The Best Way to Defrost Ground Beef, According to Our Expert Tests

TL;DR

Flat-packing ground beef before freezing will make for quicker thawing. Thawing in the microwave is the fastest method, but requires you to flip and rotate the beef as it thaws, as well as cook it immediately to prevent it from sitting in the danger zone. Thawing your beef in a bowl of cold water is also a relatively quick method, but requires you  to change the water every 30 minutes to maintain its temperature. The most hands-off method—thawing in the fridge—is also the longest, but is the only one that guarantees your beef will never enter the temperature danger zone if your fridge is calibrated correctly.

Ground beef is the star of many popular weeknight dishes: It can be used to make a luxurious bolognese, shaped into juicy burgers, or quickly turned into a taco filling on a hectic evening. For that reason, many people keep the versatile protein in their freezers, ready to thaw at a moment’s notice. But defrosting beef isn’t as simple as removing it from the freezer and setting it on your kitchen counter—how you thaw the meat impacts not only how long it will take to defrost, but also whether the meat is safe to cook and eat once thawed. To determine the best way to defrost beef, I froze 10 pounds of ground beef using five popular and oft-recommended methods.

Why It's Important to Defrost Ground Beef Correctly

Defrosting meat can be a nuisance, especially if you’ve forgotten to remove it from the freezer and place it in the fridge the day before you plan to cook it (the most reliable method). As tempting as it is to dunk your package of ground beef into a bowl of hot water or to leave it near your radiator, doing either of these things places the food in the temperature danger zone (40 to 140ºF or 4.5 to 60ºC). This is the range in which bacteria like Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus can easily multiply, increasing the likelihood of food poisoning.

“If the pathogens are present when meat is ground, then more of the meat surface is exposed to the harmful bacteria,” the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) notes. Furthermore, “grinding allows any bacteria present on the surface to be mixed throughout the meat.” Unfortunately, cooking doesn’t necessarily kill off all of these bacterial strains, and, as is the case with most proteins, including chicken and turkey, the best way to reduce the risk of food poisoning is to keep the meat out of the danger zone by safely thawing it and then cooking it properlyThere are only three thawing methods the USDA recommends: in the fridge, in a bowl of cold water, or in the microwave, but there are a number of common unsanctioned methods commonly used by home cooks, as well.

How We Tested

To determine the best way to thaw ground beef, I tested the three USDA-approved methods outlined above, along with two questionable but common practices: at room temperature and under running water in the sink. I recorded how long each method took and, using an instant-read thermometer, logged the temperature of the beef at various intervals throughout the process to determine if the meat ever hit the danger zone. 

As Kenji, Serious Eats culinary director emeritus and food science whiz, has written previously, flattening food before freezing can speed up both the process of freezing and thawing, as it maximizes the ratio of surface area to volume. With this in mind, I tested each of the defrosting methods with two one-pound sets of ground beef: one set that I flattened into one centimeter discs and another that I froze in 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 by 2-inch blocks, which is similar to how ground beef is packaged and sold at most US grocery stores. After measuring the 10 one-pound portions and placing them in tightly sealed zip-top bags, I froze them until solid before proceeding with my defrosting tests. For each method, I only opened the sealed bags to check the temperature of the meat at various thawing intervals.

The Most Common Methods for Thawing Ground Beef: Tested

Refrigerator

Method
I set the frozen flat-packed ground beef and block of ground beef on a rimmed baking sheet (to collect any leaking juices), then placed them in the fridge until they were fully thawed.

How Safe Is It?
Defrosting in the fridge is the most hands-off way to thaw ground beef. According to Meredith Carothers, a food safety specialist with the USDA, it’s also the safest, provided that  your fridge is calibrated to consistently maintain a temperature below 40ºF (4ºC), as this guarantees that the meat will never reach danger zone temperatures. (If your fridge is not properly calibrated, all of the perishable food in it will be in the danger zone, which is why we recommend using a backup thermometer to be sure your fridge's internal thermometer is accurate.) Once defrosted in the fridge, ground beef can be safely stored for an additional TK days, according to the USDA.

The Results
Of all the methods I tested, defrosting in the fridge took the longest: the flattened package took almost 20 hours to thaw, while the block took about 24 hours to thaw.

Microwave

Method
If your microwave has a “defrost” setting, the USDA recommends using that setting to thaw ground beef. To defrost ground beef in the microwave, I removed the frozen beef from its packaging, placed it on a microwave-safe plate, then thawed it using my microwave’s “defrost” setting. If your microwave doesn’t have this setting, you should defrost your food at 30% power to prevent the ground beef from beginning to cook during defrosting. The USDA also recommends rotating and flipping the meat throughout the process to ensure even thawing, and suggests using a spoon or spatula to remove thawed portions of the meat to help the remaining beef thaw more easily.

