How to Freeze Vegetables

The secret to freezing vegetables is blanching (briefly plunging the veggies into boiling water). Read on for details.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• vegetables
• large pot of water
• large bowl of ice water
• baking sheet
• paper towels
• parchment paper
• freezer bags

1. 
   Image by chickenhead33 on flickr

   Blanch: Cook your vegetables in a pot of boiling water until the color has brightened, but vegetables are still very crisp.

2. 

   Shock: Transfer cooked veggies to a bowl filled with ice water and cool for one minute. If needed, add more ice to keep them cold. (Freezing warm vegetables takes longer and creates large, damaging ice crystals)

3. Dry Well: Transfer the vegetables to a rimmed baking sheet covered with 3 layers of paper towels, and cover with another couple of layers of paper towels.

4. Freeze: Transfer veggies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, in a single layer, and freeze until solid, about 1 to 2 hours.

5. Package. Once frozen, transfer the vegetables into freezer bags - about 2 cups to a bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Store in the coldest part of your freezer.

Tips & Warnings

• Double bagging your frozen vegetables will help prevent freezer burn and keeps foods from picking up odors and flavors from other foods.
• Freezing too many vegetables at once will overload your freezer and cause its temperature to rise. As a general rule, freeze no more than 2 pounds of produce at a time.