Freezing Onions – That’s How It Works

This is the best way to freeze a fresh onion

While you can freeze the leftover onion just fine, keep in mind that the onion will become mushy as it thaws. Frozen onions are therefore best for cooking. You can add them to your dish frozen or semi-thawed.

• Do not freeze onions in one piece. Peel the onion and cut it into fine rings or cubes before freezing. This way the pieces will freeze more easily and also thaw more quickly.
• Freeze fanned out – Spread the onion pieces out on a board, for example, so that the pieces cannot stick together and place the board in the freezer. This allows you to defrost the onion pieces in portions. In addition, these are a little crispier when defrosted. The disadvantage of this variant is that the onion smell spreads strongly into your freezer.
• Ice Cube Tray – Place the finely chopped onion in an ice cube tray to freeze. Advantage: When cooking, you can simply add the ice cube to the dish. However, for fine taste buds, the smell may also linger in the ice cube container.
• Securely Sealable Cans – Freeze onions in sealable, reusable cans to keep onion odor from spreading throughout the freezer.
• Note: If you want to use crunchy, aromatic onions, for example for the salad or bruschetta, you should use fresh onions. You can also store leftover, fresh pieces of onion in the fridge for a few days.

Here’s how to do it with fried or roasted onions

While you can freeze raw onions and add them directly to the pot or pan when cooking, fried or roasted onions are less suitable for freezing.

• Fried Onions: Fried or cooked onions can be frozen, but they lose a lot of their flavor and become mushy. Tip: It is better to freeze onions raw or blanch them briefly so that their aroma is preserved as much as possible.
• Roasted Onions: Roasted onions should be crispy and golden brown. They are therefore not suitable for freezing. If you want to have fried onions on hand and don’t want to roast the onions yourself every time, it is better to use ready-made dry products.
• Tip: To extend the shelf life of onions, you can also vacuum pack them. Remember to blanch them beforehand, otherwise, onions will produce unpleasant gases.