--- title: Advice: How to Defrost Frozen Fish and Meat Quickly description: In as little as 20 minutes canonical: https://time.com/4056573/defrost-fish/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-30T21:35:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:30.546Z og:title: How to Defrost Frozen Fish and Meat Quickly og:description: In as little as 20 minutes og:url: https://time.com/4056573/defrost-fish/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteacc5f3f13569f07/69886656cd1bba1db56fd712/defrost-fish-salmon.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: defrost-fish-salmon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Defrost Frozen Fish and Meat Quickly twitter:description: In as little as 20 minutes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteacc5f3f13569f07/69886656cd1bba1db56fd712/defrost-fish-salmon.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Defrost Frozen Fish and Meat Quickly > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Should I Eat Canned Tuna? [Watch (HLS stream): Should I Eat Canned Tuna?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KNXhPqjc.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2015-03-25. It’s not the sexiest fish in the sea. But tuna—even once it’s caught, frozen, thawed, cooked, chopped and canned—still gets a nod of approval from most of our experts._ by [Leslie Stephens / Food52](https://time.com/author/food52/) ## Leslie Stephens / Food52 Sep 30, 2015 9:35 PM UTC  James Ransom/Food52 by [Leslie Stephens / Food52](https://time.com/author/food52/) ## Leslie Stephens / Food52 Sep 30, 2015 9:35 PM UTC Before I left the house the other morning, I repeated the mantra, “Take the salmon out of the freezer. Take the salmon out of the freezer,” but over the course of the morning, it got drowned out by other mantras (“Feed the cat. Comb your hair. Drink coffee now”) and by the time I realized I’d left my dinner plans in an icy vortex, I was already on the subway. While I’d like to blame Monday for my reckless fish abandonment, I’ve made the same mistake far too often to be able to place the onus on a day of the week. **I knew what to do:** Once I returned home, I fell back on a time-honored tradition known as **thaw the fish as quickly as possible**. Here’s how to do it, and feel free to replace “fish” with your protein of choice—this method works for all manner of frozen-solid meats: 1. Remove the fish from its packaging and place it into a resealable zip-top bag. Push all the air out, secure the zipper, and place it in a bowl that fits the entire fish and bag. 2. Place the bowl in your sink under **cool** running water (keeping the water under 40° F is key here—any warmer can encourage bacteria growth). If the fish floats, weigh it down to submerge it—I find that a jar of peanut butter works swimmingly for this task. 3. Replace the water every 10 minutes until the fish has thawed, or keep the water running at a very slow rate. (Depending on the size of your fish, this method should take anywhere between 20 minutes to 1 hour.) 4. Remove the fish from the water (and bag) and cook immediately.  James Ransom/Food52  James Ransom/Food52 _This_ [_article_](http://food52.com/blog/14105-how-to-defrost-your-fish-faster-and-things-to-do-while-you-wait?utm%5Fsource=time.com&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=f52-time) _originally appeared on_ [_Food52_](http://food52.com) _More from Food52:_ * [The Challenges of Baking with Sugar and How to Fix Them](https://food52.com/blog/14106-the-challenges-of-baking-with-less-sugar-how-to-fix-them?utm%5Fsource=time.com&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=f52-time) * [A Genius Way to Handle Jalapenos and a Genius Recipe](https://food52.com/blog/14113-the-genius-way-to-handle-hot-peppers-a-genius-salmon-recipe-to-put-them-on?utm%5Fsource=time.com&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=f52-time) * [18 Dishes that Really Bring Home the Bacon](https://food52.com/blog/14099-18-dishes-that-bring-home-the-bacon?utm%5Fsource=time.com&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=f52-time) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4056573/defrost-fish/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4056573/defrost-fish/"},"headline":"How to Defrost Frozen Fish and Meat Quickly","datePublished":"2015-09-30T21:35:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:44:30.546Z","description":"In as little as 20 minutes","url":"https://time.com/4056573/defrost-fish/","keywords":["Living","Food & Drink","Salmon","Cooking","fish","kitchen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteacc5f3f13569f07/69886656cd1bba1db56fd712/defrost-fish-salmon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Leslie Stephens / Food52"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteacc5f3f13569f07/69886656cd1bba1db56fd712/defrost-fish-salmon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"defrost-fish-salmon","caption":"defrost-fish-salmon","creditText":"James Ransom/Food52","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4056573/defrost-fish/","name":"How to Defrost Frozen Fish and Meat Quickly"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Should I Eat Canned Tuna?","description":"It’s not the sexiest fish in the sea. 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