Can You Freeze Saag Aloo?

3 minutes

If you’re going to add a side dish to an Indian feast, then saag aloo will top the list for many. But, what happens if you’ve got more than you can eat? What do you do with it to avoid throwing it out?

How to Freeze Saag Aloo

Freezing saag aloo is easy, but we’d still recommend following our steps to ensure that you don’t get something wrong. It’s always a shame to impact the skill and time that went into your recipes!

1. Portion Out: Portioning out the saag aloo is the best way to ensure you use your freezer efficiently. This way, you can easily remove a single container, microwave it up to eating temperature, and dig in!
2. Cool: Allowing the saag aloo to cool is very important as it will prevent bacterial growth. If the food is still warm when sealed in a humid container, bacteria can grow, leading to a lack of safety in the final dish.
3. Remove Air Pockets: Give the containers a quick tap on the worktop. This will bring all the bubbles to the top and reduce the risk of freezer burn.
4. Seal: Seal the containers and label them with the correct date – it’s always essential to ensure things haven’t been in your freezer for too long when you finally come to them.
5. Freeze: Transfer the saag aloo to the centre of the freezer, where it will be situated as far as possible from the frost front at the edges of the freezer.

3 Tips for Freezing Saag Aloo

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

Remove Excess Air
Removing excess air from the saag aloo before you freeze it is important, as air bubbles can condense and freeze, leading to freezer burn. Remove excess air by tapping the containers on the countertop as you’re working with them, or by pressing down on the containers with the back of a spoon.

Cool It
Allow the saag aloo to be totally cool before you put the lids on any of the containers, as that could otherwise lead to bacterial growth. Warm food in a hot and humid environment can lead to rapid bacterial growth – avoid that by ensuring the food is totally cool!

Add Aromatics
Freezing saag aloo can lead to a reduction in the aroma of your food. To preserve this, you could freeze it with a curry leaf or a bay leaf, for instance, and remove it after reheating, but before eating.

How Long Can You Freeze Saag Aloo?

You can freeze saag aloo for up to 3 months. This is the amount of time that we generally recommend for all things stew-like since they freeze very well, allowing for a slightly longer freezer time, but they can still be susceptible to freezer burn.

The best way to ensure you get the entire three months is to ensure that you totally seal each container – we keep mentioning it, but only because it’s so important!

How Do You Defrost Saag Aloo?

The best way to defrost saag aloo is to microwave it directly from the freezer. This will allow you to ensure that it’s steaming hot and safe throughout, and it’s quicker than waiting for the saag aloo to thaw on the countertop.

Remove the lid from the saag aloo, and place it into the microwave for thirty-second intervals at high power. Do this repeatedly until the saag aloo is steaming hot throughout.

Can You Refreeze Saag Aloo?

Yes, you can refreeze saag aloo very easily. As it contains no animal products and is quite acidic (primarily if you have used tomatoes in the sauce), it doesn’t succumb to bacterial growth very quickly.

Make sure to follow our initial steps for freezing when refreezing the saag aloo – that will ensure that it’s frozen as well as possible.

Does Saag Aloo Freeze Well?

Yes, saag aloo does freeze well! This is for the same reason that most stew-like dishes freeze well: they don’t contain any large bubbles of air that might lead to frustrating freezer burn.

Make sure to remove any air bubbles before freezing, and you should be good to go!

Related FAQs

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