Can You Freeze Pretzel Buns?

3 minutes

Pretzel buns are an easy way to elevate burgers but if you’ve bought a few too many and are unsure what to do with them, then have you considered whether or not you can freeze them?

How to Freeze Pretzel Buns

Freezing pretzel buns is fairly easy and doesn’t require any form of flash freezing. But, there are a few steps you’ll want to take:

1. Cool: First, you need to ensure that the buns are entirely cooled. This is unlikely to be a problem if you’re using buns from a bakery or the supermarket, but if the buns that you’re using have been baked in your home, they may still be a little warm.
2. Wrap: Once the buns are cool, wrap each one of them individually in cling film. Make sure you have an excess of cling film, as that will allow you to get a tight seal around the buns, and form several layers of wrapping.
3. Bag Up: After the pretzel buns are wrapped individually, add them into a freezer bag, being sure to pack them in as tightly as possible. It’s advisable to avoid entirely squashing the rolls to preserve their texture as much as possible, but squeezing them a little to eliminate excess air and space in the bag is essential.
4. Seal: Once all of the buns have been added to the bag, press out as much excess air as you can then seal completely.
5. Freeze: Write a clear label on the bag and then pop them into the freezer.

3 Tips for Freezing Pretzel Buns

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

Keep the Bag Sealed
Ensuring that the bag is sealed is vital to make sure that as little excess moisture gets into the bag as possible. To that end, making sure that the bag is sealed will entirely make sure that the buns are preserved as well as possible.

Don’t Hold Back on Cling Film
Using excess cling film is a great way to make sure that you can totally wrap the buns that you’re freezing. While several layers aren’t necessary, strictly speaking, it does allow for less moisture and air to reach the buns. Therefore, excess cling film can be quite useful to keep the buns longer.

Avoid Salt
Sprinkling salt on the buns is a bad idea – as salt is a crystal, it tends to absorb excess moisture from any environment that it’s in. By placing salted buns into as moist an environment as a freezer, you’ll attract moisture to the salt crystals, creating soggy bread, and a poor final bun.

How Long Can You Freeze Pretzel Buns?

You can keep pretzel buns in your freezer for a maximum of two months. Beyond that point, the moisture content of the freezer will begin to degrade the buns’ structure, leading to poor final buns.

How Do You Defrost Pretzel Buns?

The best way to defrost pretzel buns is to place them on the countertop. That way, they’ll totally thaw, and will also be warm and soft enough for you to slice open and make a sandwich within.

If you have time, then you can also thaw them in the fridge overnight. This method can lead to soggy bases, however, as the buns end up sitting in a small pool of water once the ice defrosts.

Can You Refreeze Pretzel Buns?

Technically, yes, you can refreeze pretzel buns, though we’d advise against it.

The reason for this is that repeated freezing will generate more condensation and ice within the air pockets of the buns, leading to textural degradation over time.

Do Pretzel Buns Freeze Well?

Provided you take care to avoid moisture and air contact while they’re frozen, yes, they do freeze well.

Any bread-related product will suffer if it gets wet. Those ice crystals will completely ruin the texture of the bread. Do all you can to keep the pretzel buns as airtight as possible by using good-quality freezer bags.

Related FAQs

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