Can You Freeze Potatoes?
In only a few hundred years, potatoes have gone from a little-known South American tuber to a starchy staple for people all over the globe. The one problem with potatoes traditionally has been their storage. Freezing and thawing whole raw potatoes can damage their cell structure until they are useless in typical potato recipes. There are, however, some ways around that. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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1
Peel 2 lbs. of potatoes, and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Cook in simmering, salted water to cover until just tender. Spread in a single layer on a sheet pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Place in the freezer until frozen solid. Transfer the cubes to a heavy-duty plastic freezer bag and keep them in the freezer until needed. Reheat in simmering water and proceed with your recipe. Or thaw completely and use for potato salad.
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2
Shred or grate 2 lbs. of potatoes. Keep shredded potatoes in a bowl of iced water until all potatoes are shredded. Spray a sheet pan as in Step 1. Drain the potatoes thoroughly and pile mounds on the sheet pan in the shape of hash brown potato patties. Freeze until solid, then store in a plastic bag in the freezer. Remove the frozen patties and cook as usual.
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3
Bake 2 lbs. of potatoes until done. Cut in half and remove the cooked potato from the shells. Mash cooked potato with cream, butter, green onions, cheese, cooked ham or sausage or other desired ingredients. Pile the mashed potatoes back into the shells and top with additional cheese and green onion. Place on a sheet pan and freeze until solid. Wrap tightly in foil and place in bags for storage in your freezer. Bake frozen halves on the sheet pan at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, or until browned on top and heated through.
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4
Cut 2 lbs. of potatoes into medium French fry shapes. Cook in simmering, salted water until half cooked. Drain thoroughly and place in a single layer on a sheet pan. Freeze until solid, then transfer to bags as in the previous steps. When you're ready to cook, toss potatoes with 2 tbsp. of oil, place in a single layer on a sheet pan and bake at 425 degrees until nicely browned (about 15 to 20 minutes). Keep an eye on them, turning occasionally. Salt immediately when done, then serve.
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5
Make any other favorite potato recipes, including soup. Freeze in containers or on a sheet pan until solid, then store in plastic freezer bags. Reheat according to recipe directions, or thaw and finish cooking.
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Tips & Warnings
You can freeze cooked, whole potatoes if you like, but diced is the most practical variety for storage.
Coating the French fries with oil before freezing saves a step when you cook later.
Don't allow your frozen potatoes to come into contact with any more air than is necessary. This will cause freezer burn and fast deterioration.
Resources
- Photo Credit potato image by Yury Shirokov from Fotolia.com
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Comments
View all 20 Comments-
would love to have read the advice here , but the 'flashing ads' got on my nerves so much I had to leave the site, too bad.
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Just wehat I needed..hubby keeps bringing them home, forgetting we already have too many..so I wanted to do something I can thaw out fcor Xmas dinner.
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We call that a"Mess" in our house. Yummy! Don't forget a litle garlic. It makes it even better.
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Dice them, cook and freeze - add chunks of cooked bacon, red pepper and onions. Heat pan - add potato mixture- season with salt and pepper. Fry on med heat for 7 minutes or so - add 6 beaten eggs. YUM
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mtaylor96
Mar 04, 2009
I am looking forward to being able to make unbelievable buy on 10 lb bags of potatoes now that I can fix them in several different ways to use for side items and save the cost of prepackaged versions. This will help with meal planning and cooking for others.
