Learn all the tips and tricks for freezing peppers to save a ton of time and money. Learning how to freeze peppers (diced, sliced, rings, and whole) is a great way to preserve this delicious staple of so many recipes. A freezer stash of frozen peppers opens the door to amazing and speedy meals.
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Frozen peppers are so versatile, but I get it…you don’t have time for a complicated preservation method. So, instead, we’re preserving this crop in the freezer. No canning, nothing fancy, and no special equipment. Get ready for EASY!
A bag or container of frozen peppers ready to go makes your easy healthy meal prep a breeze. Prepped frozen produce is a staple in our Freezer Essentials. With your mise en place ready to go, you’re about to CRUSH fast dinners.
Can You Freeze Peppers?
Yes you can! They’re not going to be as crispy as a fresh pepper, but they’re incredible in baked dishes.
They’re a great staple to have in your freezer for fast weeknight meals and speedy soups and stews. They’re perfect in this Instant Pot Tortilla Soup With Rice. Check out my complete guide on how to freeze fresh produce.
Have you heard of the term “Holy Trinity” when it comes to recipes? It refers to three ingredients important to Cajun cooking – peppers, celery, and onions. With the home freezing method, you can freeze each ingredient individually or in portions that you know you’ll be using for dishes. Related: How to Freeze Onions and How to Freeze Celery.
Can I Freeze Whole Peppers?
You can! Remove the tops, scoop out any seeds that you can access, and freeze the “body” and the top separately. Store together once frozen.
Can I Freeze Fresh Chopped Peppers?
Yes! They work great in things like Air Fryer French Bread Pizza, Make-Ahead Scrambled Eggs, Paleo Salmon Cakes, Asian Pork Meatballs, and Jalapeno Popper Wontons.
If you’re cutting a lot of them, I highly recommend pulsing them in a food processor to save time.
How to Store Frozen Peppers
I really like these silicone freezer bags because they stand upright on their own, making them easy to fill. If zero waste is your jam, check out this post on Zero Waste Food Storage on how to green your kitchen.
If you’re using Ziploc-style bags, removing additional air from the bag will keep your peppers safe from freezer burn. To accomplish this, you can use a vacuum sealer (we have and love this Vesta Precision Elite and you can get 10% off of yours via this link) or a straw.
Place a straw in the corner of a freezer bag and close the bag as tightly as possible. Suck the air out through the straw 1-2 times and quickly remove the straw and seal the bag.
You can also store your frozen peppers in canning jars for exact measurements that are ready to add to recipes (4 oz jars = 1/2 cup, 8 oz jars = 1 cup).
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes For Freezing Peppers
- If you are processing hot peppers or a big batch, it is worth it to wear gloves to protect your hands and eyes. As someone who wears contacts, I always remove them and wear my glasses when working with peppers.
- Frozen peppers will last in a conventional freezer for six months. If you have a deep freeze/stand-alone freezer, you’re safe to keep them in there for up to a year.
- It is best to leave spicy peppers whole when freezing.
MORE “HOW TO” POSTS YOU’LL LOVE
- What to preserve, eat, and can in Summer
- Complete Guide to What to Preserve in Fall
- Freezing Peaches
- Freezing Tomatoes the Easy Way
- How to Freeze Garlic
- Freezing Potatoes
- How to Freeze Cranberries
- Freezing Pumpkin
- How to Freeze Pesto
- Freezing Cherries
- How to Freeze Blueberries
- Freezing Cauliflower
- Frozen Corn on the Cob
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- Freezing Strawberries
- How to Freeze Asparagus
- How to Cut a Watermelon
- How to Cut a Peach
- How to Segment an Orange
Freezing Peppers {How to Freeze Peppers}
Equipment
Ingredients
- peppers
Instructions
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or a silpat.
- Wash and pat the peppers dry.
- Chop, slice, or prep the peppers to your preference.
- Place peppers on the baking sheet and position them so they aren't too clumped up, and place the tray in the freezer. Freeze for 3 hours.
- Break apart any clumps that have formed on the baking sheet and transfer peppers to freezer-proof storage.
Notes
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Preserving the fruits and vegetables from your garden is a great way to have them year round. We have done freezing of fruits and vegetables, canning and we are going to be freeze drying fruits, vegetables, eggs and even try meats and ice cream. We use the baking sheets to freeze our blueberries before we put them in vacuum sealed bags, so they don’t all lump together. We do the same with green beans and carrots. The freeze drying process is faster if you freeze what you are going to freeze before you put it in the machine. The Harvest Right freeze dryer was a pricey investment up front, but we are also going to do the strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, pears, apricots, raspberries and currants from our garden. They are like eating candy, but healthier. The other benefits are that freeze dried foods can be stored up to 25 years. I am not a doomsday prepper, but if there is a hurricane m tornado, blizzard or extended power outage, freeze dried foods will not spoil like the frozen foods if they thaw. I have friends that have canned meats as an emergency ration.
We have made pesto, and we freeze that because the PH level is not acidic enough to can, botulism can propagate if we don’t. We have made salsa, chili sauce and pizza/spaghetti sauce that we can from vegetables and herbs from our organic garden. We have a dehydrator that we use to dry basil, sage, parsley, oregano, thyme and mint. We also make venison jerky which is a hit with the kids and extended family. Organic gardening is a hobby, you could say for my husband and I, but we enjoy the fruits and vegetables in season, and we save money. I like knowing that there is no pesticides in the fruits and vegetables that we are eating.
We have a dehydrator that I love, but freeze-drying seems next level. How cool!
Yes,it is a pricy unit up front, but the cost per pound of freeze dried foods is not only $$$, but in short supply. We have friends and family that are campers, hikers, and like the freeze dried foods, the nice thing is that we can save our fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be tossed away, and can be given to those in need in disasters, and the food bank as well as sold as a side business to big city hikers and campers that look for organic vegetables and fruits to offset the costs. It is a hobby for us as well as a money saving/side business.