to hit every single millimetre of the chip for optimum crisping up. There’s no need to add any oil at this point as your chips will already have oil on them from when they were originally cooked.Now place them in the oven for around 3 – 5 minutes. Seriously, that’s all it takes: a quick blast in a super-hot oven for a few minutes.

Once the chips come out of the oven, you may fancy giving them a sprinkle of salt, but that’s about all there is to it.