If you have an abundance of iceberg lettuce after a great spring and summer of growing in your garden then you might now be wondering: Can you freeze lettuce?
Iceberg lettuce can be frozen for up to 6 months. Unfortunately, iceberg lettuce does not freeze particularly well so caution should be taken when freezing it and the right method needs to be used.
Do Does Iceberg Lettuce freeze well? Sometimes
Can you refreeze Iceberg Lettuce? No
How To Freeze Iceberg Lettuce
Although this isn’t the best food item to freeze we do have a few simple instructions for you to follow if you do want to freeze your iceberg lettuce for juices and smoothies.
- Separate Leaves
Cut off the stalk and separate the lettuce leaves out by hand. Too much cutting with a knife can cause some browning of the leaves. - Wash
Wash the leaves thoroughly with cool water. - Bag Up
Portion out the leaves and pop them into separate portion-controlled freezer bags. - Seal
Squeeze out as much air as you can but don’t damage and bruise the leaves. Lettuce leaves are delicate and can damage easily. If you want to you can use a straw to suck out the excess air instead before sealing the bag. - Freeze
Label the bags and pop them into the freezer.
How to Freeze Pureed Iceberg Lettuce
If you prefer you can freeze your iceberg lettuce leaves in blended or pureed form. This makes it easy for you to add to recipes or juices and takes up a lot less space in the freezer:
- Separate Leaves and Wash
Cut out the stalk and separate the leaves gently. Wash the leaves in cool water. - Blend
Pop the leaves in a blender and puree till you get the consistency you prefer. - Pour into Ice Cube Slots
Add the puree to ice cube trays and pop these flat into the freezer for a few hours. - Bag Up
Once the lettuce puree is frozen you can remove them from the ice cube tray and put them into a labelled freezer bag. - Freeze
Pop this bag back into the freezer and then you have cubed lettuce puree ready to add to any recipe whenever you need.
3 Tips for Freezing Iceberg Lettuce
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing iceberg lettuce to have the best results:
Expect Textural Changes
Be prepared for changes to the texture. As the water content of iceberg lettuce is so high, you’ll find that it crystalises and then ruins the texture of the leaves.
Don’t Eat Raw
Unfortunately, with the aforementioned textural changes, you’re not going to want to eat it raw. It will become mushy and soft which is why we would recommend eating it in a cooked dish such as lettuce soup.
Be Gentle
Lettuce is delicate and the more you handle it and cut it, the greater the chance of you bruising the leaves and destroying the texture. Make the fewest number of cuts, handle it as little as possible and get it frozen ASAP.
How Long Can You Freeze Iceberg Lettuce?
You can keep your frozen lettuce either in leaf or puree form in the freezer for up to 6 months. Handy for you to have some extra nutrients always available to add to meals. This is a great way to get some extra hidden veg into meals for your family.
You Can Freeze Iceberg Lettuce for Around 6 Months
How Do You Defrost Iceberg Lettuce?
When it comes to using your frozen lettuce you actually don’t want to defrost it. Just use it from frozen. Pop a pureed lettuce cube or leaves right into your cooking or add them to a juice before blending. Simple and easy!
Can You Refreeze Iceberg Lettuce?
Iceberg lettuce does not freeze well. Refreezing iceberg lettuce will only make the textural changes even more prominent so we would strongly recommend not refreezing iceberg lettuce and it will become incredibly mushy and soft.
Does Iceberg Lettuce Freeze Well?
In its whole form iceberg lettuce does not freeze well at all. There will be a noticeable change in texture and structure when you freeze it. This is because of how delicate lettuce leaves are and because of the high water content of the vegetable.
The high water content crystalises when frozen and this changes the leaf completely.
However, in puree form, the texture change isn’t noticeable and this is the perfect solution to use up those excess lettuce leaves.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing iceberg lettuce or lettuce in general, then these may help:
Does Freezing Lettuce Ruin It?
Freezing lettuce does, unfortunately, ruin it. The texture will be completely off and you’ll no longer be able to enjoy crisp lettuce leaves in a raw salad.
Can You Freeze Bagged Lettuce?
The more sliced up any vegetable or salad leaf, the harder it will be to freeze. Unfortunately, if leaves are small then they can rapidly degrade in texture. That’s why we would recommend keeping the leaves big. The problem with bagged lettuce is that it is often cut up into smaller pieces.
Can You Freeze Lettuce Soup?
Soup is one of those things which will nearly always freeze well. As long as your soup doesn’t contain much/any dairy it will freeze well. We’ve actually written an extensive guide to freezing soup.
