How to Freeze Fresh Peppers

06 Aug.,2022

 

frozen mixed peppers

When fresh peppers are in season, they're quite inexpensive, so buying the sweet surplus is a great idea. Also, if you have a garden, pepper plants are quite the producers, with a dozen or more peppers per plant. If you find yourself with too many peppers in your kitchen and not enough recipes to use them in but plenty of space in your freezer, the best course of action is to freeze them for later use.

Some recipes advise blanching peppers in boiling water for a couple of minutes before freezing, but our method simply cleans, chops, and freezes the vegetables for an extra speedy process. There's no need for fancy equipment; it's just an organized set of steps that will provide you with ready-to-use peppers for the coming months.

Use the frozen peppers in sauces, soups, and stews, or as part of an omelet or quiche. Sweet and spicy peppers add a ton of flavor to many recipes while also providing great nutrition. The benefits of incorporating bell peppers into your diet include vitamin A, folate, iron, and plenty of fiber, at just 15 calories per 3-ounce serving. Other spicy and milder peppers have similar benefits, and their spiciness isn't actually a "taste" but a "feeling;" the capsaicin in the peppers creates a response in our cells that our brain reads as "being burned," so you feel the burn, but don't taste it. To prep hot peppers for freezing, wear disposable gloves and don't touch your face.

While the frozen peppers don't lose flavor, they won't be quite as crispy once defrosted and so are best suited for cooked recipes. Nonetheless, many find that semi-frozen chunks of peppers are delicious when dipped in hummus or ranch. However, if the lack of crispiness doesn't bother you, they're perfectly fine to use uncooked in salads and wraps.