Do you ever have excess cucumbers left over after adding them to salads? It happens! It’s okay if you don’t use cucumbers right away. The good news is that you can easily learn how to freeze cucumbers – the right way – and keep them store-brought fresh by following these simple tips!
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Perhaps you’ve sliced some whole cucumbers to serve as healthy snacks, but went a little overboard.
Or you finally decided to make my favorite Din Tai Fung Cucumber Recipe, and realized you bought more cucumbers than you needed!
There are a number of ways you can be left with extra cucumbers, but the good news is that your leftover cucumbers don’t have to go to waste.
Why Should I Freeze Cucumbers
Freezing cucumbers helps preserve them for use at some later date.
But there is a right way and a wrong way to freeze cucumbers.
The right way will keep your cucumbers store-bought fresh.
The wrong way will result in cucumbers with freezer burn that will ultimately lack flavor and crunch.
Should Cucumbers Be Frozen Whole?
No, it is generally not a good idea to freeze whole cucumbers.
Due to their high water content, freezing whole cucumbers can cause damage to their cellular structure.
This cellular damage results in a cucumber that is less crisp and has a somewhat soggy texture, according to How To Freeze Cucumbers by Martha Stewart.
The Wrong Way To Freeze Cucumbers
So, the wrong way to freeze cucumbers is by freezing them whole.
Now that we know what NOT to do, let’s look at the preferred method of preserving cucumbers by freezing.
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How To Freeze Cucumbers – The Right Way
If you haven’t guessed already, the right way to freeze cucumbers is to start by slicing them!
My preferred method is a bit of a hybrid between the pickling method and the cookie sheet method discussed in this article.
Preparing Cucumbers Before Freezing
I start by slicing my cucumbers into roughly evenly-sized slices.
I then lay them out on a cookie sheet like this one, making sure to keep the cucumber slices slightly separated.
Next, I lightly salt my cucumber slices while making sure to turn each one over so that both sides are salted.
Why Salting Cucumber Slices Prior To Freezing Helps
Salting the cucumber slices helps draw out some of their internal moisture.
This helps prevent ice crystals from forming during the freezing process and damaging their cellular structure.
The result is that the cucumber slices remain crisp – even after freezing.
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A Big Plastic Bowl Is Key!
The next thing I do, is transfer all of my salted cuke slices into a big plastic bowl like the one below.
Here’s a similar large plastic bowl on Amazon.com that is perfect for this.
Rinsing Your Cucumber Slices
The next important step in preparing my cucumber slices for freezing is rinsing off all the salt.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like my cucumbers covered in salt!
I start by filling the bowl of cucumbers slices with water and sloshing them around for about 30 seconds.
A Common Question
You may be asking yourself why we salted our cucumber slices to draw out the moisture if we were just going to submerge them, later?
Let me explain…
The key with salting the cukes is to draw out their internal moisture.
It’s true that when we wash the salt off our cukes, we are wetting our cucumber slices again.
But we are mainly adding surface moisture that we are going to remove in our next step.
As I remove each submerged cucumber slice from my bowl, I run each slice under water again to make sure all of the salt is off.
I do this because I find that even sloshing them around in a bowl full of water doesn’t sufficiently rise all the salt off.
Drying The Cucumber Slices Before Freezing
Finally, I place each rinsed cucumber slice on a sheet of dry, highly absorbent paper towel.
I then use another sheet of this same paper towel to lightly dab the top of each cucumber slice.
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Lastly, I turn each slice over and repeat the process of lightly dabbing the face-up part with a paper towel.
It may be necessary to flip each slice a couple times – and even replace the paper towel – to get each slice fully dried.
At this point, the sliced cucumbers are ready to be placed in the freezer!
What Are The Best Type Of Cucumbers To Freeze?
Cucumbers that have the lowest water content are the best candidatures for freezing.
Pickling cucumbers, generally, have the lowest water content – according to this article on the different cucumber varieties.
While it’s true that pickling cucumbers like the Wautoma have lower water content, these are not my favorite cucumbers to freeze.
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My Favorite Type Of Cucumber To Freeze
I like English Cucumbers and have had good success freezing this type of cucumbers using the method I described above.
How To Store Cucumbers For Freezing
Make sure that any cucumbers slices have been thoroughly dried – this is extremely important since it prevents ice from forming.
I then use Gallon-Size Ziploc storage bags like these.
But I prefer airtight plastic food containers with lids – similar to the ones I used to store extra noodles from my Shrimp Mei Fun Recipe.
How Long Will Cucumbers Last In The Freezer?
While cucumbers typically last about 6 days in the refrigerator, frozen cucumbers can last 6 – 8 months in the freezer.
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The key to preserving frozen cucumbers this long is a combination of two things:
- Preparing the cucumbers using the method described above
- Using high-quality airtight plastic food storage containers with lids
I did mention that I sometimes use Ziploc food storage to store my cucumber slices in the freezer.
But this is when I am planning on using them in the next 2-3 weeks.
When freezing cucumbers for longer than 2 – 3 weeks, I find that air-tight, plastic food storage containers work better.
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So What Do You Think About How To Freeze Cucumbers – The Right Way?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Do you have a preferred method for freezing cucumbers? I would LOVE to know.
Please drop a comment in the Comments Section below to get the conversation going.
Until next time…
Happy Cooking!
