Cauliflower cheese is one of those dishes that almost everyone loves! Comforting, warm and tasty, it’s a fantastic side dish or can be used as the main part of the meal. But what happens if you’ve got some leftovers? What do you do?
Can You Freeze Cauliflower Cheese?
Yes, you can freeze cauliflower cheese for up to 6 months. To freeze cauliflower cheese, allow it to cool, bag it into a thick freezer bag, seal and then freeze.
Do Does Cauliflower Cheese freeze well? Yes
Can you refreeze Cauliflower Cheese? No
How to Freeze Cauliflower Cheese
It only takes a few simple steps to freeze cauliflower cheese, and these are:
- Cool: Let your cooked cauliflower cheese cool completely. You should leave it loosely covered at room temperature. You can move on to the next step as soon as it cools to room temperature.
- Wrap: Wrap a sheet of foil around the dish that the cauliflower cheese is in if you’re freezing it as one dish.
- Bag Up: Pop your cauliflower cheese into a freezer bag or airtight freezer containers if freezing it in portion sizes to make defrosting and using it later much more accessible.
- Freeze: Label and put them in the freezer.
3 Tips for Freezing Cauliflower Cheese
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing cauliflower cheese to have the best results:
Make Cheese Sauce Fresh
Try making a cheese sauce fresh. Cheese sauces will not freeze well, so make it fresh, then pour over the cauliflower.
Cook from Frozen
If you defrost cauliflower cheese, it can become watery. Instead, cook it from frozen to avoid this watery mess.
Add Extra Cheese When Reheating
When reheating cauliflower cheese, bring bank the unctuous cheese layer by adding an extra grating of cheese. Frozen cheese won’t melt well so adding a little fresh cheese can mask this.
How Long Can You Freeze Cauliflower Cheese?
Cauliflower cheese can keep fairly well in the freezer for up to six months. After this, the texture and taste might start to deteriorate or your food will start to get freezer burn.
It is important to make sure you write the date on any leftover cauliflower cheese you put into the freezer for this reason – you want to make sure you eat the delicious meal before it goes bad!
A cooked tray of cauliflower cheese will last for up to 2 days in the fridge when wrapped in a sheet of foil.
How Do You Defrost Cauliflower Cheese?
When thawing, the cauliflower cheese can become watery, so for best results and to avoid too much texture change, you will want to cook your cauliflower cheese from frozen.
Place the frozen cauliflower cheese into an ovenproof dish, sprinkle over some extra cheese and then place in an oven at around 180C for 30 to 40 minutes until it is piping hot through. The top should be bubbling away with melting cheese.
Can You Refreeze Cauliflower Cheese?
Refreezing cauliflower cheese is not something we would recommend. It can ruin the texture of cauliflower cheese.
Instead, freeze smaller portions of cauliflower cheese so you can use as little or as much as you want at a time without needing to refreeze it.
Does Cauliflower Cheese Freeze Well?
On the whole, cauliflower cheese freezes fairly well. It will never be quite the same as a fresh dish of cauliflower cheese, but as long as you cook it from frozen, you should avoid too many problems.
The dish becoming watery is the biggest problem you might find and this occurs when there is too much water in the cauliflower to start with. So when cooking, drain the excess liquid from the cauliflower as much as possible.
Tastewise your cauliflower cheese should remain the same and if you cook from frozen, you can avoid some of the watery texture.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing cauliflower cheese or cauliflower in general, then these may help:
One of the major benefits of cauliflower cheese that you have frozen is that it can be reheated from frozen! Place into a hot oven for around 25 minutes until it is piping hot through. Sprinkle over some freshly grated cheddar cheese, then bake for a final 5 to 10 minutes to melt the cheese.
Once cooked, cauliflower cheese will only last 2 to 3 days in the fridge. If you want to store it for longer than this, you’ll need to freeze it.
Yes, cauliflower cheese can be made with frozen cauliflower. You’ll need to blanch the cauliflower cheese for 5 minutes in boiling water to take some of the bite out of it, then make the cauliflower cheese as you normally would. 
Sources
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You can overcome the problem of ‘wet’ vegetables(I used cauliflower and broccoli florettes) by steaming them , then covered in a cheese sauce made with almond ‘milk’ which avoids separation. I then froze when cold then coooked from frozen as suggested – perfect!
Brilliant! Thank you for sharing your tip!