How To Freeze Summer Herbs
Freezing fresh summer herbs is easy! Here is a step-by-step guide for freezing and storing summer herbs so you can use them all year long.
Freezing herbs has become a wonderful summer ritual! Our pots of herbs are growing riotously! Each herb plant is happy and lush and pushing out more and more beautiful and tasty leaves! I’m freezing herbs and saving all that summer freshness to be used all year long in my recipes. Freezing summer herbs is so so easy and it is very budget-wise. Let’s pack our freezer with summer goodness!
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Today I picked a few sprigs of dill, rosemary, oregano, thyme, and sage from my kitchen garden. I chose hardier herbs to freeze. Aren’t the herb colors and textures so pretty?
HOW TO PREPARE HERBS FOR FREEZING
Preparing herbs to be frozen could not be easier! Here’s how I get them ready to be frozen…
After washing the herbs and letting them air dry I pulled the smaller leaf herbs from their stems and filled my bright green silicone ice cube trays with them. The larger leaves got chopped up and also put in the tray!
Use a good sharp knife or a Mezzaluna (on my wishlist) to chop the herbs. A dull knife will bruise them and they will turn brown.
I use large silicone ice cube trays all the time. I freeze leftover sauces, gravies, anchovies, tomato paste, and so many other things in them! There’s a source for them at the bottom of this post.
But any old ice cube tray will do. Freezing herbs in larger ice cube trays is a whole lot easier though.
THE BEST WAY TO FREEZE HERBS
Once the herbs are in the trays I filled each cube with olive oil not quite to the top and, put on the lid of the ice cube tray. Then I put them in the freezer.
When they are frozen I pop the frozen herb cubes out of the trays. So pretty!
The cubes will begin to melt fast so get them into a freezer bag, container, or Mason jar and keep them in the freezer until you are ready to use.
Herbs keep their color and flavor much better in the oil and do not get freezer burn. Another big bonus for freezing herbs in oil is the herbs infuse the oil with their wonderful fresh flavor! YUM!
HOW TO USE FROZEN HERB CUBES
These beautiful little cubes of herby goodness can be dropped into soups, stews, whisked into salad dressings, and made into marinades. I love to use them when I pan fry a piece of fish or meat.
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
If you don’t have a kitchen herb garden or grow herbs in pots or containers you can freeze store-bought herbs!
I like to freeze herbs that have been in my refrigerator and are not being used! I don’t like to throw them out!
So before they turn, make sure to freeze them! It’s so easy and no wasted food!
SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW
Do you have a tip for preserving herbs? Share them with our StoneGable community! Comment below!
HERE’S WHAT YOU MIGHT NEED TO FREEZE HERBS
OTHER HERB POSTS YOU MIGHT LIKE
Do you ever use this method to freeze cilantro?!?
Hi Jacki, I don’t freeze cilantro because I don’t use it. It tastes like soap to me. But I would think you could freeze it the same as all herbs.
Just found a roll of frozen dill butter I made last summer after a blog you wrote on preserving herbs. Will use the dill butter on some grilled salmon on my menu for this weekend.
Plan on doing some of the frozen herbs in oil that you reccomended and also the chimchuree sauce for an addition to the steak I am making for Father’s day.
Have a great weekend.
YUM! Freezing herbs is such a smart idea! I even freeze store-bought herbs so I don’t waste them.
How much of the herb do you put in each cube? A tablespoon or more? Just trying to figure out how to use in a recipe that calls for a specific amount. Thank you!!