How To Defrost Ikea Meatballs

If you want your Ikea meatballs to cook faster and cook evenly through, you will need to defrost them prior to cooking. How exactly do you defrost meatballs? Here's what we gathered from our research on various cooking sites and the Ikea website.

You can defrost Ikea meatballs in several ways:

  1. Leave them out at room temperature.
  2. Take them out of the freezer the night prior to cooking and place them on the least cold part of the refrigerator.
  3. Place the meatballs in a vacuum-sealed plastic bag and submerge them in water.
  4. Use the defrost function of your microwave oven.
  5. Use a defrosting tray.

You can defrost Ikea meatballs prior to cooking, but can you also cook them frozen? Read on to know the answer to this question. Also, we'll show you the best ways to cook and prepare this well-loved Swedish recipe.

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Defrosting meatball from the fridge, How To Defrost Ikea Meatballs

Ways To Defrost Ikea Meatballs

Defrosting meatballs may sound easy, but there are certain things that you need to consider if you want to cook perfect-looking and tasting meatballs.

Taking a bag full of meatballs

Below are some of the methods and tips on how to properly defrost meatballs:

Room Temperature

You can simply leave the unopened bag of frozen meatballs on the kitchen counter and wait for it to thaw. It should be ready to cook in about 4 to 5 hours, thawing at room temperature.

A bag full meatballs on the cutting board

Make sure to cook the meatballs within the said defrosting time. If you leave the meat out too long, bacteria can grow on it and cause food poisoning and food infection.

Refrigerator

You can slowly defrost Ikea meatballs in the refrigerator the night prior to your cooking day. Simply take it out of the freezer and place it in the least cold part of the refrigerator, which is usually near the door.

Making dinner using meatballs

This process can take around 6 hours until the meat is thoroughly defrosted.

Unlike leaving it out at room temperature, the advantage of defrosting in the refrigerator is that you don't need to worry too much if you cook it an hour or two later than the expected defrosting time.

Since the meat is cold inside the refrigerator, the onset of bacterial growth slows down.

Water

If you're going to cook the entire 1,000g bag of Ikea meatballs, you can directly submerge the bag in tap water. As the water becomes colder, you can drain it and refill it with tap water.

If you're only going to cook half the bag, you need to vacuum seal the other half before you submerge it in water. Placing the meatballs in a vacuum-sealed bag will prevent the meat from falling apart.

You can also place the bag under running water. This will help the meat defrost faster because it will receive a constant flow of warmer water.

If you want an even faster way to defrost meatballs, you can submerge the bag in warm water. Be sure the temperature is no more than 140 degrees Fahrenheit and no longer than 15 minutes or else the meatballs might get cooked.

Microwave

If you're in a hurry to cook your meatballs, you can place them in your microwave oven using the appliance's defrost setting.

Open that bag of meatballs and place them in a microwavable container. Set to defrost for around 10 to 20 minutes depending on how many the meatballs are.

After defrosting, make sure to cook them immediately to prevent bacterial growth and to keep it from getting soggy. Remember that placing them in the microwave on defrost mode won't cook the meatballs.

Check out this Panasonic Microwave with turbo defrost on Amazon.

Defrosting Tray

If you want to have your meatballs defrosted by the time you have prepared the garnish and side dishes, you can try using a defrosting tray. It only takes about an hour for meatballs to defrost on this item.

Place the meatballs on top of the tray making sure there's enough space between each meatball for an even defrost. You don't need to do anything else, simply leave it alone for about an hour and wait for the meat to defrost.

Check out this extra large thawing plate on Amazon.

How does it work? The plate is made out of special aluminum material that extracts the cold away from any frozen meat. The tray is not heated so it does not cook the meat.

Can You Cook Ikea Meatballs From Frozen?

A bowl full of meatballs garnished with parsley

Yes, you can definitely cook Ikea meatballs from frozen. Technically, the meatballs are already cooked, so all you need to do is cook them directly according to your chosen recipe.

Oven

According to the Ikea website, you can cook frozen meatballs by baking them in a preheated oven at 428 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celcius).

With the right temperature and time, baking will help cook the frozen meatball all the way through.

Microwave or Stovetop

You can also cook Ikea meatballs in the microwave or stovetop. When you cook them in the microwave, don't crowd them all together. Make sure there is enough space between the meatballs to help them cook on all sides.

When pan frying meatballs, the common problem is that the outer part is overly cooked while the inner portion is still raw. To remedy this, set the fire on low to medium heat to make sure the meat is slow-cooked thoroughly.

How Long Do Ikea Meatballs Last In The Freezer?

When properly stored, Ikea meatballs can last 3-4 months in the freezer and will still be at their best quality. However, it can last even longer as long as the temperature is properly maintained and storage conditions remain clean.

Adding pork and carrot sauce on a tray full of meatballs

It can lose its freshness during instances of fluctuating freezer temperatures or when it slightly defrosts and refreezes. Cooked meatballs can last 3-4 days in the fridge.

What Meat Is In Ikea Meatballs?

Ikea meatballs have become so popular that many try to copy the recipe. There are even speculations on what type of meat is being used.

In 2013, Ikea meatballs in Europe were dragged into a horse meat scandal, following reports of Ikea recalling some batches of the popular meat item.

A bag full of meatball taken from the freezer

Today, however, Ikea has become very transparent in indicating the type of meat used for their popular meatballs (except the type of seasoning they use). This information can be found in the product description of every item.

There are different types of Ikea meatballs and these are:

  1. Huvudroll classic Swedish meatballs
  2. Huvudroll chicken meatballs
  3. Huvudroll vegetable rolls
  4. Huvudroll plant balls

The classic Swedish meatballs, for instance, contain pork and beef based on the product details. The chicken meatballs are straightforward, lightly seasoned chicken meat.

The vegetable balls are made from carrots, chickpeas, kale, corn, and peppers. Bits of these ingredients will be visible in the roll itself.

The plant balls are made from potatoes, onion, apples, pea protein, and oats. This item is ideal for the sustainably conscious eater who still wants to occasionally have a taste of food similar to meat.

You can check the Ikea website for the product description of each meat product.

Wrapping Up

Defrosting meatball from the fridge

Thank you so much for reading through and we hope you enjoyed your Ikea meatballs dish. For more useful tips on thawing and defrosting frozen food, check out these other articles below.

If you don't find what you're looking for in the following links, do browse our website for more information.

How To Defrost A Bagel In An Air Fryer

How To Defrost And Thaw Venison

How Long To Defrost Frozen Chicken Drumsticks

Shane Desuasido
Shane Desuasido
Articles: 3

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