Last week I shared with all of you my step-by-step tutorial on How to Freeze Bell Pepper Strips and this time around I’m going to tell you how I go about freezing whole bell peppers for later use.
When it comes to thawing them…I thaw them for an hour or two and then stuff them. We like to stuff our’s with a variety of different fillings…tomatoes, rice, kidney beans, cheese, etc. Here’s an easy recipe for making homemade stuffed bell peppers that you can find right here on the blog.
I don’t let my shells thaw out for very long as they will get mushy. You want to stuff them and toss them into the oven while partially thawed for best results. In addition, I make and freeze my own pepper filling separately. You can try out my pepper filling recipe too. By doing it this way…I can thaw my shells and thaw my filling out at the same time and get a hot dinner onto the table in about 30 minutes. A great way to put dinner onto the table during those busy weeknights during the winter.
How to Freeze Whole Bell Peppers
Remove stems. Slice off the tops, remove seeds and membranes. Rinse out the enter pepper shell, place in colander. Continue this process until all of them are cleaned. Fill up a pot with water and bring it to a rolling boil. Put the shells into the boiling water and boil for 1 full minute. Remove immediately. Place them into a colander under cold running water to stop the cooking process.
Place a few sheets of paper towels onto a cutting board. Place the shells on top. Use paper towels to pat dry the peppers. You want to blot off as much water that you can.
You’ll want to place them onto a baking sheet, cut-side facing down. Put the baking sheet into the freezer and freeze for 2-3 hours or until the shells are frozen solid. Remove.
Immediately put the frozen shells into plastic freezer containers or freezer bags (make sure you purge out the air). Label and place into the freezer. They should keep nicely in your freezer for 6-9 months.
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I never realized that one could freeze whole bell peppers. Your instruction are very clear and I want to try this soon. Making the stuffing and freezing the peppers will make it very easy to put everything together.
There are lots of things that freeze quite well. Peppers I have done, and they always came out pretty good. I am lazy I admit, and around the time some things overflow it is hot as can be here. I freeze quite a few things rather than can. I also dehydrate them . I didnt put in many peppers but do have a few frozen.
This is a great way to have stuffed peppers easily. I like doing the stuffing separately.
I have frozen pepper strips but have yet to try whole peppers. I like stuffed green peppers so it would be nice to have them handy in the freezer.
I am so going to try this you make it sound so easy. I love bell peppers but they go bad so fast that I find that now I only buy them like one at a time.