How to Freeze Green Beans
Learn how to freeze green beans in just a few easy steps to stock your freezer for winter. Frozen green beans are delicious steamed with butter or added to soups, stir-fries, and more.
Equipment
- Large pot
- Kitchen towel
- Baking sheet lined with parchment paper
- freezer-safe container I use a plastic freezer bag
Ingredients
- Fresh green beans From your garden, the farmer's market, or the store
Instructions
- Trim the beans. Prepare your green beans by cutting off the ends. Some people prefer both ends removed, while others cut just the stem end. If you want your beans cut down smaller, you can also do that.
- Boil the beans. Get a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add the green beans. Allow them to boil for 2 minutes, or until the beans have a vibrant green color. You may need to work in batches — don’t overcrowd the pot.
- Prepare an ice bath: While they boil, prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with cold water and several handfuls of ice.
- Chill the beans. Once the beans are boiled, remove them from the water and immediately submerge them in the bowl of ice water to cool. Allow them to chill in the ice water for 5-10 minutes.
- Dry the beans. Strain the beans from the ice water and lay them on a clean kitchen towel to dry. You can expedite this so step by patting them with another clean towel.
- Flash freeze. Spread the green beans out in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the freezer for a few hours.
- Transfer to a bag. Once the beans have frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag and immediately return to the freezer.
Notes
- Be sure to remove excess air from your freezer bag to prevent freezer burn. If you use hard-sided freezer containers rather than a bag, make sure that they are very airtight.
- Don't skip the blanching! This is important for maintaining a good texture and color in frozen veggies, and it's particularly important in green beans.
- When cooking with frozen green beans: If you want your beans a smaller size than they were cut when frozen, simply run them under warm water for a couple of seconds. This will soften them enough to cut to size before immediately adding to your dish.
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