Can you freeze bell peppers? Bell peppers whether green, yellow, red or orange can all be frozen to help preserve the delightful sweet peppery flavor they contain. The best time to freeze bell peppers is immediately after harvesting.
With that being said those of you who love eating fresh crisp peppers on top of salads or on sandwiches should not freeze your peppers because freezing them causes them to retain more water for a longer time, which causes them to have a mushier texture once you defrost them.
Kind in mind, when freezing peppers they will change in texture, but not in flavor. Therefore, if you love your bell peppers fresh and crispy it is best too simply eat them and leave no leftovers. Otherwise, freeze all the bell peppers you can so you can have them on hand throughout the year to use in all kinds of dishes until the next bountiful harvest season.
Below is a step by step guide on how can you freeze bell peppers:
How to Freeze Bell Peppers?
The best ways to freeze peppers is whole with stem and seeds removed, sliced up or finely chopped. You can freeze your peppers whichever way works best for you.
Freezing Whole Bell Peppers
To freeze your peppers whole simply slice off the tops of the peppers, remove the stems and seeds and place the peppers into individual freezer bags. After, place the whole peppers in the freezer to stay fresh for up to 2-years.
Freezing Cut Bell Peppers
To freeze slices of peppers you will slice off the tops of the peppers, remove the stems and seeds and slice the peppers up into thin slices in either circular form or vertical. You do whichever way pleases you. After, place the slices into a freezer bag or container and store them away in the freezer to keep fresh for up to 1-year.
Freezing Chopped Bell Peppers
To freeze chopped peppers you slice off the tops, remove the stems and seeds and chop the peppers up into bite-size pieces. Then you spread the chopped up peppers onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet and freeze them in the freezer for about an hour.
After, you can place the chopped up frozen peppers into containers or freezer bags. Store the bags in your freezer until you are ready to use them in dishes. Freezing chopped up peppers this way will prevent the pepper bits from sticking together. Chopped up peppers will stay fresh for up to 6-months this way.
How to Defrost Frozen Bell Peppers?
There are a few ways you can defrost bell peppers. If you were defrosting whole bell peppers, you would take them out of the freezer, place them into the refrigerator to defrost for up to 12-hours and slice them up or use them in your food dishes whichever way you please.
You can also take frozen whole bell peppers and defrost them in a bowl of cool water, which takes about an hour. After, you would cook them in your preferred method.
Now, with slices of peppers or diced peppers all you have to do is take them from the freezer and cook with them. You do not have to defrost them at all. You can defrost them in the refrigerator before using them to cook with, but this will cause them to be a bit mushier than usual.
Summary
Bell peppers may be available all year round but it’s nice to know that you can avoid wastage by freezing your bell pepper supply. Now that you can know how can you freeze bell peppers, don’t be afraid to buy in bulk. Just keep your leftovers in the freezer for future cooking!