Can You Freeze Stovies?

3 minutes

Stovies is a Scottish dish that consists of delicious corned beef, onions, and potatoes and is a filling wintery meal that will be popular with the entire family. But what’s the best way to preserve this delicious dish?

How to Freeze Stovies

Everyone’s Grandma has their own stovies recipe. Whether made with corned beef out of the tin or leftover meat from a Sunday roast, there’s no beating the delicious taste of a family stovies recipe that has been passed down through generations.

And the good news is that you can freeze stovies, meaning they won’t go to waste. Here’s what you need to do: 

1. Cool
   Once your stovies are ready to serve, place those that you plan to freeze to one side and allow them to cool at room temperature. Depending on the size of your pan of stovies, you will need to leave them for at least an hour until they have cooled sufficiently. 
2. Pack Up
   Decide how you want to portion your stovies and pack them into individual containers. Make sure you divvy up the ingredients evenly between each portion, as you want to make sure they all contain the right amount of meat and potatoes! 
3. Label and Freeze
   Attach the lids to the containers and write today’s date and the use-by date before adding your stovies to the freezer. Remember, you can freeze stovies for around three months.

3 Tips for Freezing Stovies

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

Portion Evenly
When you’re portioning up your stovies for the freezer, make sure you evenly distribute the ingredients into each serving. After all, you don’t want to be left with one portion with no potatoes and another with no meat!

Freeze Once
Stovies freeze well the first time around, but you shouldn’t refreeze them once they have defrosted. This is because the potatoes will turn to mush if you attempt to freeze them for a second time, which will ruin the consistency of the dish.

If you’re worried about wasting your stovies, separate them into smaller portion sizes, as this makes it easier to remove what you need from the freezer at any given time.

Freeze Other Types of Stew
Stovies is essentially a Scottish stew. Therefore, you can substitute many of the ingredients typically found within stovies and still freeze the dish by following the steps listed above. This is ideal if you’re throwing together a stew to use up some of the ingredients in your fridge.

How Long Can You Freeze Stovies?

You can freeze stovies for around three months. The dish will be good in the fridge for around 2-3 days, but you will need to get your stovies in the freezer if you plan to keep them for any longer than this.

If you leave stovies in the freezer for too long, the ice crystals that form may cause the potatoes to turn to mush, which will ruin the texture of the dish.

So, make sure you use your frozen stovies within three months to ensure they taste as you would expect.

You Can Freeze Stovies for up to 3 Months

How Do You Defrost Stovies?

When you’re ready to enjoy your stovies, you will need to thaw them before reheating them.

Simply transfer them from the freezer to the fridge and leave them to thaw overnight. While it takes a bit of time, thawing stovies in the fridge is the safest way to go about it.

You shouldn’t defrost stovies or any other meat-based dish at room temperature, as they could spoil. If you plan to thaw your stovies in the microwave, make sure you do so on the lowest possible setting.

Can You Refreeze Stovies?

We wouldn’t recommend freezing stovies more than once. This is because the potatoes will become mushy if you freeze them for a second time, and the meat may even become tough.

As such, if you want your stovies to taste as delicious as they are when they’re fresh, you should only really freeze them once.

Do Stovies Freeze Well?

Although stoves are best enjoyed fresh out of the pan, they do freeze well if you want to keep them for a later date. Just make sure you freeze them in smaller portions, wrap them well, and use them within three months.

If you follow these steps, then you can enjoy this hearty Scottish recipe at any time of the year.