Can I reheat soup from frozen?

[Darkroot]

I froze some shop bought chilled soup (Yorkshire Provender 😋) about a month ago.

I’m having some dental issues today and trying to plan what I can eat… can I heat this soup from frozen?
I’ve always defrosted it in the fridge beforehand and the packaging says thoroughly defrost before heating… but does it really matter?

Stupid question but my brain is not working today. I’m starving.

Do you have a microwave?
It usually has a defrost setting

I would. Microwave defrost setting until it’s loose enough to tip into a pan?

I would. I'd start on a low heat with lid on, to save my pan, then turn up heat a bit as it starts to melt. Then just make sure it's well stirred so you don't get any colder areas. I think the reason for defrosting first is because if you cook from frozen there's a chance of parts burning before the rest is defrosted. So just be careful.

Defrost it quickly in water if you don't have a microwave. Stand it in cold water and replace the water every 20 mins or so.

Yes I do this frequently

Oh lovely, thanks everyone.
Feel a bit silly for always thoroughly defrosting beforehand now 😆 I’m clearly a stickler for the rules

@Darkroot and @Lovestodrinkmilk the instructions to defrost thoroughly are because the effect of a block of ice cooling the melted soup in a hot pan means that you will end up with parts of the soup at the ideal temperature for bacteria to grow for a prolonged period of time...

You don't want to add food poisoning to your woes!

Either defrost it in a microwave, in cold water (which will keep the temperature below 5C and stop bacteria multiplying if you keep replacing the water), or leave it in the fridge to defrost.

Thanks @EmpressMoo
Surely bacteria wouldn’t grow in the time it would take to thoroughly heat the soup?

Um...possibly.

I don't know how big a risk it is.

I have no idea how long it would take to melt a soup pot sized block of ice on the hob. I think Salmonella and E. coli have a doubling time of 20 mins in optimal conditions, although they need to get used to the environment before they start multiplying. The infective dose of E. coli is less than 100 though...

Cold water defrosting can be pretty quick. If you put the soup in a sealed sandwich bag as soon as you can get it out of the pot, that will speed things up, especially if you break up the ice once it starts to defrost.

I think I would prefer to wait an hour than risk food poisoning. I also agree with Lovestodrinkmilk that you would probably end up burning the bit of the soup that defrosts first too!

I agree, better safe than sorry! I’ll defrost it as best I can before heating… or better still, I might get some fresh stuff! 😆

I've done this many times. Never ended up with food poisoning.

🙄back at you, BonnieGlasses😂

I mean, 10% of frozen fruit and veg contain listeria but I've never got sick from eating it uncooked. I've also never won the lottery. Most of the time you will get away it.

It's a small risk but why take a risk for the sake of waiting an hour? I wouldn't want to be vomiting if I had dental issues going on.

I'd stick it in the microwave until it was soft enough to squish out of packaging, then into jug or something and nuke a bit more until slushy breaking it up with a fork every few minutes then either keep going with microwave until it's piping hot or tip into a saucepan to heat. There is practically zero risk of bacteria multiplying in the short space of time it's going to take to thaw in a microwave and heat, just be sure it's well stirred and piping hot when serving. I often put things in water to thaw if I have time but it wouldn't be for safety reasons and I wouldn't be waiting an hour for soup if I wanted it now, fine if you don't want it until an hour's time but otherwise crack on!

I wouldn't think twice about doing this.

I’ve done this loads. It does take a while to defrost in a pan, though it helps if you keep turning over the frozen block of soup. Better to begin the defrosting in a microwave if you have one.

Just make sure it gets really hot.

Just making sure that food gets really hot isn't necessarily going to prevent food poisoning, @minipie . Although it will kill any bacteria, some bacteria produce toxins that aren't destroyed by heat so you can still get sick.

Anyway, I hope you got something nice to eat and are feeling a bit better, OP.

I know Empress but the chances of her frozen shop bought soup having any significant amount of harmful bacteria/toxins in it are really small!