How To Choose Between The Microwave And Air Fryer For Reheating Leftovers

Leftovers may be one of the greatest culinary shortcuts of all time. You did the work of making a delicious batch of hearty white chicken and navy bean chili and now get to enjoy the fruits of your labor for several days. All you have to do is reheat it which, of course, requires you deciding on which appliance to use. The oven does a great job of reheating leftover lasagna and many other foods, but it takes quite a lot of time to heat up. Enter two popular appliances: the microwave and the air fryer. 

Which appliance is better for reheating your leftovers largely depends on what you're reheating and how it'll interact with the heating mechanism of each machine. The air fryer uses convection heat which means hot air circulates around your food, heating it evenly. This makes air fryers perfect for making delicious toasted sandwiches and reheating dry, crisp foods like fried chicken, steak, and roasted vegetables. However, this design also means that this appliance is not the best at reheating wet dishes like soups or stews. Convection heat can sometimes cause liquid leftovers to splash and bubble over — something that is much more avoidable when using a microwave. For these reasons, it's easy to choose which appliance to reheat food in: If the food is rich in moisture, use a microwave, if it is dry and crispy use an air fryer.

While air fryers use convection heat, microwaves heat food with electromagnetic waves. These waves cause the moisture inside your leftovers to vibrate and heat up which contributes to their notoriety for heating things unevenly or making them soggy. If the water in your food isn't evenly distributed, some spots may overheat while others stay cold. Electromagnetic waves also have a tough time penetrating particularly dense foods. This explains the customary cold spot in the center of your leftovers. As such, microwaves  are less than ideal for reheating dry, crisp foods like fried chicken or popcorn shrimp; the breading will probably become mushy and fall off and the middle of the food might remain cold.

The best leftovers to reheat in your microwave are wet foods with a homogenous texture and consistency. Things like pasta in a thick sauce, chili, stew, and soup all contain plenty of moisture, allowing them to heat fairly efficiently without drying out. Plus, it's quite easy to eliminate the dreaded cold spot by simply stirring these foods and popping them back into the microwave for a minute or two. 

It can be very challenging to decide which appliance to reheat soft but solid foods like polenta or mashed potatoes in. If you use an air fryer, these foods may develop a crunchy crust. If you use a microwave, the middle section might remain cold. In this scenario, you've just got to pick whatever you think is the lesser of two evils.