Your oven is an excellent choice for reheating various leftover foods that you don’t want to go to waste, or that you don’t want to eat cold. Can you imagine eating a cold casserole? All that luscious creaminess lost to a cold or lukewarm temperature? Your oven can afford you the possibility of enjoying day-old food as if freshly baked.
Thanks to your oven, the dish or pan you are reheating will do so evenly and through the correct timing and temperature, you can avoid your food drying out. Dry food is the principal challenge when opting for reheating. The methodology for for oven reheating is pretty straightforward and remembering to cover the pan, dish, or whatever container you use, will help your food remain moist and juicy.
How long it takes you to reheat food in the oven will depend on what food you are reheating, its size, and its thickness. The correct temperature to use for reheating food in the oven will likewise depend on the choice of leftovers as well as their consistency.
How to Reheat a Casserole in the Oven
One of the defining characteristics of casseroles, regardless of the type, is creaminess or juiciness. You will want to maintain this during reheating to fully enjoy this dish. Often these recipes actually taste better the day after, because the ingredients have fused together so well. Here’s my step-by-step method for reheating your casserole and reveling in that day-after blend of flavors. Plan on reheating for approximately 20 minutes time.
- Step 1: If your casserole has been refrigerated, remove it and set it aside for at least 20 minutes until it reaches room temperature.
- Step 2: Preheat your oven to 350° F.
- Step 3: Place your leftovers of the casserole in a baking dish. If you have one large portion, cut it into smaller pieces to help the inside of the casserole to heat more quickly and evenly.
- Step 4: Cover the dish or pan with casserole leftovers. If the pan doesn’t have its own cover, you can cover it with aluminum foil. This is really important and the key to success, because it will preserve the natural juices and help to avoid burning the edges of your leftover casserole.
- Step 5: Bake for approximately 20 minutes. If you only have a few pieces, or if they are small or thin, shorten the reheating time to roughly 15 minutes.
Once your casserole has been reheated, allow it to sit for about 2 minutes before serving.
How to Reheat Fried Chicken & Rotisserie Chicken in the Oven
While these two methods for cooking chicken are quite different, they do share in common the fact that they can be successfully reheated in your oven.
Reheating a Rotisserie Chicken in the Oven
If you need a quick dinner, there is nothing so easy as picking up a rotisserie chicken at your neighborhood market. The day after, unless you have a large family, you will probably have some scrumptious leftovers that you don’t want to eat cold. Reheating rotisserie chicken in the oven is a great option for gaining the outer skin’s crispiness with tender, succulent meat on the inside. You should be ready to eat after a half-hour of preparation and reheating.
- Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350°F
- Step 2: If your leftovers are in the fridge remove them and set them aside to arrive at room temperature. If your chicken is still in the store packaging, remove it and place it in a baking dish that is oven safe.
- Step 3: For an entire chicken, adding a cup of chicken broth to the bottom of the baking dish. If you are reheating partial leftovers, you can add chicken broth in relation to how much chicken is being reheated.
- Step 4: Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place it in your oven,
- Step 5: Allow the chicken to roast for about 25 minutes. Remove the foil and let the chicken roast for another 5 minutes.
- Step 6: Remove and serve.
Reheating Fried Chicken in an Oven
Leftover fried chicken? It was so good yesterday, that you just want another bite of that crispy, juicy meat today. And since you want it crispy and juicy, you don’t want to eat it cold. Your conventional oven can come to the rescue so that your fried chicken leftovers will taste as if they came directly from a deep fryer after only 20 minutes in your conventional oven.
- Step 1: Preheat your oven to 400° F.
- Step 2: Remove your chicken from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for approximately 15 minutes.
- Step 3: While you are waiting, fit a rack onto a baking sheet.
- Step 4: Position your chicken pieces on the rack allowing space. The space under and between the pieces will permit the air to circulate better. (If you don’t have a rack, try lining your baking sheet with foil.)
- Step 5: Position the tray with the chicken directly in the center of your oven and cook it for 15 to 20 minutes. The correct amount of time will depend on the cut of the chicken pieces, size, and thickness. To avoid having your chicken dry out, keep an eye on it, checking thighs and legs after 10 minutes and chicken breasts after 15 minutes.
- Step 6: Once sufficiently crispy for your taste, remove and enjoy.
Reheating Time
Many of you will ask, “how long do I need to reheat chicken in the oven?”, or you may want to reheat a few chicken thighs Heating time will mostly depend on how large a chicken you have, how many pieces of chicken you are reheating, and the cut, size, and thickness. Times will vary.
How long do I need to reheat the chicken in the oven?
A full chicken will probably require a good 25 minutes to heat through completely.
How long do I need to reheat chicken thighs in the oven?
For chicken pieces, and most specifically chicken thighs, you can start watching them after 10 minutes to make sure you don’t leave them in too long and dry them out.
Conclusion
Most of us love leftovers, and that extra day will allow flavors to blend and improve the flavor. The only problem may be the method for reheating these foods. Most foods should be reheated using the same method used for cooking them originally to maintain their culinary characteristics. In any case, with a conventional oven, you can’t go wrong. Bon appetite!
