How to defrost your freezer in 7 easy steps

Learn how to defrost your freezer quickly, without making a mess of your kitchen and wasting food
William O'Connor
Defrosting a freezer

Having to manually defrost a freezer is a household chore most people could live without. It can be a messy and time-consuming job, so we've put together seven simple steps to help make it as painless as possible.

Thankfully, many new freezers and fridge freezers come with a frost-free feature, so they don’t ever need to be manually defrosted. But if you still have an older-style freezer that ices up, follow these steps to defrost it without getting water all over your floor, or losing any frozen food.

Read our fridge freezer reviews and freezer reviews to buy yourself a new frost-free model and save yourself the effort.

How to defrost your freezer

You should defrost your freezer as soon as ice build-up becomes noticeable. 

If you search for ‘defrosting a freezer’ online you’ll see all sorts of wacky suggestions for how you can speed the process up. But these methods aren't always safe and many don’t really work.

They could also damage or break your freezer and invalidate your warranty.

The safest way to defrost your freezer (for both you and your freezer) is to let it defrost on its own once you’ve turned it off.

To defrost a freezer, follow these seven simple steps:

  1. Switch your freezer off. Unplug it from the socket if possible.
  2. Prepare your space. Put newspaper around the freezer to soak up the water as the ice melts. Then get dry towels ready to place inside your freezer, after you've taken the food out, to soak up any water as it defrosts. Wring these out every so often or replace them with dry towels. If your freezer has a drainage hose or a tray underneath it, make sure you’re set up to dispose of the water in these as the ice melts.
  3. Remove your frozen food. To prevent items from thawing, place them in a cool bag or insulated cooler box with ice packs. Store this in the coldest area of your house, away from direct sunlight. If you don’t have a cool box, see whether an obliging neighbour can temporarily store some or all of your frozen food.
  4. Remove and clean all drawers, shelves and bottle holders. Don’t try and force them out if they're stuck - you'll be able to remove them later as the ice melts. Clean with soapy water and dry off using a clean tea towel.
  5. Wait for the ice to melt. If you haven't let the ice build-up get too out of hand, this should take two to three hours. 
  6. Clean and dry inside the freezer. Get into all those nooks and crannies with soapy water to remove any dirt or food that has collected. Dry as much as possible with a clean tea towel - this will help keep ice from immediately building back up.
  7. Switch the freezer back on. Give it time to cool down again before putting your frozen food back in. Any food that has started to defrost shouldn’t be refrozen.

Can you defrost a freezer without turning it off?

You should always turn the freezer off if you’re going to defrost it – otherwise the ice won’t melt and you’ll have to attempt hacking it off (see why that’s not a good idea below).

If you don’t have cool boxes to store your frozen food and there are no kind neighbours on hand, use ice build up as an opportunity to defrost and eat all those bags and boxes that have been hiding in your freezer for the past few months.

How to defrost a freezer compartment in a fridge

Iced icebox in fridge

If you need to defrost a freezer compartment inside a fridge and they don’t have separate controls, you’ll need to remove the food from the fridge as well. 

If your fridge has a separate door and different controls from your freezer, then it’s safe to leave food in your fridge.

How to defrost a freezer without losing food

If you’re going to defrost a freezer you need to remove the food.

Previously frozen food that's been defrosted should not be frozen again as there’s a higher chance of food poisoning when you eventually come to eat it. The exception is for food that’s been previously frozen, defrosted and cooked. This can be frozen again without a higher chance of food poisoning.

So, if your frozen food defrosts while you’re defrosting the freezer, you’re either going to have to cook it before you re-freeze it, or eat it almost straightaway. The Food Standards Agency advises that defrosted food can be stored in the fridge for up to two days before it needs to be cooked or thrown away.

If you want to keep your food frozen while you defrost your freezer, you may have to invest in cool boxes or cool bags, freeze the ice packs that go in them and then pop your frozen food in there. Keep these out of direct sunlight. The alternative is to ask someone close by to look after your frozen food in their freezer until you’ve finished defrosting.

See our guide to how to store food safely in the freezer.

Why should you defrost your freezer?

Icey freezer

There are several reasons why it's good to get into the habit of regularly defrosting your freezer:

  • If you’ve got a build-up of ice, it's taking up space where your food should be. If you leave it long enough, enough ice can build up to prevent the door from closing properly, so you're better off defrosting the freezer before it gets to this stage.
  • A build-up of ice (although cold) actually acts as an insulator. This means your freezer has to run longer and work harder in order to penetrate that block of ice to keep your food cold. This means it will cost you more in electricity to run.
  • Frost that builds up quickly could indicate an issue with your freezer's door seal. But you won't notice a problem unless you're defrosting regularly. If you notice more frost building up than usual, and you know you’re closing the freezer door as soon as you’ve popped food in or taken it out, it’s worth checking your freezer seal. 

If your freezer is on its way out, it might be time to buy a new one. Check out our guide to the best freezers to see all those that rank top in our reviews.

Is there a quicker way to defrost your freezer?

You've probably seen some of the following 'hacks' online which are supposed to speed up the process of melting the ice build-up:

  • Using a hairdryer, wallpaper stripper, heat gun, or a steam cleaner
  • Defrosting with car de-icer
  • Defrosting with salt
  • Hacking at the ice with a knife

Mixing electricity and water is always a bad idea, and using potentially toxic de-icer in a place you keep your food is also not recommended.

Risking damage to your freezer (or yourself) by hacking at the ice with a sharp knife should also be avoided.

That's because puncturing a fridge interior with a sharp object risks may cause fridge refrigerant to escape. Refrigerant is used in fridges, freezers and fridge freezers to extract the heat from the device. In modern appliances it's used in very small quantities, but it is highly flammable and so needs to be treated with care. 

Special freezer defroster sprays are also available but reviews for these are mixed, and bear in mind that anything that’s not recommended by your manufacturer could invalidate your warranty.

Defrosting your freezer before moving home

With everything you need to think about when you’re moving home, it can be easy to forget that you need to defrost your freezer in advance. Otherwise you’ll have to deal with ice and melting water on the day of the move.

Even if you have a frost-free freezer, you should make sure it is fully dry and aired before your move, otherwise you could end up with a musty smell inside.

Never leave food in your freezer and expect the movers to move it full. Freezers aren’t designed to be lifted full of food and you could damage it.

When you're packing it up, make sure you remove all the shelves and trays – and any other removable parts – and pack them, otherwise they could break in the move.

Moving home? See our guide to packing and preparing to move.

Buying a new freezer: manual defrost vs frost-free

You could save yourself all the effort of defrosting your freezer by simply buying a frost-free freezer.

Chest freezers aren't frost-free, but almost half of the freestanding and built-in freezers we've tested are. 

Although there are plenty of affordable options out there, frost-free freezers tend to be more expensive than an appliance that you'll need to defrost manually. So, if you want to save yourself the hassle of defrosting your freezer by hand, then you may need to spend a bit more upfront. 

See our guide to the best freezers and chest freezers for garages.