9 Dishes That Taste Better Cold, According To Reddit

You've long heard about the merits of having a good, hot meal to keep you going, and also how foods that don't need cooking can help you keep cool in summer. The foods in those two groups don't always overlap; for example, there are plenty of soups meant to be eaten cold, like gazpacho, but these and hot soups aren't usually the same. You have separate hot and cold categories.

Of course, many foods that people normally eat hot can also be eaten cold, when cooled and stored properly. In fact, some of those meant-to-be-hot foods may taste better cold. And they're not always what you think they are. Cooling a normally hot food can change the flavor, or at least make it seem like the flavor has changed now that you're not dealing with the heat burning your tongue and gums. The texture can change, too, in a way that a lot of people prefer. There's a good chance you've had at least one of these hot foods cooled down, and if you're looking for more cold options — or if you just want to find something that you don't have to reheat — we looked at what the helpful food communities at Reddit had to say. Here's a list of nine dishes that taste surprisingly better when cold, according to Reddit.

Cold pasta isn't unusual; think of all the cold pasta salads you've eaten. But for many on Reddit, cold pasta is great even when it isn't in a salad. Without the heat, you don't have to worry about burning your tongue, of course, and you can better concentrate on the flavor. The lack of heat also lets other flavors shine through, including dressings and vinaigrettes. Cold pasta also remains soft and edible, but firms up enough to make each bite much more substantial. And cold pasta is nowhere near as slippery as hot pasta when not slathered in oil-based dressings. 

By the way, if you do stick with cold pasta salads? You don't have to wait several hours for cooked pasta to cool, although letting the pasta sit in the refrigerator is often preferable for some. Place the pasta in a colander and rinse it in cool water, which will drop the pasta's temperature quickly. This also helps stop the pasta from sticking together in a large mass when cold.

Cold rotisserie, roast, or grilled chicken is a winner on Reddit, with several mentioning that they either buy a rotisserie chicken and save the stripped meat in the refrigerator, or they roast a chicken and save portions for later. Canned chicken in cold salads is another option that Redditors eat, and none of the meals made with cold chicken have to be fancy. One person wrote that a salad of chopped apples and chicken with French dressing was good to eat cold. Others simply snacked on pieces of plain cold chicken without other foods and would make bulk amounts of shredded chicken to store in the fridge.

Fried chicken was also a winner for eating cold. One person noted that cooling it down seems to enhance the flavor of the skin and any seasoning. You also don't have to worry about hot oil from frying, making it harder to enjoy the flavor.

Hot, fluffy rice is great, but so is cold rice, and not just for sushi rolls. You can make salads with cold rice just like you can with pasta, add cold rice to poke bowls, mix it with tuna and vegetables, and so on. Cold rice gets stickier and firmer, and the grains may even taste better cold. You certainly don't have to worry about burning your mouth when eating it.

Plus, cold rice (and pasta) that's been in the fridge for at least six hours has a better chance of forming resistant starch. Researchers found that cooling rice and pasta for at least that long caused much of the sugar in the foods to create resistant starches that don't release as much of the sugar into your blood after eating.

You do need to be careful when trying to cool down rice. After you cook it, don't let it sit out for more than two hours. Apparently, some of you have been doing that, and that's been leading to illness due to the Bacillus cereus bacteria. While food poisoning from this bacterium can be mild, it isn't always. And no one wants food poisoning no matter how mild. Let the rice cool a bit in the pan, but then pack it into containers and refrigerate or freeze it. The rice should not be in a pile more than 2 inches tall. Otherwise, the center might not cool quickly enough into a safe temperature range.

Is there anything better for breakfast than a slice of cold cheese pizza the night after you ordered it? The firm, savory cheese, and chewy crust are just an entirely different animal from hot pizza. Even varieties with toppings often taste much better cold. Many on Reddit love cold pizza, although if you look at comments on posts about cold pizza, there are some who still don't understand the appeal.

Those who like it will tell you that the cheese and sauce are less likely to slide off. The cheese is firmer, the toppings stay in place, and as one person put it, it's like a "hearty sandwich," according to one Reddit comment. And some will say it's immensely satisfying after being drunk. But there's one other reason why cold pizza tastes better: If you try to warm up cold pizza, the flavor and texture change yet again. Warming up a leftover slice on the stovetop in a skillet, covered, usually works best, but the texture and flavor will still be different. Many prefer to avoid that and just eat the stuff cold.

