Pak choi is a type of Chinese cabbage that is popular in stir-fries and other oriental dishes. The large leaves with smooth-edged tapering are rich in nutrients and are exceptionally tasty, particularly when lightly fried in oil and spices.
Can You Freeze Pak Choi?
Yes, you can freeze pak choi for up to 6 months. It’s important not to blanch your Pak choi, as this will cause it to go mushy in the freezer. Instead, wash and dry it thoroughly before slicing and placing it in freezer bags.
Do Does Pak Choi freeze well? Yes
Can you refreeze Pak Choi? No
How to Freeze Pak Choi
While some sources may tell you to blanch Pak choi before freezing it, we would advise you not to. Blanching adds additional water content to the leaves, which causes them to go soggy and mushy during the freezing process.
Instead, follow the simple steps listed below to ensure your frozen Pak choi is still crispy and delicious once it has been defrosted:
- Wash and Dry: Rinse your Pak choi leaves in cold water, removing any dirt and damaged leaves. Then, leave them to dry and pat them with a paper towel. It’s essential to remove all moisture from the Pak choi leaves before you freeze them.
- Slice (If Desired): Slice the Pak choi into smaller pieces if suitable for your intended cooking purpose. You can skip this step if you want to enjoy Pak choi leaves whole after freezing them.
- Place in Freezer-Safe Bags: Place your sliced or whole Pak choi leaves in freezer-safe bags and press out as much air as you can before sealing the bags.
- Label and Freeze: Write the date that you purchased the Pak choi, as well as the recommended use-by date on the front of the freezer-safe bags.
We always advise blanching when freezing vegetables… Except when it comes to pak choi or boy choy! It will ruin the texture of pak choi, unfortunately. So, in this rare case, we would advise against doing so.
3 Tips for Freezing Pak Choi
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing pak choi to have the best results:
Don’t Blanch
As mentioned, don’t blanch Pak choi before freezing it. While some people swear by blanching vegetables, doing so will almost certainly turn your Pak choi mushy during the freezing process, even if you think you’ve allowed sufficient time for the leaves to dry out.
Only Freeze Raw
If you have leftover Pak choi from a stir fry that has already been cooked, it won’t freeze well. It’s much better to freeze raw, as it will retain its crunchy flavour and delicious taste throughout the freezing process.
As such, if you think you have too much Pak choi for your upcoming meal, consider freezing the surplus leaves before cooking them, so they don’t go to waste.
Use a Straw to Remove Excess Air
When you’re preparing the bags of Pak choi for the freezer, use a straw to remove excess air. This will protect the Pak choi from freezer burn and will ensure it retains much of its flavour and taste.
How Long Can You Freeze Pak Choi?
You can freeze Pak choi for around six months.
Freezing raw vegetables is a great way to preserve them long into the future, and Pak choi is no exception. While some people may freeze Pak choi and other greens for up to a year, we’d advise using it within six months of freezing for the best results.
Pak choi will last for between 5 and 6 days in the fridge. You may find that some of the leaves become a little limp after just 3 days, however.
How Do You Defrost Pak Choi?
If you’re using Pak choi in an oriental soup recipe or stir fry, you can take it straight from the freezer and place it in the pan along with the other ingredients without defrosting it first.
However, if you want to defrost it to ensure you don’t jeopardise its texture, remove the bag from the freezer and submerge it in a bowl of room temperature water for a couple of hours.
Equally, if you’re not pressed for time, you can defrost Pak choi by placing it in the fridge overnight.
Can You Refreeze Pak Choi?
If you freeze Pak choi more than once, it will almost certainly go soggy. This is due to the high moisture content associated with the freezing process and the crystals that form on the leaves.
If you have a large batch of Pak choi that you don’t think you will use all in one recipe, it’s better to freeze it in smaller portions, so you can easily remove the serving of Pak choi that you need at any given time.
This removes the need to freeze it more than once.
Does Pak Choi Freeze Well?
Providing you don’t blanch it, Pak choi freezes extremely well. Blanching leafy vegetables like Pak choi will cause them to go mushy in the freezer, which is certainly not the texture that you would hope for from this crunchy Chinese cabbage.
If Pak choi is well wrapped and protected, it will freeze for around six months with no issues.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing pak choi or pak choi in general, then these may help:
Yes, bok choy can be frozen. Wash the boy choy thoroughly, then dry. It can then be sliced up or broken into leaves before being popped into freezer bags and frozen.
Unfortunately, cooked pak choi is not something that freezes well. It will become limp and mushy once cooked, frozen and then thawed. We recommend not storing cooked pak choi in the freezer.
