Got a pair of Hot Pockets I wanna cook up for breakfast. Unfortunately, one of them is missing the cardboard “crisping sleeve” that you’re supposed to microwave them with. Must’ve got left out in the manufacturing process.
Is it worth trying to cook the rogue Pocket sans sleeve, or should I wait and return them to the store for a refund? Need answer kinda fast.
Skip it, it’s not like the flavor will improve. 
Jim Gaffigan
NSFHPL
(Not Safe For Hot Pocket Lovers)
ETA: Reuse the sleeve on the second HP.
Do you have a normal, non-microwave oven or toaster oven around? You can heat them the old-fashioned, slow way. Or just use the microwave and accept that one will be more soggy than the other.
BTW that sleeve is what’s known as a “susceptor.” It’s my rudimentary understanding that they work by basically just getting really hot. That may or may not be a hint for a solution to your problem.
Can you cook one pocket in the sleeve, and then reuse the sleeve on the second pocket?
Anarchist! Next would be human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
Obvious solution is obvious. :smack:
I do own a toaster oven. Most frozen dinners warn not to cook their meals in a toaster oven, but surprisingly, Hot Pockets don’t have that warning. Never noticed that before. In any case, it’s a moot point because 28 minutes is waaaayy too long to wait for a freakin’ Hot Pocket.
Isn’t the foil lining on the inside designed to focus the microwave radiation more intensely on the crust? That was always my understanding of how it works.
In my experience with frozen pizzas, the crisping sleeve (crisping tray, in the case of microwave pizza) gets soggy after being used. It’s basically paperboard, after all.
I was coming in to post that classic bit.
Diarrhea pocket.
I think some varieties of Hot Pocket come without the crisping sleeve. Either that, or it’s often left out accidentally, because I know I’ve gotten them that way.
Anyway, you should be able to go ahead and nuke it without the sleeve. Think of it as an experiment: what difference, if any, can you tell between the Pocket that was heated with a sleeve vs. the one without. Be sure to report back!
Not exactly. The material absorbs microwaves and convert that energy to heat. When there is an air gap between the material and the food, the susceptor radiates infrared. Unlike the microwaves, this infrared radiation does not penetrate food very well, so most of the heating effect is applied to the outside, thus you get browning.
I’m sure that’s not entirely right and certainly someone more familiar with the science will arrive shortly to clarify and correct everything I’ve explained wrong.
They were called Soft Pockets, I think. Haven’t seem them in decades. Not that I miss them…
Well, too late for this one (lime chicken, yum!) but next time I get a defective batch, I promise to try this…for SCIENCE!!!
I nukd mine for 1-2 minutes, then throw them in the toaster oven for 5. Much better than the crisping sleave and resonably quick.
Today I learned that a dismaying number* of Dopers eat Hot Pockets.
*= any number greater than 0
They were the bee’s knees when I was 18 and having to “cook” for myself.
Now, not so much.
I really like HP breakfast (sausage and egg). I haven’t had a non breakfast HP in years.
Brian
I think the pepperoni and cheese ones are okay in a crunch. I ate quite a few Hot Pockets while I was in college. Mmmmm, meals of Hot Pockets and Ruby Red grapefruit juice. Now I can’t have Ruby Red because of my medications.
You could heat it ~80% in the microwave, and then toast it in your toaster oven for ~5 minutes. That’s my standard method with frozen burritos, leftover pizza, or anything else that is sad and disgusting when soggy.
it’s usually just a metal film.
I NEVER use those sleeves. I don’t know why the company includes them.
I nuke two Hot Pockets at a time-- 70-85 seconds per side, depending on the kind. It’s really very simple.