How to Reheat Fast Food

There should really be a technical manual for how to reheat your fast food.  Fast food comes in many presentations, so it is hard to generalize on how to reheat it.  The safest way is to not generalize and break down how to reheat fast food into specific lessons.

Fast food can be reheated many ways depending on what kind of fast food you are talking about.  McDonald’s differs from Taco Bell, which differs from Kentucky Fried Chicken, which differs from Long John Silver’s.  You can reheat all fast food, and the safest method is in the conventional or toaster oven.  The microwave oven is the easiest, but it gives the worst results.

There is nothing worse than delving into the world of fast food without having a plan of attack.  This article is giving me a Big Mac attack, but I am on a diet, so I will just stick to my celery stalks and water. 

How to Reheat McDonalds and Other Fast Food Burgers such as the Mighty Whopper

The best way to reheat your McDonald’s Big Mac, or your Burger King Whopper, or any other fast food burger, is in the oven.  You can use a conventional oven or a toaster oven.  It basically makes no difference, except the conventional oven is larger and will absorb more gas from the burger.

The toppings on the burger complicate matters.  You should remove all fresh vegetables such as lettuce, tomato or onion before reheating the burger.  How would you like to have a piece of wilted slop on your leftover whopper?

Remove the vegetables and put them in the refrigerator.  If the vegetables already look terrible, you can discard them.  We will talk about putting fresh lettuce and tomato on our burgers later.

How to Reheat a Fast Food Burger in the Conventional Oven.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Remove all vegetable material from your burger.
3. Find a cookie tray somewhere in your kitchen.  It is probably under some soda pop cans.
4. Put the burger on the cookie tray face down.  I know this sounds weird, but it creates a better beef flavor when it cooks on the metal.
5. When the oven preheats, put the burger in the oven.
6. Reheat for 5 minutes, or until the bread is toasting.
7. Remove the burger from the oven.
8. Put the burger back together.
9. Eat as is, or see the section on how to add fresh toppings to the burger.

How to Reheat your Fast Food Burger in the Microwave

If you don’t have any other options, you can reheat your burger in the microwave.  Expect it to be soggy and unsatisfying.  

1. Wrap your burger in a paper towel.
2. Put the burger in the microwave on a microwave safe plate.
3. Set the timer for 45 seconds.
4. Microwave on high.
5. Remove the burger from the microwave.
6. Brace yourself before eating.

Toppings You Can Use on Your Burger to Prevent it From Tasting Like Garbage

It is advisable to get rid of those soggy onions and replace them with fresh ones.  Here are some other ideas to improve the flavor of your reheated burger.

1. Fresh Tomato
2. Fresh Lettuce.
3. Fresh Avocado
4. Fresh Onions
5. Mushrooms
6. Pickles
7. Sauerkraut
8. Kim Chi
9. Wasabi
10. Ginger Root
11.  Use your imagination to think of other great topping ideas.

How to Reheat Your Taco Bell or Other Fast Food Burrito

So you finally saved up enough money to buy a Taco Bell bean burrito.  You have been waiting for this moment for several weeks, and you run to Taco Bell in a hurry.  You get in line and order your bean burrito.  Lo-and-behold, you get a call from your step sister from jail and you don’t have time to eat the burrito!

Don’t panic.  Put the burrito in the refrigerator and you can reheat it later.  Follow these steps and your burrito will be almost as good as new.

Toaster Oven Instructions

Make sure you clean your toaster oven before cooking. Any leftover toast or other food can easily ignite in your toaster, resulting in a house fire that could leave you destitute, like literally living in the streets.

1. Take the paper wrapping off the burrito.
2. Put the burrito on the toaster oven cooking sheet.
3. If you have an extra supply of Taco Bell hot sauce, say 10 packets, squirt the packets onto the burrito before cooking. This makes a delicious smothered burrito.
4. Add fresh onions, fresh tomato, black olives, fresh salsa, or any other topping you can find.
5. Cook at 420 degrees for 5 minutes.
6. Remove from the toaster oven.
7. Add sour cream.
8. Enjoy!

Microwave Oven Instructions

The microwave oven isn’t ideal, but for a leftover burrito, it is not a terrible option. The burrito will be a little soggy, but highly edible.

