How to crisp breaded foods the next day (especially panko)

Question

I breaded some fish today, and the other day, chicken. Unfortunately, I over-estimated, and fried a whole bunch that we didn't eat. If I nuke it (microwave it) the next day, it comes out soggy and limp.

Bummer.

How can I actually reheat this and regain some of the panko crisp? Baking seems to be the right answer, except that panko breading burns really, really fast (mine is already a dark-brown from cooking it on medium).

See related: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/29393/re-fry-fried-food — SAJ14SAJ, Dec 07 '13 at 01:48
The breadcrumbs tag already existed - I don't think we need an extra tag for panko. — Cascabel, Dec 07 '13 at 01:50
@Jefromi I think a synonym would be good, because it's non-obvious. I'll bring it up on meta. — ashes999, Dec 07 '13 at 02:05
@ashes999 Don't bother, I'll create it. (I think it'll be obvious to most people, though: panko is a type of breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs on wikipedia is the first hit if you search for panko.) — Cascabel, Dec 07 '13 at 02:08
@Jefromi we can discuss it here (I already created it when I saw your comment. I mean the cooking technique (breading/battering), not panko. http://meta.cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1851/meta-tags-for-panko-and-breading — ashes999, Dec 07 '13 at 02:09

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 07 '13 at 01:54

4

Reheating fried food is extremely challenging.

The least bad method is probably baking in a slow oven, about 250-300 F. You want to reheat only enough to get the food warm enough to enjoy, but not so piping hot that it would trigger additional browning.

At these low temperatures, you should not get too much additional browning, although you will never have the ideal crispy texture that first-fried foods have.

answered Dec 07 '13 at 01:54

SAJ14SAJ

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...and don't do it straight out of the refrigerator. Allow the food to come to room temperature before putting in a low oven. – Jolenealaska Dec 07 '13 at 02:23
A toaster oven seems to work reasonably well for this. – user5561 Dec 08 '13 at 03:53

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 27 '16 at 17:18

I would recommend a hotter temperature 400 to 425 degrees minimum. If the food has already been cooked, you do not need to have the internal temperatures reach 165. Higher oven temperatures will drive off moisture from the coating enhancing the crispiness. They will most likely never be as crispy as fried but this will be better than slow, low heat. Try it versus the low heat.

How to crisp breaded foods the next day (especially panko)

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