Tabbouleh is loaded with fresh flavours from ample doses of parsley, tomatoes and cucumbers. But, how well would these ingredients hold up in the freezer or is this something you ought to avoid freezing?
Can You Freeze Tabbouleh?
Yes, you can freeze tabbouleh for up to 1 week. Place the tabbouleh into an airtight container, making sure that itās sealed properly. Then, place the container at the centre of your freezer.
Do Does Tabbouleh freeze well? No
Can you refreeze Tabbouleh? No
How to Freeze Tabbouleh
Freezing tabbouleh can be a bit of a risky business since there is a lot of water content in most of the ingredients. To be sure that you freeze tabbouleh well, follow our steps:
- Portion Into Containers: The tabbouleh itself should be placed into a rigid plastic or glass container. Try to use containers that are the same size as a portion. You do not want to refreeze tabbouleh.
- Seal: Obviously, once you have portioned the tabbouleh out, you’ll need to seal the containers. If the container doesn’t have a tight-fitting lid then it’s a good idea to wrap it in a sheet of cling film for further protection.
- Freeze: The salad will freeze for around 1 week before the ingredients with a high-water content start to degrade.
We’ve written about the main ingredients in tabbouleh in separate articles, which you may want to read: Tomatoes, cucumbers, bulgur wheat and parsley.
3 Tips for Freezing Tabbouleh
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing tabbouleh to have the best results:
Freeze With Aromatics
When freezing tabbouleh, consider throwing in a few fresh sprigs of mint or other herbs that you might use in the salad-making process. This allows you to keep some of the fragrance of fresh tabbouleh despite it being frozen.Ā
Consider Whether It’s Worth It
You might not actually need to freeze the tabbouleh. Tabbouleh keeps well in the fridge for around 4 days. With the freezer life only adding 3 days to this, you need to consider whether it’s even worth it.
Avoid Protein
Sometimes, people add additional mix-in sources of protein to their tabbouleh. A great example of this could be grilled chicken. We wouldnāt recommend freezing this meat with the tabbouleh, as it makes reheating the meal much trickier. Instead, store any meaty add-ins separately.Ā
How Long Can You Freeze Tabbouleh?
You can freeze tabbouleh for up to 1 week – not long at all!
Itās pretty tricky to freeze tabbouleh for any longer than that, as the ingredients have quite a lot of water in them. As the water freezes, it will damage the texture of your other ingredients, leading to a poor final tabbouleh.
You can keep tabbouleh in the fridge for around 4 days when stored in a covered dish or container. The flavour will intensify over those 4 days but the core ingredients will also become softer and softer with time.
How Do You Defrost Tabbouleh?
The simplest way to defrost tabbouleh is to keep it in the fridge, uncovered, overnight before you eat it.
Defrosting tabbouleh in this way will allow you to have thawed tabbouleh that is neither too moist nor too cool. If you try to speed this process up, you’ll end up with mushy vegetables.
Can You Refreeze Tabbouleh?
Technically, yes, you can refreeze tabbouleh.
However, we do not recommend it. Freezing once will damage the texture of the vegetables and other ingredients in the tabbouleh, so repeated freezing will only damage it further.
Does Tabbouleh Freeze Well?
Not really, no.
Because thereās so much water in the ingredients of tabbouleh, it doesnāt freeze very well. In most cases, youād be better served by storing it in the fridge for a shorter period of time, as the quality itself would tend to be retained a little better.
Related FAQs
If youāve still got questions about freezing tabbouleh or tabbouleh in general, then these may help:
Not really, unfortunately. Parsley can be frozen but should then be used in cooked dishes to add flavour. It will become quite mushy once frozen and thawed so tends not to work well in cold, raw dishes like tabbouleh.
