Diced Potatoes serve as a staple food for so many side dishes and quick meal preps. That is why, when prepared in such a large quantity, you might want to know its best method of preserving and whether Can you freeze diced potatoes?
You can freeze diced potatoes for at least three months. It is best to blanch the diced potatoes and cool them using cold water for about 3-5 minutes to store their cooking freshness. You can then flash freeze the diced potatoes and place them in a heavy-duty plastic bag or container. Thus, Freezing diced potatoes add as a supplement to quick meal preps.
Thus, freezing diced potatoes makes the whole cooking process a lot faster with the handling of vital series of steps:
Table of Contents
Is It Safe To Freeze Diced Potatoes?
When freezing diced potatoes, our main concern lies in maintaining the water content from getting affected. It is preferable to blanch the diced potatoes; the prime task, before placing them in a freezer bag.
The blanching of diced potatoes is an essential step that takes 3-5 minutes to lock the cooking process and preserve its fresh texture and nutritional benefits. For safe freezing preparation, the next step is to place the diced potatoes in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes.
The water cooling temperature should be up to 60° F to ensure the diced potatoes cook at a slow rate. Next, drain out the water and pat them dry with a kitchen towel to soak up extra moisture.
Now, flash freeze the potatoes and place them in an airtight container or a heavy-duty plastic freezer bag. While doing so, make sure that you leave .5 inches of breathable space inside the container.
Lastly, to track how long you can freeze diced potatoes, label the freezer packaging and consume it within the time length of 12 months.
Best Way To Freeze Diced Potatoes?
For freezing diced potatoes and conserving its water-content so, it does not get dry and brown, the following useful steps:
- First, place your diced potatoes in salted water for about five minutes. It will allow them to become tender.
- Secondly, take a sheet pan and spray some oil over it. Transfer your potatoes to the pan and spread them evenly. Now place them in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- This step is necessary as it will stop the potatoes from sticking to one another in the freezer.
- When they are hard enough, take them out from the freezer.
Shift your frozen potatoes to a freezer-safe bag. It will stop other flavors from getting absorbed in them and also prevent freezer burns. - Lastly, label the package with the initial freezing date and allow them to freeze for the desired time.
How Long Can You Freeze Diced Potatoes?
You can freeze diced potatoes for up to three months in a freezer. With time the texture and taste might get slightly changed. Still, they are healthy to use.
The store-bought frozen potato cubes are more shelf-stable than home-cut potatoes. They come in such packaging that allows them to stay fresh for a longer time.
If you opened the packaging already, place them immediately in a freezer. The same goes for home diced potatoes. Keeping them at room temperature for an extended time can make them spoiled.
It is important to freeze them in an airtight container. Before freezing, you must examine the potatoes and discard the pieces that show a change in color or smell.
Some Additional Tips When Freezing Diced Potatoes
Things to consider before and after the freezing of diced potatoes are as follows:
- When choosing the type of potatoes, go for the Yukon gold and red potatoes that balance well in the freezer.
- As diced potatoes add to the variety of dishes, consider freezing it unseasoned. It thus allows flexibility of choices during the cooking process.
- For freezing sweet diced potatoes, you will need to have to cook them before preparing for freezing.
- When preparing freezing meals altogether, ensure to place the diced potatoes at the end. So, it does not get exposed to air for too long.
- The best way to thaw the frozen packaging of diced potatoes is by placing them in cool water for an hour. Do not fully thaw the potatoes as you can cook them in their half-frozen form.
- It is vital to cool the diced potatoes before putting them in the freezer. As a matter of fact, hot potatoes increase the turning point of the freezer and make the food open to contamination.
Conclusion
To sum up, you can freeze diced potatoes using the step-by-step process of freezing preparation. It gets set with the blanching of potatoes, cooling it in a bowl of ice cubes, and flash freezing the dried and cold diced potatoes.
The last step included placing the frozen diced potatoes in a freezer-safe bag. So, it gets safe from any freezer burns for about a couple of months. Freezing diced potatoes the right way thus restores their texture and makes it easy to prepare quick meals.
Thus, freezing diced potatoes stops the food from getting wasted and saves money.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are frozen potatoes safe to eat?
Frozen potatoes are safe to use for one time. Once you thaw them, refreezing them again several times can make them taste unpleasant. They also turn very mushy and grey and are not suitable to eat.
How to tell if frozen potatoes are spoiled?
If dry spots or discoloration appears on the frozen potatoes, it is an indication that they are spoiled. It not only harms the texture and taste of the potatoes but also makes them unsafe to eat.
Can you freeze cooked potatoes?
You can freeze cooked potatoes such as mashed, roasted, or scalloped as long as the freezing point remains at 0°C. The fat content in the cooked potatoes helps to maintain the texture during freezing. So, it freezes well for about three months.
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