How to reheat Chinese food the best way possible! (2024)

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We all love ordering Chinese food every once in a while or using a favorite recipe to make our own homemade Chinese dishes.

In particular, Chinese cuisine has a lot of texture, flavor, and taste that is more intense when it’s freshly made or bought, and it can be challenging to reheat the food and still enjoy the same experience as the first time.

However, if you’re worried about reheating Chinese food, you can rest assured that as long as you know how to reheat Chinese food, there are ways to make it taste and look just as great as a fresh serving. You need to use the right methods.

Here are some of the best methods that you can try out.

Table of Contents

Is it OK to reheat Chinese food?

Many people are worried about whether leftover Chinese food can be reheated if they could not finish all of it the night before and are reluctant to let it go to waste.

Nonetheless, when you use heating methods suitable for cold or frozen Chinese food, it’s quite possible to reheat and eat the leftovers.

How to heat Chinese stir-fry on a stove

When reheating stir-fry, all you have to do is follow these steps:

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan large enough for all the stir fry and still have space to move around. Don’t use a flavored oil, which can affect the result of your reheated stir fry.
Put the stir fry in the pan when the oil has heated. Ensure you stir it around in the pan to allow the heat to reach all of the food evenly.
Next, add as many as three tablespoons of water to the stir fry. It won’t change the taste like you might think. It’s only to freshen up the food and help with the texture without burning over overcooking the stir-fry.If you feel like your stir-fry could use some more water, you can add additional tablespoons of water one at a time. You can determine this by checking whether the stir-fry is sticking to the bottom of the pan. Remember, if you have a larger serving, it will need more water for the same results.
Keep stirring the stir-fry until it’s thoroughly heated and the water has mostly evaporated, bringing your meal back to its original flavor and look.

Reheating Chinese food in the oven

Another way of warming up Chinese food is in the oven. All you have to do is preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You should keep the oven at a lower temperature if you’re afraid of burning or drying out the food.

Place the food in an oven-safe dish and cover it with aluminum foil. Tighten the foil at the dish’s edges to prevent heat from seeping out in the heating process. However, if you’re warming rolls or chicken wings, wrap them each loosely with foil, put them on a tray, and then place them in the oven.
Heat the Chinese food for around 10 minutes at most. Check that the internal temperature is about 165 degrees Fahrenheit. You can also move the dish around or rotate the rolls and wings to ensure all the food is exposed to an equal amount of heat.
Reheating Chinese food in the oven is especially preferable if you have anything crispy, such as the rolls or wings mentioned above.Other methods won’t do as good of a job at retaining the crispy texture as compared to heating in the oven.

Reheating Chinese food in the microwave

You can also reheat Chinese food such as soups, stews, noodles, and steamed vegetables in the microwave without worrying about losing its texture or taste.

Microwaves won’t work well for crispy foods because they will get soggy and start crumbling.

The best way to reheat Chinese food

The best way to reheat Chinese food is always in a pan, wok, or the oven. Reheating it in the microwave, especially if it’s fried food, will result in unevenly heated food, a compromised taste, and your food will probably lose its original texture and appeal as well. However, the microwave is also the most convenient and the quickest option. When it’s heated, consume it as soon as possible. Rewarming food for a second time may start affecting its taste. When you’re taking Chinese leftovers out of the freezer, only take out enough to eat in one go because you won’t be able to refreeze it without risking an outbreak of bacteria. That’s why it’s best to freeze it in quantities that can be eaten in one serving.

How long does leftover Chinese food keep?

You can keep Chinese food in the fridge for as many as four days without it going bad. It’s also best to store it in small quantities in several different containers to allow all of it to be cooled evenly in the fridge. Don’t keep it in the same containers that your takeout arrived in.If you feel as though you won’t be consuming the leftovers within the next four days, you should store the Chinese food in the freezer instead. In the freezer, Chinese food can last around four to five months. Chinese food shouldn’t be out in your kitchen for more than two hours outside of the refrigerator or freezer.

The bottom line

Hopefully, you now have a better idea of how to reheat Chinese food without compromising quality and taste. Make sure you keep checking that you don’t overheat the food or dry out the sauces.

How to reheat Chinese food

If you're looking for a quick method for reheating Chinese food such as soups, stews, noodles, rice etc., then considering reheating them in the microwave.

Ingredients

Microwave
Chinese foo
Water
Paper towel

Instructions

Put a small cup of water in the microwave with it when you're warming rice.
Another method is to dampen a paper towel and place it over the rice to steam it and prevent it from losing its texture.
Keep checking the food every few minutes to ensure that you’re not burning it or drying up all the sauces

Notes

Microwaves won’t work well for crispy foods because they will get soggy and start crumbling.

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