How to: Freeze Onions
When I was in high school I worked at a quaint sandwich/soup shop where one of my duties was to prep the fresh vegetables for the sandwich bar. I quickly learned waterproof mascara is my friend as I would “cry” and cry while peeling and slicing the onions. Since then I’ve had a love/hate relationship with onions. I love the flavor they give dishes, but I really dislike chopping them, so I frequently utilize my freezer to cut down on the work. They way I figure it, as long as I’m peeling and chopping one onion, I might as well peel and chop six, and save myself the need to chop next time I need onions.
Simply peel, and chop as you normally would (I personally love using a food processor), and then portion into freezer bags. (Refer to Tricia’s handy sliced and diced post for help on portioning.) Next time you need chopped onions, grab a bag from the freezer, thaw, and add to your normal recipe.
How is the texture of the thawed onions? Would you use them in any recipe or would they be best in certain preparations?
Thanks for sharing.
The texture is just right for soups, casseroles, stirfry, fajitas, browning with ground beef, etc.
love this, do this all the time. advice: set up an assembly line outside! then the fumes won’t get to you. I use my patio table. I chopped, diced, sliced 20 pounds of onions a week ago – before it’s winter & I can’t do it outside any more.
why so much? made french onion soup for the freezer, too! yay!
I ran into this issue just last month. The amount of onion I had to dice had everyone in my house begging to go outside! It was awful. I just noticed I have 4 onions that need to be used up soon before they go bad and I will dice up and freeze for future use but found this tip on pinterest..
Stop the waterworks that normally accompany chopping onions with a candle. The flame burns off some of the fumes and carries away the rest.
Or wear your kids’ summer swim goggles. Makes for a funny kitchen, but it stops the tears!
I chop the onions next to my gas stove with the burner on. For me, this works better than a candle.
How do you get a good chop in the food processor? I tried it last time and ended up with onion water.
It might depend on the food processor…mine has a pulse setting that works pretty well. One of my other favorite tools for chopping onions is the Pampered Chef (there are probably other brands too) chopper.
Does the onion lose any flavor after being frozen and thawed? I find that after even only a day or two in the fridge they lose some flavor, but maybe not when freezing? Thanks!
My trick for chopping onions: Suck on a metal spoon. Before you ever cut the onion, put a spoon in your mouth, and don’t open your mouth until you’re done. (If you’re doing a ton of onions, when you need to remove the spoon to swallow or take a break you must leave the kitchen or you will start to cry on the next cut).
I don’t know how it works, but it does. This is the only way I don’t cry when chopping onion, and I LOVE onion.
Weird! Sounds like it would make a good YouTube video.
And these are the little ideas that I read your posts for. I don’t think of these simple things. My husband hates onions, and I love them. I’m always chopping like a quarter of an onion to cook separately. Then I gotta wrap the rest and store it, and I use onions in almost everything I cook myself. So I’m doing this process over and over again.