Learn How to Freeze Carrots and Preserve the Harvest
This page may contain affiliate links. More Information.
Freezing Carrots is a great way to enjoy their delicious flavor all year long. There are actually multiple ways to freeze carrots. Whole, sliced, diced, carrot sticks. In freezer bags, in plastic containers. I’ll give you all the options with pros and cons so you can choose the best method for your situation. Learn the best way to freeze carrots.
How to Prepare Carrots for Freezing
Wash and remove the tops from your carrots. You can also cut the tips off if you like. It is not needed but you certainly can. Taking the tips off makes that part a little easier to peel if they are super long and skinny.
Peel the carrots. A vegetable peeler makes this step easy. I think this goes without saying but be sure and peel the carrots before you chop, slice or cut them up.
Do you have to peel the carrots when you are freezing them?
No. It is actually optional. You could freeze them and leave the peels on. But I don’t recommend it. When the carrots are thawing they will soften and for some reason frozen then thawed peels just are more noticeably unappealing. (in my opinion)
If you leave the peels on the carrots to freeze them it is much harder to peel later. This would be pretty obvious if you’ve got sliced carrots (I can’t see peeling those slices haha) But even whole carrots will be difficult to peel because they will be soft.
If you are like me, I’ll often just scrub fresh carrots and cook them up for supper. I like having the nutrition from the peel and when they are cooked from fresh, the peels don’t bother me.
However, it really is beneficial to have peeled the carrots depending on how you intend to use them later.
Cut peeled and topped carrots into the desired size. You can cut carrots into sliced, 1/4 inch diced or even make thin carrot sticks (lengthwise strips). Small carrots can be left whole. I’m almost always slicing mine.
It is kind of fun to use a crinkle cutter like this one to make wavy carrots. But a good sharp knife is all that is needed.
If you’ve got a lot of carrots to slice remember the option to use a food processor. It can slice a lot of carrots quickly! I’ve used my food processor with the french fry blade for projects like this. It makes uniform carrots a little bigger than the thin slices and does it quickly!
How to Blanch Carrots
The next step is to blanch your carrots.
I know someone will ask, “do you HAVE to blanch?” so first I’ll tell you how to blanch carrots, then I’ll address the necessity of it. Keep reading!
Blanching is simply dipping prepared carrots into boiling water for a certain amount of time. A specialized blancher makes this step easy although you could do it with a large pot of water and a slotted spoon. I personally have this basket and use it with a large stock pot.
Bring water to a rapid boil.
Dip carrots in boiling water for 2-5 minutes depending on the size. If your sliced, diced or carrots sticks are smaller or thinner you will only want 2 minutes or so. If you’ve got small whole carrots, you will go the full 5 minutes.
You want to do this is small batches. When you add your vegetables to the boiling water, the boil will naturally subside. The goal is that the water will either maintain a boil or come back to boiling within a minute of adding the carrots.
If it takes too long to get back to a boil, you have 2 options.
- start with more boiling water
- add less vegetables at a time.
The NCFHFP recommends using a gallon of water per pound of vegetables.
Expert tip- put a lid on the pot of boiling water immediately after adding the vegetables to trap in the heat. This helps it get back to boiling quicker. But you do need to lift the lid to peek in and check the boil.
Start counting blanching time when the water returns to a boil. When time is up, cool carrots in cold or ice water. You want to stop the cooking process so they are not over blanched.
The goal is that the carrot is slightly softened/cooked throughout. This stops the enzyme breakdown in the carrots and creates better storage conditions. The carrots will taste better coming out of the freezer and will have better texture.
Do you Have to Blanch Carrots?
You may be surprised at my answer but no… you actually don’t HAVE to blanch carrots. It is highly recommended though. It is a quality issue not a safety issue. The NCFHFP recommends it and I do too.
Blanching your carrots for freezing is going to:
- Stop enzyme actions from deteriorating your food.
- Maintain color better.
- Protect the texture of your carrots (they may get mushy if you don’t blanch)
- Clean your carrots really well! Getting rid of any lingering bacteria.
- Protect vitamins and nutrients through the freezing process.
Did you know? Either over or under blanching is not a good thing either? Timing is really important!
Blanching in an Instant Pot
A little creativity helps in the kitchen! I usually use a basket and a large stock pot to blanch my carrots.
However if you know my story, we are currently building a home and I have a very limited kitchen. No stove is the issue today. So I pulled out my instant pot to see if it would work. The pot boiled the water, the insert served as my blanching basket…. It worked just fine.
If you do this just follow the same blanching process as above but use the instant pot to heat your water. You’ll have to watch it to see if it can maintain a boil. I’m sure the different models will have different settings and heat abilities.
