How to Freeze Potatoes: A Step-by-Step Guide (2024)

FAQs

How to Freeze Potatoes: A Step-by-Step Guide? ›

Basic methods for freezing potatoes

Lay the potato on a tray without letting them touch each other. Pop the tray into the freezer and, when frozen solid (about six to 12 hours), transfer to a resealable airtight freezer bag, remove any excess air, label and pop back into the freezer.

Basic methods for freezing potatoes

Lay the potato on a tray without letting them touch each other. Pop the tray into the freezer and, when frozen solid (about six to 12 hours), transfer to a resealable airtight freezer bag, remove any excess air, label and pop back into the freezer.

They can also lose their flavor or texture. You can avoid these issues if you blanch or cook your potatoes in hot water before freeze-drying. You don't need to cook the potatoes fully; you can just blanch them for a few minutes depending on the size of the potato pieces. You can also freeze-dry baked potatoes.

Don't thaw your fries before baking.

We get it: you're trying to shorten cook time. But thawed fries turn into soggy fries. For best results, keep your frozen fries frozen until you're ready to cook them.

You technically can freeze raw potatoes and skip the blanching step. However, they will not last as long nor maintain their quality as well as potatoes that have been blanched before freezing.

Blanching is a quick pre-cook in boiling water to partially cook vegetables. For potatoes, it's important for optimizing texture. Place washed, peeled potatoes in a pot of salted boiling water for 1-3 minutes depending on size.

Soaking your fries in cold water helps remove excess starch, which allows for crispy, golden fries! The cold water bath also helps the french fries retain their shape and contributes to a fluffy inside.

Schmidt tells us that, for best results, you can keep mashed potatoes in "a freezer set to 0°F or colder" for "up to one year." At this temperature and for this length of time, frozen mashed potatoes can be thawed and reheated without losing texture or flavor (and without risking the transmission of foodborne bacteria) ...

Freezing just raw, uncooked potato doesn't work well — it breaks the potato down and makes them taste sweet. So the slight catch is that you need to parboil the fries, cool them down and freeze that. You could either blanche them in water or pre-fry them briefly in oil — you don't want to cook them all the way through.

Why are my potatoes soggy after freezing? ›

First things first: potatoes should never be frozen raw. They contain a lot of water, which when thawed will give the potato a mushy or grainy texture.

But there's one important thing to remember: You should really only freeze cooked or partially cooked potatoes, as raw potatoes contain a lot of water. This water freezes and, when thawed, makes the potatoes mushy and grainy.

Mashed Pototoes

Suggestions on the internet are that you must cook them from frozen ie. don't let them thaw into a soggy mess. I dropped them whole into a dutch oven of water. I needed a few pots to hold them so it is best to try to group them in similar sizes so their cook time will be close.

Freezing: If you plan to store the potatoes for an extended period, consider freezing them. After blanching, cool and dry the potatoes, then arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, transfer them to vacuum-sealed bags and return them to the freezer.

“Exposure to oxygen encourages freezer burn, so if using a rigid container [like a glass container or a plastic container], fill to the top [and leave] just a bit of headspace so that there is little room for excess air in the container. If using a freezer bag, squeeze out all the air before [sealing and] freezing.”

The key is to store potatoes in a cool dry place, like in the cabinet of a pantry, in a paper bag or cardboard box. It's important to keep potatoes at the cool, ideal temperature (but not, surprisingly, the fridge) to prevent them from turning green, getting soft spots, or pre-maturely sprouting.

However, If you do store raw potatoes in the freezer, they may last up to 10 to 12 months (more on storing potatoes later). To avoid a sweeter flavor and discoloration, blanch potatoes before refrigerating or freezing.