Easy Tips On How To Freeze Peppers
I discovered a few years ago How To Freeze Peppers. I had so many growing in my garden there was no way to eat or cook with them all. With a little experimenting, I was able to freeze the green pepper from my garden and cook with well into the winter months. This made me so happy!
This year I have a variety of sweet pepper plants. The plants have produced so many peppers I have already begun the freezing process.
And it is so easy! I believe you should be able to freeze any kind of pepper with good results when they are thawed.
Peppers are a food you can quickly freeze raw without blanching first. Great for adding to recipes and thawed, raw peppers still retain some crispness and might also be used raw in uncooked dishes.
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Preparing The Peppers
First, freshly pick and wash the green peppers. I usually use a vegetable wash but that is really optional. I use the Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash but there are several brands to choose from. A good wash with cool water should be fine. Use fingers to rub off any dirt or garden particles to make sure they are clean. While I like to use a vegetable brush to clean my vegetables it may damage the skin of peppers. I use a vegetable brush for cleaning celery, potatoes and other root vegetables.
After the peppers are washed and cleaned, decide how you will be using the pepper before you freeze. For instance, if you think you will be using the peppers in omelets or southwestern egg muffins you might want to have a bag of diced pepper. If you will use them to flavor roasts or poultry, you might want a bag of peppers that are cut in quarters.
Pepper strips are great for stir-fries or steak sandwiches. You get where I am going with this. Of course, you can always cut them any way you need after they are thawed.
How To Freeze Peppers in a Few Easy Steps
- Wash and clean the peppers of dirt or particles
- Use a sharp paring knife to cut around the stem. Remove the stem slowly as this will remove a majority of the seeds. Cut the pepper in half and rinse away any remaining seeds. If needed use the paring knife to remove any extra sections of the inside of the pepper.
- Dice, slice or leave peppers cut in half.
- Spread peppers out on a small cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 3-4 hours.
- Remove tray from freezer and place into freezer bags.
- Place back into the freezer until needed. They should last up to 6 months or more.
SIDE NOTE: There have been times when I have skipped placing the peppers on the cookie sheet and just placed them in the bags unfrozen. That worked just as well without the extra freezing step. They didn’t even stick together. So if you are busy…toss them in the bags and freeze!
Find some yummy recipes here!