Reheat a Burger in Air Fryer: Mastering 2 Dynamic Methods for Irresistible Results
You may be the king of the grill, but do you know how to reheat a burger in an air fryer? If not, buckle up! While you can happily click away on those grilling tongs, using an air fryer to reheat burgers is also an essential skill to master, especially if you love hosting summer cookouts! It’s a great way to enjoy those leftover patties again without losing any of their juicy flavors.
Whether you’re trying to reheat a homemade burger or one from your favorite diner, an air fryer will work for both. If you want to chow down on last night’s burger from McDonald’s, check out our reheat McDonald’s burger article to learn how to go about it the right way, and for any other burger, keep reading to learn how to reheat a burger in an air fryer!
On this website, we also teach you how to reheat food in general.
Is It Safe to Reheat a Burger in an Air Fryer?
It is absolutely safe to reheat a burger in an air fryer, so long as you follow the right instructions. You may also want to learn proper storage methods if you plan to reheat hamburger in air fryer more than a day later (more on that later).
Here are some benefits of using an air fryer for heating or reheating your food.
Even Heating
Air fryers use heat circulation to heat the food. What this mean for your burger is that the patty heats thoroughly on all sides.
Most air fryers even come with a reheating function, which reduces most of your work.
Speed
It is crucial to reheat food fast to ensure it is safe for consumption because reheating food too slowly can cause bacteria to multiply. An air fryer is one of the few reheating devices that takes just 3-5 minutes to heat your hamburger.
Convenience
Air fryers are also super convenient to use too! All you need to do is to put your burger patty in the basket and push it into the fryer!
Perfect Frying
Air fryers are best known for their ability to get food crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. This makes them ideal for reheating burger patties that you’ve already deep-fried once.
Things You’ll Need to Reheat a Burger in Air Fryer
- Air fryer
- Leftover burgers
- Spatula
- Meat thermometer
Take a look at your air fryer’s instruction manual before you reheat your burger in an air fryer, especially if you’ve never used the reheating function.
Pro tip: If you don’t have a meat thermometer at home you can still reheat the burger in the air fryer. Just take a cocktail stick or butter knife and poke it into your burger like you would with a meat thermometer. If the tool is hot to the touch, your burger is ready to serve!
How Can You Reheat a Burger In Air Fryer?
Method #1
Before you reheat burger in air fryer, make sure to take apart the cheese and other toppings from the burger patty.
- Set the air fryer temperature between 350 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the burger patties in the basket.
- Air fry them for 2-4 minutes on one side.
- Then flip the patties and air fry for another 2-4 minutes.
- Check if they’re piping hot (165 degrees Fahrenheit) at the thickest part.
- If they aren’t, reheat them for a minute or two.
- Once done, take them out and serve them with your favorite sides.
Method #2
If your burger doesn’t have any cheese or vegetables, you can also reheat a burger in air fryer as a whole, just with slightly different steps.
- Put the whole burger into the fryer basket and take off the top bun.
This is advisable since the top bun is known to fly off inside the fryer or get burnt because it is exposed to more heat. If you want to heat the top bun, too, put it inside for the last 30 seconds of air frying.
- Set the temperature to 320 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 4 minutes.
- Flip the burger upside down once the 4 minutes are up.
- Reheat the burger for 2-3 minutes.
- Check if the burger is piping hot (165 degrees Fahrenheit).
- If it is, you can take it out and serve it.
If you like your burgers extra juicy and tender, heat them with a little oil or butter. The butter/oil will keep your burger moist and prevent them from getting crunchy.
On the off chance that you’ve also got some leftover fries on hand, here’s a guide on reheating fries in an air fryer!
Precautions to Keep In Mind When Reheating Burgers in Air Fryer
- Ensure you set the air fryer at a medium heat only — too much heat can make your burger patties too dry.
- Avoid stacking or crowding the burgers to allow them to heat evenly. If your fryer basket is too compact, don’t force the whole burger into it. Divide up the items into smaller portions and then reheat them.
- Do not preheat the air fryer or you’ll burn your burgers.
Additional Tips for Reheating Burgers
Reheating cooked burgers can be tricky at times. If you don’t do it right, you can risk exposing yourself (and everyone else who eats them) to food poisoning.
Here are some tips to follow to ensure that this doesn’t happen to you:
- Make sure you let the burgers sit at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes before reheating them.
- Avoid reheating burgers that were left out in the heat for too long.
- Make sure the thickest part of the hamburger is piping hot (165 degrees Fahrenheit) to ensure your burger is properly reheated and safe to eat.
- Add more minutes to the cooking time and increase the temperature a notch if your burger has an extra thick patty.
- Do not reheat burgers twice.
What’s the Best Way To Store Leftover Burgers?
There are plenty of ways to store leftover burgers so they’re safe to reheat and consume later on.
For starters, get the burgers into the freezer no less than 2 hours after they’re made. That way you can store them for up to 4 days!
Just make sure you put them in freezer bags or airtight containers first so that the burgers don’t dry out or absorb unwanted moisture when in storage.
You can also put the burger patties into the refrigerator for storage, but that’ll only give you 2 days of storage before you have to reheat your burger in an air fryer.
Takeaway
Reheating burgers to get them to turn just as juicy and crispy as before is an art worth mastering! That’s how you reclaim your throne as grill master — except you’ll be using an air fryer.
So, the next time you’re worried about cooking those leftover burgers try to reheat a burger in air fryer, and you’ll bae biting down on a perfectly charred and juicy burger within minutes!
*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.