Y’all know I love my herb garden I made for the past two summers. It’s been so nice to just go out on the porch and pick out some fresh herbs to cook with. But, I was thinking, how nice it would be to still have fresh herbs all winter long too?! Thankfully, one of my sweet patients at work gave me a great tip. Did you know you can freeze fresh herbs?! Then, you can just thaw them out whenever you need them in the winter! What a genius idea! And also, why have I never thought of that before?! Today, I am going to show you just how easy it is to have fresh herbs all winter long!
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Materials Needed:
- Fresh herbs of your choice
- Cutting board
- Knifes
- Ice Cube Trays (I didn’t have any Ice Cube Trays at home, so I had to order some off of Amazon. I will link them below. I feel like hardly anyone has ice trays anymore since all the refrigerators come with an ice maker now lol)
- Freezer Bags
The first thing you need to do is to just chop up whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. My dill was overtaking my little garden so I started there.
I was also getting an abundance of parsley too. I simply just cut a handful of each herb and brought it back inside to chop it up. I made sure to chop each herb real fine.
I have found that for the most part, after cutting from my garden, most of the herbs thrive after. My parsley keeps on growing more and more, as does my basil.
The only plant that didn’t really do well after I cut it was my dill. Which is confusing since it was overtaking the garden. I thought that by cutting it back, it would continue to keep producing, but for some reason half of it died.
I have no idea why, but I guess this is part of the fun with having a little garden like this. You learn as you go! I’ll have to do more research about the proper way to harvest dill I guess.
Freezing the Fresh Herbs
Once you have your herbs chopped up, now it is time to freeze them. That way you have fresh herbs all winter long! And here is the trick to freezing them, just put them in ice cube trays!
Simply place the chopped up herbs in the trays and then cover with water. This is important because they won’t dry out on you in water obviously.
Be very careful when pouring the water in the tray though. You don’t want too much water pressure on where it will overflow and cause the herbs to fall out of the tray.
After you trays are filled, it’s time to freeze them! I let them freeze overnight and then popped them out in the morning. So super easy and simple.
I did mix and match the herbs in the trays because sometimes I didn’t have enough herbs to fully fill the tray.
Storing the Frozen Herbs
After the fresh herbs are nice and frozen in their little cube, I put them in little quart sized freezer bags. I labeled each one and put the date I froze them on there as well.
My patient told me that these frozen herbs should last quite a long time, as long as your freezer doesn’t tend to dry things out completely.
So we will see how it goes and how long they last! But I am so excited because I know I will have some yummy, fresh herbs all winter long this year.
To use the frozen herbs, I just place a few cubes out and let them thaw. I just lay out however much I need on a little plate with some paper towels to absorb the water when it thaws.
So usually just a few hours before I am ready to make dinner is enough time for them to thaw out!
How cool is that?! I love to cook so having fresh herbs on hand during the winter will definitely help me out! Making homemade spaghetti sauce is always one of my favorite meals (I talked about this more over on my Top 3 Favorite Freezer Meals).
And when you make it with fresh herbs, it’s even better! Have you ever tried to freeze herbs before too? If so, how did it go for you? I’d love to hear all about it!
Frozen Herbs
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Fresh Herbs of your Choice
- 1 cup Water
Instructions
- Chop up your fresh herbs.
- Place chopped up herbs in ice cube tray.
- Slowly and carefully fill ice cube tray up with water.
- Set in the freezer for 8 hours or overnight. Basically until the cubes are frozen solid.
- Pop frozen herbs out of the tray and place into freezer safe bags.
- Store in freezer bags until ready to use.
- Let ice cube thaw out on a paper towel lined plate when ready to use for cooking!
I’ve done herbal ice cubes previously, and loved them, but I always added the whole ice cube to recipes…. somehow I never thought about thawing them on a paper towel before use. Genius!
Thank you! Your tip means I could top dishes with fresh herbs, even in winter!
Oh yay! I am so glad you found it to be helpful then!
What an amazing idea for keeping your herbs fresh and available to use over the Winter! I’d love a herb garden one day and I’d definitely take this tip on board!
Thank you so much Jenny!
Looks so good and refreshing wow!
Thank you so much!
This is such a great idea for preparing for the winter! Thanks for sharing x
Thank you, I am so glad you thought so too!
This is a fantastic post, and I think it’s great that there are places to find and keep fresh herbs even during the winter months! Thanks for sharing x
Thank you so much. It definitely pays to grow your own herbs
Great post! Thanks for sharing. This is super helpful. xo
xoxo Olivia | https://www.oliviaandbeauty.com
Thank you, I am so glad you think so
I knew you could freeze herbs, but I honestly never thought of doing it. It’s a great way to take advantage of a fantastic source of flavour!
Yes it sure is a great way to preserve the flavor!
What a great idea! If I had fresh herbs, I would do this for sure. Maybe next summer will be the summer of the herbs! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Yes, you definitely should! I love having fresh herbs!
This is a great idea! I love using fresh herbs. In the garden right now there are tons, so it would be really cool to try this! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much. It would be perfect to do this for your garden then!
I love this idea! I’ve heard freezing herbs with olive oil, but I like this much better and thawing it on a paper towel is genius. Thanks so much for sharing!
No problem! So glad you enjoyed it!
I really like this idea as it’s so easy to do and so useful for cooking with fresh herbs! I will definitely be doing this in the future — thanks for sharing.
No problem at all! Glad you found it to be useful!
Love this idea! I’ve been freezing food in ice cubes lots lately 🙂
That’s so awesome. Glad you love it.
This was really awesome. I’ve dried mine in the oven but didn’t know about using ice cube trays. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you! I am so glad you enjoyed it!
This is a good recipe to have fresh herbs during winter. I learned something from reading this post. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, I am so glad you learned something from this then!
I like the cool use of the ice cube tray.
Thank you so much.
This is such a clever idea! I haven’t grown a lot of herbs but now that I know I can freeze them I think I will! Thanks for sharing.
Yes, it is a helpful tip for sure!
This is such a great way to store herbs Charity! I really need to freeze some of the fresh rosemary we have in the garden so we can use it all year round!
Yes! You should definitely try it out for sure!
This is one of my favourite ways to store herbs for the winter months when my garden is all frozen over! As you mentioned it’s a bit of trial and error at times but it’s so handy once you’ve got it! Thanks for sharing.
Exactly! The trail and error of it makes it fun I think too!
My grandfather has his own garden and I believe he has a few herbs. Its amazing these tips to help keep herbs fresh all winter long.
Yes, it will definitely be beneficial to him then!
I’ve been thinking about starting my own herb garden for a while now, because I can’t keep flowers alive, I’d like to try to buy some herbs and see if I can take care of them. I’ve never thought of freezing herbs, so thank you for sharing!
Yes, you definitely should try it out and start one! I love having mine!
Thanks for the ice cube hack, I wasn’t aware of it until now. I love the idea of freezing herbs and having them on standby because for me, herbs are the one thing that gets forgotten about and left off a recipe.
Yes. It is a great hack to know of for sure!
I love the ice cube tray trick! Especially as I often forget herbs in my recipes. Thanks for posting.
Thank you. I am so glad you enjoyed it too!
I had no idea you could freeze herbs so this is a great idea! I’ll definitely need to do this when I grow herbs again!
Yes, you definitely should try it out! It’s a cool thing to have on hand!
Love this idea! So easy and useful. I actually never have had a clue until I encountered your post. Thanks for sharing
Thank you, I am so glad you found it to be helpful too!