Cold, unmelted cheese in sandwiches is nothing new, but it doesn't get the same accolades publicly that melted cheese does. Look up "cheese sandwich" online, and you'll get tons of recipes for gooey grilled cheese. When you hear about or look at pictures of sandwiches or wraps that people post online, they almost invariably include cold, unmelted cheese, from Havarti to Gouda and beyond. But that cold cheese is almost always a minor player.

Luckily, there are also those who love to make the cheese itself the star of the show, and when one person posted a picture of what looked like plain cheddar sliced onto bread, others chimed in about unlocked memories and how the combination could be a "sustenance meal" with just a little seasoning, according to a comment on Reddit. Plenty of Redditors have posted about Ploughman's lunches, which contain bread, cheese, pickle, butter, and onion. Cold cheese can apparently go a little too far for some, however. One person posted that their husband preferred cold grilled cheese sandwiches, which elicited a rather disgusted response from a couple of people.

A number of the foods we've mentioned so far are often eaten as leftovers, such as spaghetti. A number of people also mentioned making the foods specifically to eat them cold, such as making batches of chicken to keep in the fridge. But leftovers in general are a favorite of many, too. We're talking Thanksgiving leftovers that people layer into sandwiches, nachos, and Chinese food. Lots of people like cold leftover Chinese take-out and Thai food, especially the noodles.

The reasons all boil down to how the food affects your senses. As we've mentioned before, cold leftovers don't have burning hot oils or coatings that make it difficult for you to concentrate on the flavor. You also don't have to wait for them to cool down before touching them. Cold food tends to have a more intense taste and a firmer texture that many find pleasing. And another really interesting reason is that, when you cook food, you're exposing yourself to all these different odors that you get used to over time. When you eat hot food, the smells aren't as novel, and part of our ability to taste actually depends on how well we can smell something. When you have the same food cold the next day, the smell of the food seems a little more novel, even if it isn't as strong as it was during cooking.

Another leftover, one that people adore, is cold meatloaf, but in this case, people love it specifically in sandwiches. Meatloaf both freezes and reheats very well, but many people love taking a thick slice and slapping it between two pieces of bread. And yes, there are even comments from people who make meatloaf just to have some cold the next day. Some have it with just the glaze, others add lettuce or mustard, some fry it, and yet others add mayo. One person was adamant that the bread had to be white bread, while another liked rye. The choice of toppings is really up to you.

Despite the intense love for cold meatloaf sandwiches, no one really says exactly why they like them so much. The flavor is amazing, of course, and the texture — firm enough to hold together well but still soft — goes well with both toasted and untoasted bread. There is some nostalgia and appreciation for how simple the sandwich can be, but for most people, a cold meatloaf sandwich just hits right.

One other dish that people like cold, but for which they also don't give a lot of reasons, is macaroni and cheese. This is controversial, with a number of Redditors not on board. Some are okay with homemade mac and cheese eaten cold, but not the boxed stuff; others prefer the boxed, and so on. The few reasons that are given are that the flavor seems to be better, and the texture of the cold mac and cheese seems more refreshing, rather than hot mac and cheese which can be greasy and gooey.

The texture does seem to be a selling point, at least for some who preferred the "clumpy" nature of cold mac and cheese instead of the creamier warm version, according to Reddit. But of course, even this is a subject of debate, with others finding the clumpy nature gross. A reply to one of those who didn't like the clumpy nature said that how you make the mac and cheese can affect that, and that when properly made, the cold version will be nicely chewy.

And last, we have the ultimate in cold food: Frozen waffles that were never heated up and that people are eating straight out of the box. They're doing this for two reasons: One is that frozen waffles are obviously easier to grab and eat if you're in a rush; if the waffles are not hot, they're not going to burn your hand, either. The other reason is that frozen waffles have this "cold crunchiness" to them that's very satisfying, as one person put it on Reddit. Others noted the texture was likely what they preferred about cold waffles. People on Reddit did seem to have a preference for flavored waffles, from chocolate chip to cinnamon, with one person even insulting plain waffles.

Frozen waffles are fully cooked, so eating them cold isn't a problem in terms of safety. If you partially cook them, as another Redditor admitted to doing, you don't have to worry about undercooking any of the ingredients. That person, by the way, liked waffles that were warmed up but still cold in the middle.