The time it takes to defrost meat in the microwave will depend on your microwave’s wattage. I tested in my 1200W microwave, which has a defrost setting specifically for meat; according to the manufacturer, the microwave alternates between 20 to 30% power to “ensure even thawing” of the meat. 

How Safe Is It?
The microwave is one of just two rapid defrosting methods the USDA recommends. However, food thawed this way must be cooked immediately after it's defrosted since the microwave kickstarts the cooking process. 

Results
Of the five methods I tested, the microwave was by far the fastest. The flat-packed package defrosted three minutes faster than the block. However, the meat was much more unevenly thawed, with the edges beginning to cook while the center remained frozen. The texture was also much drier after I cooked the ground beef. Though the block of frozen meat took slightly longer, it thawed more evenly—and had fewer spots begin to cook. Defrosting in the microwave is an option if you're in a pinch, but if you have time, we definitely recommend the fridge method over this one.

Cold Water

Method
I submerged each of the packages of frozen beef in a bowl of cold tap water. According to Carothers, cold tap water in the approximate range of 55 to 65ºF (12 to 18ºC) is fine for defrosting as long as you cook the meat immediately after defrosting. It’s essential to change the water every 30 minutes in order to ensure it stays in the recommended temperature range and to keep the thawing process moving. As the beef thaws, the water surrounding it will become cooler, eventually becoming cold enough to hamper the defrosting process. It’s also crucial that the bag is fully sealed to prevent any water from entering the package of meat.

How Safe Is It?
The USDA considers thawing in cold water to be a safe method, as long as you change the water every 30 minutes and cook the meat immediately after thawing.

Results
The flat-packed ground beef defrosted in just 30 minutes—which meant that I didn’t even have to change the water. The block of beef, on the other hand, took an hour and 15 minutes. The flattened beef also thawed much more evenly; using an instant-read thermometer, I took the temperature of the beef and only saw 5ºF (2ºC) difference between the center of the package and its edges. Conversely, the block’s edges reached 50.5ºF (10.2ºC) after an hour, but remained 29ºF (-1.7ºC) at the core.

Running Water

Method
Many home cooks and professionals place packaged frozen foods under a running faucet to speed up the defrosting time, but it is not a USDA-approved method—plus, it wastes water and inconveniently occupies the sink for a substantial amount of time. This method is also not substantially faster than the cold water method outlined above. Though the flat pack was done thawing in 25 minutes—five minutes faster than in the bowl of water—the block took an hour and 22 minutes to defrost, longer than the cold water in the bowl.

How Safe Is It?
This method is not endorsed by the USDA and we do not recommend it, as it is as loud as running a vacuum cleaner, a waste of water, and not particularly faster than other methods.

Results

Room Temperature

Method
I placed the two packages of frozen beef on separate rimmed baking sheets on my kitchen counter and let them sit at 74ºF (23ºC) until thawed. Using an instant-read thermometer, I took the temperature of the beef approximately every 10 minutes to ensure that food wasn’t sitting in the danger zone.

How Safe Is It?
The USDA does not recommend this method, and the two food safety experts I spoke with—Carothers and Catherine Nettles Cutter, a food science professor at Penn State University—advised against thawing meat at room temperature. This is because your food is likely to hit the danger zone, which increases the risk of foodborne illnesses. According to the USDA, food should not sit in the danger zone for longer than two hours—one hour if the space is above 90ºF (32ºC).

Though I did not sicken myself with my tests, eating food that has been thawed improperly is especially dangerous for at-risk populations, including pregnant people, children under the age of five, people who are aged 65 or older , or those who are immunocompromised.

Results
The flat-packed meat defrosted in just over an hour and a half and never reached the danger zone. The block of frozen meat, however, took a little over three hours—twice as long as the flat-packed beef—and the outer edges of the meat hit the danger zone for about 10 minutes before I refrigerated it.

What Is the Fastest Way to Defrost Beef?

The microwave is the fastest: The appliance fully thawed both the flattened package and block of ground beef in just 10 minutes. However, this method did not thaw the meat consistently, and the edges of the beef cooked before the center could even thaw. Because this method jumpstarts the cooking method, you must cook the beef immediately after thawing it in the microwave. Thawing your beef in a bowl of cold water is also a good option if you’re in a hurry, but you will have to change the water every 30 minutes to maintain its temperature.

Which Method for Defrosting Ground Beef Produced the Best Results Overall?

While defrosting in the fridge takes the longest, it is the safest and most hands-off way to thaw ground beef. And unlike the microwave other methods, thawing in the fridge allows you to safely store the ground beef for an additional two days in the fridge once it's thawed. It also has no negative impact on the texture of the beef, unlike the microwave method. For that reason, we recommend thawing ground beef in the fridge if you are able to plan ahead and have the time to spare.