Packaging Frozen Carrots for the Freezer
Before you package your carrots you’ll want to dry them a bit to remove excess moisture. This can be a simple as blotting them with a lint free kitchen towel or paper towels.
You’ve got options for how you want to package your blanched carrots when they are ready for the freezer.
Freezer Bags
My favorite method is to freeze them in freezer bags. Just put your blanched carrots in, squeeze out as much air as possible, seal, label and store.
Hard Plastic Freezer Containers
These come in many sizes. I like these inexpensive square containers… or these Ball Freezer Jars (They are plastic I’m not sure why they call them jars.) Both get used in my kitchen for both freezing and just storage for leftovers.
Glass Mason Jars
Note – I actually don’t recommend freezing in glass. Glass jars are awkward and don’t stack so they take up a lot of freezer space. And more importantly, they break. But you could…. If you really must. Be sure and leave headspace so your contents can expand during freezing and not break the glass. Straight sided jars like this are the best option. But you can use recycled jars if that is what you’ve got.
Vacuum Sealing
This is actually ideal and creates the best freezer conditions. It removes more air than we can manually. The downfall is you need a vacuum sealer… which I don’t have. (I should get one!)
Freeze for Individual Pieces
The best way to freeze carrots in my opinion is for later convenience.
Flash freeze them in individual pieces so you can take out just what you need for any particular recipe. For example;
- If you are making casseroles, soup or stews, maybe you only need one cup of carrots.
- If you want carrots to cook and serve as a vegetable side with butter and salt, you can take out what you need for the number of people you are serving.
- Maybe you are making carrot cake. You’ll have a specific amount you need for the recipe.
This can be done in any freezer container you like. Again freezer bags are my favorite.
You can freeze in individual pieces 2 ways.
- Lay blanched carrot pieces out in a single layer on a freezer tray, put the whole tray in the freezer. When the carrots are frozen (approximate 2-3 hours) remove and package the frozen carrots in freezer bags, label, and put back in the freezer.
- Add blanched carrot pieces to a gallon sized freezer bag. Only fill the bag half full. Lay the bag flat in freezer with the carrots in a shallow layer. This will allow you room to break up the frozen carrot pieces later Then you can remove just the amount you need. If the bag is stuffed full it will freeze in a big ol clump.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes you can freeze carrots whole if they are small. If you’ve got larger or even just thicker (sometimes carrots can be short a squat) you’ll want to slice,dice or make carrot sticks out of them. the issue is the density. You want them to be blanched through the whole carrot.
Yes. Softening of the carrots is just a part of freezing. But did you know that blanching them first actually helps the carrot to maintain it’s texture better. Frozen carrots won’t be good for carrot sticks on a veggie tray. But they are great for any cooked recipe.
For properly frozen carrots, I’ve read anywhere from 6-12 months. This depends on how you prepared your carrots and how they are stored. (containers) I would have no problem keeping carrots in the freezer for 12 months. After that the quality will diminish don’t throw them away, make a plan to use them up.
Some Other Ways to Preserve Carrots
- Canning Carrots
- Pickled Carrot Sticks
- Dehydrating Carrots
- Tomato Vegetable Juice (add your carrots!)
Printable Recipe ; How to Freeze Carrots
How to Freeze Carrots
Equipment
- Crinkle Cutter optional
Ingredients
- Carrots
Instructions
Freezing Carrots
- Wash and remove the tops from your carrots (tips too if desired)
- Peel
- Cut into desired size; sliced, 1/4 inch diced or carrot sticks. Small carrots can be left whole.
- Blanch- Dip carrots in boiling water for 2-5 minutes depending on the size. Small diced, sliced or sticks 2 minutes. Small whole carrots 5 minutes. Goal is lightly cooked, still a bit crisp.
- Cool in ice or cold water bath.
- When cool, drain well.
Freezing Options
- Option 1 – lay blanched carrot pieces out on a freezer tray, put in freezer. When frozen, remove and package in freezer bags, label, and put in freezer.
- Option 2 – Add blanched carrot pieces to a gallon sized freezer bag. Only fill the bag half full. Lay the bag flat in freezer to freeze. This will allow you room to break up the frozen carrot pieces later Then you can remove just the amount you need. If the bag is stuffed full it will freeze in a clump.
- Option 3 – Add blanched carrot pieces directly to freezer packaging, label, and put in freezer.
Pin for Later!
Source
will the carrots become totally soft as in canning or will they be left with a bit of solidness, as opposed to mushy?
Hi Carol, they will be soft… but you are correct not as soft as with canned.