If you’d planned to make hamburgers for dinner but only have frozen hamburger buns, not to worry because defrosting those buns can be faster than you think.
To defrost hamburger buns you can use a microwave, oven, air fryer, or even a toaster oven or refrigerator to do this job. You can even thaw them out on your countertop for 2-3 hours to allow them to defrost.
This article will explore how to defrost hamburger buns in 6 easy. Let’s take a look at each of these in more detail.
1. Microwave
The microwave is perhaps the easiest way to defrost hamburger buns. In fact, you can heat one bun for only 10–20 seconds at high power in your microwave, and that should do the trick. In fact, it is best to defrost hamburger buns one at a time.
If you try to defrost more than one at a time, it becomes more of a challenge to determine the correct amount of time to use. If you defrost one bun at a time, you won’t have that problem. Make sure you cover the bread with a moist towel or paper towel.
2. Oven
The key to thawing out hamburger buns in a regular oven is to keep the temperature in the oven low—no more than around 350–375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Give the buns 5–10 minutes and check them. If they’re not completely thawed out, give them about 3–5 minutes more, then keep checking them every 3–5 minutes until they’re done. In all likelihood, you probably won’t need but 5–10 minutes total.
3. Air Fryer
Air fryers are a great way to defrost hamburger buns because the process is both fast and healthy.
Just preheat the fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, then spread the buns a few at a time inside of the fryer, making sure they are not touching each other.
Keep them in there for around 5–6 minutes, then check them. You’d do better to defrost just a few buns at a time until they’re all completed.
4. Toaster Oven
When you have a toaster oven, this is a great way to defrost your hamburger buns. You can place the buns on the oven rack and heat them up for 5–8 minutes.
This is a very efficient and fast way to defrost hamburger buns. Toaster ovens tend to be fairly neat as well, so you won’t have to clean up lots of mess after the buns are ready to be used.
5. Thaw Out Naturally
If you’d like to thaw your hamburger buns naturally, simply take them out of the freezer, leave them in the packaging so they don’t dry out, and leave them out for 10–20 minutes.
After that time, check the buns and see how thawed out they are. If they are not completely defrosted, allow them to remain on the countertop in 10-minute increments until they are nice and soft.
If you’re defrosting an entire bag of hamburger buns, it might take up to an hour.
6. Refrigerator
Finally, you can always take your frozen hamburger buns and put them on a tray or plate in the fridge. You can either leave them in the bag or remove them and put them on a plate, covering them with a towel or paper towel.
For this method, you’ll likely have to wait several hours for the buns to be completely defrosted. Check them after 2–3 hours to see if they need to defrost any longer.
Check out this great video about freezing and thawing hamburger buns.
What Is the Quickest Way to Thaw Out Hamburger Buns?
The fastest way to thaw out hamburger buns is to put them in the microwave, but not everyone likes the taste of microwaved bread.
Ovens and air fryers are almost as fast as a microwave, and the taste is less chewy and a lot fresher than bread that you thaw out in the microwave.
If you’re in a hurry and need thawed-out hamburger buns right away, the smartest thing you can do is place them in the microwave.
How Long Do Bread Buns Take to Defrost?
Hamburger and hot dog buns do not take long to defrost. Bread buns will take 10–20 seconds for a microwave, 5–10 minutes for a regular oven, 5–6 minutes for an air fryer, 5–8 minutes for a toaster oven, roughly 20 minutes if left out on the countertop.
If bread buns are left in the refrigerator, they will take 2–3 hours in the refrigerator.
With most of these instructions, the rules apply to just one hamburger or hot dog bun. You can defrost an entire package of hamburger or hot dog buns if you like, but if you use the microwave, it’s best to defrost just one at a time.
If you make homemade bread and you’d like to freeze it, consider cutting the loaf of bread into slices first before you put it in the freezer.
Homemade bread should only be frozen and defrosted once and no more, and this prevents you from taking the entire loaf out of the freezer when all you want is a slice.
If you have an entire loaf of bread in the freezer and you need to thaw out the entire loaf, just put it on a baking tray, set the oven to 350–375 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake it for about 10 minutes.
This way, not only does the bread get thawed out properly, but even the crust is crisp and brown like it should be. So as you can see, any type of bread needs to be frozen properly to taste good once it’s thawed.
Conclusion
Regardless of the method you use, defrosting hamburger buns and other types of bread is not that complicated.
The quickest way to thaw out buns and bread is to use the microwave, but even the longest method used—thawing it out in the refrigerator—usually takes no more than 3 hours.
The freshest bread is that which hasn’t been in the freezer for more than 2–3 months because after several months, the bread starts to harden and dry out some, which affects its taste once the thawing-out process is complete.
I am an accredited practicing dietitian, experienced gardener and a dedicated cook. I love writing and sharing my experience so you can learn from my successes and mistakes.