Are you fortunate enough to grow green beans in your garden? Or perhaps you prefer buying green beans fresh from your local greengrocers? Either way, you’ll need to know the best way to store them.
Can You Freeze Green Beans?
Yes, you can freeze green beans for up to 12 months. Blanching green beans before freezing them helps preserve their color and crispness. Just make sure they’re washed first. (Full Instructions Below)
Do Do Green Beans freeze well? Yes
Can you refreeze Green Beans? Not Recommended
Looking for a full list of Thanksgiving foods you can freeze? Here it is!
How to Freeze Green Beans
Blanching green beans before freezing them is the best practice, but you don’t need to if you don’t want to.
We have some simple steps you should take to store your green beans in the freezer:
- Wash Thoroughly: Place your green beans in a colander or sieve and wash thoroughly under cold water. If you’ve picked the beans from your garden, remove all the dirt and other debris.
- Trim and Cut Beans: Trim the ends off your green beans, as they’re no good for eating. Once the ends have been removed, slice your green beans roughly in half (no longer than 6 inches).
- Blanch: Briefly boil the green beans (about 2 minutes), then immediately plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking process.
- Dry Completely: Remove the green beans from the ice bath and lay them on paper towels. Dab them and ensure they’re completely dry before moving to the next step.
- Flash-Freeze: Place the beans in a single layer (not touching) on a baking sheet and set it uncovered in the freezer for 2 hours. This prevents them from sticking together when freezing.
- Label & Place Into Freezer-Safe Bags: Label your freezer-safe bags with the type of food & date. Transfer the green beans into your labeled bags. Whether you split them into several bags is up to you.
- Freeze: Sealing the bag, removing as much air as possible, and freeze.
Do I Have to Blanch?
No, you don’t have to. You can skip that step if you want the most straightforward, fastest method possible. Blanching is still the best practice to preserve color and texture.
3 Tips for Freezing Green Beans
Now you know how to freeze them, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing green beans to have the best results:
Blanch Them
Blanching green beans is an effective way of preventing enzymes that lead to spoilage. If you’d rather blanch your beans, boil them for a few minutes before transferring them to an ice bath. You will then need to pat them dry before bagging them up.
Buy In Season
The season for green beans runs from May to October, so this is the best time of the year to buy fresh and delicious beans! That said, you can buy fresh green beans from the supermarket year-round and freeze them accordingly.
Freeze ASAP
If you know in advance that you’re going to freeze green beans, it’s best to get them in the freezer as quickly as possible while they’re nice and fresh.
How Long Can You Freeze Green Beans?
You can freeze green beans for around 12 months.
Whether you blanch them or not, green beans, like many other vegetables, freeze extremely well and will be perfect for a range of dishes or to accompany your family meals.
Just ensure they’re washed and dry before you freeze them to remove any dirt or debris from the garden.
How Do You Defrost Green Beans?
In most instances, defrosting green beans is unnecessary. You can boil them straight from frozen or add them straight to your other ingredients to form a delicious soup, curry, or casserole.
That being said, if you would prefer to defrost your green beans for whatever reason, remove the bag from the freezer and place them in the fridge for a few hours until they’ve thawed.
Can You Refreeze Frozen Green Beans?
Yes, but it’s not recommended. You can thaw and refreeze green beans only if they’ve been kept at or below refrigerator temperatures during thawing. It’s worth noting that with each repeated thaw and freeze, the crunchy texture of the beans will become more damaged, affecting the taste.
WARNING
There is an increased risk of foodborne pathogens if you refreeze partially thawed raw or blanched vegetables.
Previously cooked green beans should be used/eaten once they’ve been thawed. This is why it’s best practice to only thaw as much as you’ll eat.
Do Green Beans Freeze Well?
You will find that green beans, like many other vegetables, freeze exceptionally well when they’re correctly cared for.
So, whether you grow green beans in your garden or prefer buying fresh beans from your local greengrocers or supermarket, you can access delicious green beans all year round from your freezer.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing green beans or beans in general, then these may help:
Fresh green beans will last for around a week in the fridge. Once cooked, they will only keep for around 2 days.
Although blanching them will help them to retain more flavour, it’s not actually essential that you blanch green beans before freezing. Green beans will remain safe to freeze either way.
Yes, cooked green beans can be frozen. However, it’s worth remembering that when you thaw and reheat the beans, there is a risk you will overcook them.
Sources
We have verified the information on this page using the following resources:
