Defrost Mince In Microwave

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Do you want homemade meatballs for dinner and only have frozen mince? Then let me show exactly how to defrost mince in microwave.

Whether you call it defrosting mince, defrosting ground beef, or defrosting hamburger meat, let me show you how to defrost fast your frozen mince in the microwave.

How To Defrost Mince

I often get asked about how to defrost food fast. Especially when you have forgotten to get food out of the freezer ahead of what you have planned for dinner.

Something I feel that we all do at some point, or when we have unexpected guests for dinner and then realise, we need to create a lot more food than we had planned.

I find one of those go to foods in the freezer is the mince as it can be used in so many different ways and can then be defrosted in the microwave first and then used for dinner.

Today I wanted to share with you a real life example of how to defrost mince using the microwave.

We are making air fryer thai meatballs for dinner that we are serving with our favourite soup maker lentil soup and will be using the microwave first for the defrosting.

Then whilst the microwave is defrosting the mince, we can get the lentil soup cooking.

If you want the quickest way to defrost mince then you will love this microwave method.

Can You Defrost Mince In Microwave?

Yes, you can defrost mince in the microwave. It’s a simple yet quick way to defrost your mince ready for cooking with for dinner.

Though of course, the time taken to defrost mince can vary depending on the quantity of mince you need to defrost.

Can You Defrost Ground Beef In The Microwave?

Yes, you can defrost ground beef in the microwave. Ground beef is just another name for mince and mince aka ground beef, defrosts perfectly in the microwave.

You can also use different types of mince in the microwave too such as pork mince, beef mince, lamb mince, chicken mince etc.

Can You Cook Mince From Frozen?

Another question I get asked is can you cook mince from frozen and the answer is YES, but it doesn’t work well with a lot of recipes that way.

Whilst I love cooking air fryer frozen hamburgers or air fryer frozen meatballs, they are already prepped and don’t need anything doing to them.

But in my Thai meatballs recipe that I am making now, I need to prep the meatballs so can only do this with thawed mince.

Can You Cook Lamb Mince From Frozen?

Yes, you can also cook frozen lamb mince from frozen. Such as air fryer frozen lamb burgers, or some lamb koftas that you have previously prepped.

Though do note, that if you are air frying frozen lamb it is higher fat and you are likely to get smoke coming from your air fryer.

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Defrost Mince Microwave Ingredients

Mince – We used a pack of 500g (1.1lb) frozen minced pork or as you might call it ground pork.

Water – Because we are using our microwave steamer basket for an even defrost of the mince, we need a little water into the steamer basket.  

Steamer – Then our favourite steamer basket. We picked it up from Lakeland but this one will work too. You just add a little water to it and your mince and then microwave your mince to fully defrost them.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this defrost mince in the microwave recipe it has just been our Panasonic Microwave Oven. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of microwave recipes.

How To Defrost Mince In Microwave?

• Water. Start by adding a little water to your steamer basket.
• Load. Next remove the packaging from the mince and load your frozen mince into the steamer basket add the lid and microwave on the defrost meat setting for 4 minutes.
• Beeps. When the microwave beeps, remove the paper from the mince and microwave for a further 12 minutes on the defrost meat setting.

And I am sure you can see now how easy it is defrosting mince in microwave and why it is one of my favourite defrosting hacks.

How Long To Defrost Mince In Microwave?

We found that it took JUST 16 minutes to defrost mince in the microwave. BUT we did another batch and found with a quick defrost hack that we could reduce the thawing time to 12 minutes, knocking an extra 4 minutes off.

The method is to pull defrosted mince from the edges of the block of mince and then you are breaking it down and it means that the centre of the mince is getting smaller and smaller and defrosting quicker.

We also found that if done on just a plate it would be quicker, but this will cause browning at the edges which is why I recommend covering using the steamer basket.

How Long To Defrost 1lb Ground Beef In Microwave?

Our pack of pork mince was 1.1 lbs so just over 1 pound and found that ground beef would be as quick as ground pork, meaning that our same cook times of 16 minutes would also work for ground beef.

Why Not Try Microwave Veggies?

Beyond defrosting ground beef in the microwave, one of my all time favourites is to use the microwave and the steamer basket for steaming veggies.

Here are a few microwave veggie recipes to get you started:

• Microwave Broccoli
• Microwave Cauliflower
• Microwave Brussel Sprouts
• Microwave Corn On The Cob
• Microwave Carrots
• Microwave Green Beans
• Microwave Asparagus

Your how to defrost mince recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.

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