1. Leave the burrito in the wrapping paper.
2. Put the burrito on a microwave-safe dish.
3. Put the burrito in the microwave oven.
4. Set the timer for 45 seconds.
5. Microwave on high.
6. Take the burrito out of the oven.  Be careful not to get hot beans and cheese on your finger because you can get a bad bean and cheese burn.
7. Add sour cream.
8. Enjoy!

How to Reheat Your Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) or Other Fast Food Chicken

It’s already been a half an hour at work and your hunger is out of control. You need to take a break to get some chicken. The drive to KFC is short and you order the extra crispy. You got the chicken in your car and it smells so good! Suddenly, you get a flat tire and you spend the rest of the afternoon getting it fixed.

Don’t panic! Your chicken will be fine. Put it in the refrigerator until you have time to cook it later. It won’t be as good as fresh, but if you cook it right, it will still maintain some of that finger licking good greatness.

How to Reheat Your Fried Chicken in the Conventional Oven

You have picked the best way to reheat your chicken.  The only thing you can do wrong is cook it for too long. Be careful to not cook it too long because your chicken will be as dry as chicken jerky.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Take the chicken out of the chicken bucket.
3. Put the chicken in aluminum foil.
4. Important! Punch holes in the aluminum foil with a fork to prevent your chicken from exploding in the oven.
5. Once the oven preheats, put the chicken in the oven.
6. Wait one minute.
7. Wait one minute more.
8. No, that wasn’t an exploding chicken.
9. After 5 minutes of waiting, take the chicken out of the oven.
10. Be careful taking the chicken out of the oven because you can get a chicken burn and they are very painful.

How to Reheat Your Fried Chicken in the Microwave Oven

Don’t say we did not warn you.  If you reheat your fried chicken in the microwave oven, you will gnash your teeth in disappointment.  The crust will be soggy, and the chicken will be dry and rubbery.  But if you insist on doing it in the microwave, then here is how to do it.

1. Put the whole chicken bucket in the microwave.
2. Put some kind of lid on the chicken bucket.  A trash can lid will work.
3. Nuke the chicken on high for 1 minute.
4. Shake the chicken.
5. Cook for another minute.
6. Enjoy, if you can.

How to Reheat Long John Silver’s or Some Other Fast Food Fish Sticks. 

Long John Silver’s fish filets taste fresh and delicious when you buy them in the store. But have you ever tried to reheat their fish sticks at home? It isn’t easy because they are so greasy that they turn to mush when you reheat them.  

Remember that you are dealing with a delicate piece of fish. The fish is so tender that it melts in your mouth. The fish is also so tender that it can turn to mush in your oven.  Reheating your Long John Silver’s is not as easy as reheating a Big Mac. 

To Reheat Long John Silver’s Fish in the Conventional Oven

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. This seems like a high temperature, but we want to cook the leftover fish fast.
2. Find a cookie sheet. An aluminum plate will do, or you can even wrap your Long John Silver’s in a piece of aluminum foil.
3. Remove condiments from any part of the fish. Cut off any parts that have catsup or tartar sauce on them. These parts will not cook and will turn into a mushy substance that resembles wet bread.
4. Pick off any parts of the fish that are overcooked. These dry pieces of fish will cook to the point of burning.  You don’t want the flavor of burnt fish in your Long John Silver’s leftover fish stick.
5. Put the fish on the cookie sheet, aluminum plate or aluminum foil wrap. If you use the wrap, poke a few holes in the top to let steam escape.
6. Put the leftover Long John Silver’s fish in the oven.
7. Cook for five minutes and inspect.
8. The crust should get pretty hard by now. If it isn’t hard, put the fish back in the conventional oven for another 2 minutes.
9. If the crust is hard, take the fish out of the oven.
10. Serve immediately.

To Reheat Your Fast Food Fish Stick in the Microwave Oven.

Reheating your fish sticks in the microwave will leave you with a substance that looks like a fish in a blender.  It is nasty and difficult to clean up. Just don’t do it.

But if you do it, follow these simple steps.

1. Put the fish sticks on a paper towel.’
2. Put the fish sticks on a microwave-safe dish.
3. Put the fish sticks in the microwave oven.
4. Microwave on high for 1 minute.
5. Enjoy, if you can.

Conclusion

In all cases, except fast food burritos, it is not advisable to heat your fast food in the microwave oven.  Heat your fast food in the conventional oven at 400 degrees for five minutes and your food will be hot and juicy in the middle and crunchy on the outside.  Always be careful handling hot greasy food because you can get a nasty fast food burn that does not go away fast at all.