Can You Freeze Kippers?

3 minutes

Intense flavours and delicate foods often don’t freeze that well. With kippers being loaded with smokiness but delicate in texture, is this a food you ought to keep away from the freezer?

How to Freeze Kippers

Freezing kippers isn’t a particularly tricky one, but it’s complex enough that it’s worth following our steps below to ensure that you achieve success with each attempt.

1. Lay the Kippers Out: To ensure that the kippers freeze as well as possible, we suggest making sure that you lay the kippers out as flat as possible.
2. Wrap in Baking Paper: Baking paper makes a great first layer for the kippers to be wrapped in, as it is slightly breathable.
3. Wrap in Cling Film: A final layer of cling film will prevent moisture within the freezer from coming into contact with the kippers. In turn, a reduced moisture level will prevent ice crystals from forming within the fish.
4. Freeze: Freezing the kippers in the centre of the freezer allows you to make sure that they’re kept as far as possible from the frost front at the walls of the freezer.

3 Tips for Freezing Kippers

Now you know how to freeze them, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing kippers to have the best results:

Check the Cling Film Seals
Ensuring that the cling film seals is vital to make sure that the fishy nature of the kippers doesn’t spread further into your freezer. Whether from a hygiene point of view or simply from a smell point of view, unsealed kippers aren’t ideal.

If Possible, Vacuum Seal
Vacuum sealing is often recommended for freezing kippers – a total lack of oxygen can allow the kippers to be stored much more effectively. The problem, though, is that not everyone has a vacuum sealer, and they’re quite an expensive piece of equipment – that’s why we didn’t include them in our instructions above. If you already have a vacuum sealer, consider using it for this purpose!

Stick to the 3-Month Window
As kippers are fish, they’re mostly a dense protein. This means they can become freezer burned quite quickly in the freezer. Watch out for the 3-month deadline, as they will become less tasty very quickly.

How Long Can You Freeze Kippers?

You can freeze kippers with a great degree of success for around 3 months before they will begin to degrade. To ensure you get that entire 3 months, follow the steps above.

There are some sites online claiming that vacuum-sealed kippers can be stored for up to eighteen months – while we can’t confirm this, it certainly speaks to how well the fish can be frozen.

How Do You Defrost Kippers?

The best way to defrost kippers is to place them in the fridge overnight. While there, place them on a tea towel so that any condensation or melting ice can be caught and absorbed very quickly.

To ensure that the process is as safe as possible and has as small an impact upon the smell of your fridge, it’s a good idea not to remove them from their freezing package before they’re thawed and you’re ready to use them in your kitchen.

Can You Refreeze Kippers?

No, refreezing kippers is not a good idea, unfortunately.

The reason for this is that fish is susceptible to bacterial growth while they’re outside of the freezer, so placing them back into the freezer after this has taken place will contaminate other things in your freezer.

Do Kippers Freeze Well?

Yes, kippers do freeze well.

Most fish freezes well, mainly because the fish is a dense protein source. There is very little in the way of air or water within the food that might be seen to expand or contract, damaging the texture of the fish.

Related FAQs

If you’ve still got questions about freezing kippers or kippers in general, then these may help: