Okay, so you suddenly remembered that you have a few unattended donuts in the freezer and are desperately searching for ways to reheat them? Well, you’re at the right place!
If you don’t reheat your donuts properly, you might end up with chewy dry donuts. And who would want that? Definitely not us!
Read on to find out how to reheat donuts in a microwave and an oven. Furthermore, we’ll also discuss ways to reheat donuts without using a microwave or an oven. We hope you find it helpful!
How to Reheat Donuts in a Microwave?
Despite microwave-heated donuts being notorious for being dry and not of premium texture, microwaving donuts is still one of the most prevalent methods of reheating stale donuts. Microwaves heat food quickly but also dry it out in the process.
Therefore, bread items, especially, have high chances of turning out chewy if not microwaved properly. You need to make sure that your donut is just warm and not heated extremely. Below are the step-by-step instructions on how to reheat a donut in a microwave.
- Turn on the microwave and keep the settings as low as possible.
- Place your donuts on a microwave-safe plate and a damp paper towel or a hand towel on top of them. This step will make sure that donuts won’t dry out.
- The time of the reheat depends upon your microwave power. Some microwave heats donuts perfectly in 20 secs, while low power microwave might take up to 1 minute.
- The recommended way to heat donuts is by setting the timer to 15 secs on the start and checking the status of the donuts in every ten seconds intervals until you’re happy with the result.
A quick reminder – in case of jam-filled or cream-filled donuts, remember that the warmth of the donut might trick you into taking a big bite while the fillings might be extremely hot. Patience is the key here, guys!
How to Reheat Donuts in an Oven?
While it might take a bit longer, an oven is properly one of the best methods of reheating baked or fried goods. It is especially true in case you have a big batch of stale donuts to reheat. You can stuff all the donuts in one big tray, and your problem is solved within minutes!
Here’s a brief outline of how you should heat donuts in your oven.
- Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.
- Wrap each of your donuts in aluminum foil before placing them on the oven tray. Doing so will make sure that the donuts don’t lose their moisture and softness and that the fillings and glazes of the donuts don’t mess with your oven trays.
- Place your tray inside of the heated oven and let the timer run for 5 minutes.
- Remove the foil cover from one of the donuts and check if it has heated up to your liking. If not, let the donuts sit inside the oven for a few more minutes.
How to Reheat Donuts without Microwave or Oven?
A. Reheat Donuts in an Air-fryer:
Now, if your oven has died, you can completely reheat your donuts in an air fryer. In fact, many use air fryers to fry their donut dough to make healthier yet premium homemade donuts.
Spray some oil on both sides of the donut dough and fry them in a preheated air fryer for around three to four minutes.
I digress; let’s discuss how we can use an air fryer to reheat stale donuts in a step-by-step manner.
- Preheat your air fryer at 350 degrees F.
- Brush or spray some oil on both sides of your stale donuts.
- Wrap your donuts with a perforated parchment paper. Never preheat your air fryer with only parchment paper on the cooking basket.
- Fry the donuts for around 4 minutes. But make sure you check the status in between, as you definitely don’t want to overheat the donuts.
Note: Some on the internet suggest using a damp paper towel to wrap the donuts. If you’d ask us, that’s not only an inefficient method but also dangerous.
Wrapping food on a cooking basket with a damp paper towel will result in unevenly cooked food due to restricted airflow and also lead to fire hazards.
On the other hand, using damp paper towels while reheating food in the microwave results in evenly cooked food and also prevents food from drying. However, it is also not safe to microwave damp paper towels for more than 5 minutes.
B. Reheating Donuts in a toaster oven:
If you don’t have many donuts to reheat and don’t want to heat your oven or use a stove, using a toaster oven is a perfectly fine method to revive your donut. Here’s how you heat your donuts in a toaster oven.
- Start by setting the temperature of your toaster oven to 350 degrees F.
- You can put the donut inside of the toaster oven as it is. However, many prefer to wrap their donuts in foil or with a damp paper towel to make sure the donut does not become too dry.
- Heat the donut in a low setting for about 5 minutes and check if the texture matches your preference. If not, pop them in for a bit longer.
- And, in case you want a crispier donut, spray or brush some oil onto the donut before toasting them.
C. Reheat Donuts on Stove:
Reheating donuts on a stove is also an excellent idea if the rest of the methods don’t seem to work for you. There are two ways you can reheat donuts on the stove – reheating in a lightly greased pan or frying the donuts in oil once again.
1. Reheating donuts in a pan:
Remember that reheating donuts on a pan is only preferable to reheating bare or filled donuts. In the case of glazed donuts, the glaze will melt off and stick and burn on the pan.
To gently reheat the donut on a pan, below are the steps you need to follow:
- Start by placing a frying pan on a stove and grease it with oil or butter. If you’d ask us, we prefer butter instead.
- Now, place the donut on the pan and heat each side for around 2-3 minutes.
- In order to restore its softness, you might want to sprinkle some water and close the lid of the pan. This way, you’ll be steaming the donuts, and thus, hard stale donuts will regain their taste and texture within a few minutes.
- Avoid sprinkling water if you don’t like your donut too soft and moist. Simply let each side heat as per your liking.
2. Frying donuts in oil:
If you like your donuts fresh, you’ll probably prefer this method over everything else. However, if you cannot afford any more calories in your donut, this method is probably not for you. Follow the below-mentioned steps to revive your donuts by frying.
- Take a deep frying pan and fill it with oil.
- The donuts should float on the oil while frying. Estimate the oil level accordingly.
- Heat the oil in high heat until the temperature reaches around 375 degrees F. You can also check the frying temperature by using a wooden spoon. Once the oil starts bubbling and floating, you’re good to go.
- Now, turn the stove to medium heat and fry the donuts on each side for around 2-3 minutes. Doing so will maintain the slight crunch of the donut on the outside and its softness on the inside.
How to Keep Your Donuts Fresh Overnight?
The texture and flavor of your reheated donuts not only depend upon the reheating method and time but also on how you store them. Here are a few tips you should follow if you want to keep your donuts fresh overnight.
- If you’re only aiming to store the donuts overnight and relishing the donut the next day, there’s no need to make space in a refrigerator or a freezer to store them. Wrap the donut in a napkin and store it in a donut box that it came in.
- You can also use paper bags to store donuts overnight.
- Store donuts in an airtight container in a freezer or a refrigerator for long-term storage. But remember, the fresher, the better!
- Bare donuts are best stored and reheated. Toppings or frosting react well to neither the storing process nor the reheating process.
- Store your donuts away from the sun, as it will melt your toppings and dry out inside of the donut while the condensation results in a soggy exterior.
Summary
The golden tip when it comes to reheating donuts is never to overheat them. If you follow the tips and instructions shared in this post step-by-step, we guarantee you’ll get to relish delicious donuts within minutes! Let us know if you have any more queries. We’re more than happy to guide you!
