8 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Freezing Soup

There's nothing better than enjoying a warm bowl of soup when the temperature outside starts to drop, except being able to enjoy your soup even when you don't have time to make it from scratch. Freezing your favorite soup makes that possible. Freezing soups is an easy way to meal prep, preserve leftovers, and ensure you have a delicious homemade option ready whenever you crave it. Whether you're partial to Thai chicken noodle soup, spicy black bean soup, or classic broccoli cheddar soup, you can put your freezer to use so it's always soup season in your kitchen.

As a personal chef, a big part of my job was filling my clients' freezers with meals they could easily thaw and enjoy over the course of several weeks or even months. I've frozen all kinds of soup in individual and large portions to suit each family's needs. You can be your own personal chef and keep your freezer full of your favorite soups with ease if you know how to freeze them properly. Freezing them incorrectly can cause freezer burn, separated textures, and a loss of flavor. You can dodge a sad soup situation and enjoy soups that taste just as good as they did when they were first made if you avoid these common mistakes people make when freezing and thawing soup.

Speed is not your friend when it comes to freezing soups. You might be tempted to take your soup, hot from the pot you cooked it in, and immediately place it in the freezer, but that would be a big mistake. Placing hot soup or any hot food in your refrigerator or freezer can raise the temperature inside, possibly putting other foods stored there in danger. Bacteria in food grow best and fastest in the time temperature danger zone, which includes temperatures between 40F and 140F. A pot of hot soup can potentially increase the temperature in your fridge or freeze by a few degrees, which could be problematic.

To freeze soups properly, they need to be cooled quickly and most home refrigerators aren't capable of cooling them to safe temperatures fast enough. To speed things up, you can use an ice bath. Place your pot of soup inside a larger pot. Make sure it's large enough to accommodate the soup pot and enough ice water to come up the sides of the soup pot at the same level as the soup. Stir it frequently to cool it down even faster. Another option is to divide your soup into smaller containers, which will cause them to cool down faster.

As much as we love soup, the last thing you want to do when freezing it is to fill your containers to the rim. Yes, we want as much soup as possible in the container so we can enjoy it later, but overfilling your containers is the messiest mistake to avoid when prepping soup for freezing. As soup freezes, ice crystals form, causing the soup to expand. If there's no room left in the container, it may crack from the pressure of the expanding soup, or the lid may pop off. Both can lead to big messes and wasted soup. This can even be dangerous if you're freezing your soup in glass containers. Play it safe and leave at least an inch of room at the top of your container to accommodate the expansion.

If you're worried about your frozen soup expanding, consider freezing it in resealable plastic freezer bags. It's the absolute best way to store frozen soup if you're looking to save space in your freezer. Ladle your cooled soup into the bags, press out any excess air, and seal them carefully. You can use quart or gallon-sized bags, depending on your preference. Once they're frozen, you can stack them in your freezer.

Not all soups are meant for freezing. Broth-based soups like vegetable minestrone and pureed soups like carrot ginger soup are good candidates for freezing, but there's one type of soup you shouldn't freeze. Freezing creamy, dairy-based soups like cream of potato soup or creamy New England clam chowder will likely lead to unappetizing results. Dairy-based soups containing milk, cream, or soups with lots of cheese can be tricky to freeze because it can negatively affect their texture and consistency. If you freeze cream-based soups, the fat in the cream will likely separate, leading to a curdled, grainy texture when it's thawed and reheated.

You can avoid off-textured dairy-based soups by preparing the soup up to the point of adding the dairy. Freeze the soups and label the container with the amount of dairy you need to add. When you thaw it and are ready to serve, you can add the dairy. If freezing your dairy-based soup is your only option, you can try to improve its texture when it's reheated by whisking in more half-and-half or heavy cream when you're ready to enjoy it.

The idea of having a big batch of homemade soup in your freezer sounds like a great thing until you think about the space it will take up in the freezer and how long it will take to thaw. If freezer space is at a premium in your kitchen, finding room for a big block of soup can be difficult, if not impossible. Save yourself time and freezer space by freezing your soup in smaller portions instead. Smaller portions of soup will freeze and thaw faster, in addition to taking up less space.

For best results, portion your soup into smaller portions and containers for freezing. It will be easier to store in your fridge or freezer and you'll get the added benefit of being able to thaw out exactly how much of the soup you want. For larger families, this gives everyone the opportunity to enjoy the soup of their choice. It can also help with portion control if you're watching your health, as you'll know exactly much you're consuming. Freezing your soup in smaller portions also makes it easy to transport soup if you're bringing it along for lunch.

Dairy-based soups aren't the only soups that produce less-than-ideal results when frozen. You should also proceed with caution when attempting to freeze soups containing starchy ingredients like rice, pasta, and potatoes. These starches can alter your soup's texture and not in a good way.

The problem with freezing soups with starches is that they can act like sponges when frozen. They can absorb too much liquid, which can lead to trouble in terms of the consistency and taste of your soup. When you thaw them out, this can leave your soup overly thick and soggy. Potato-based soups will yield the same result. The potatoes will lose their smooth, creamy texture, becoming mushy and grainy. Soups made with pasta and beans can also become off in texture and taste when frozen.

To avoid these issues, it's best to freeze the soup without adding the starches. I always packaged the cooked pasta and grains separately when I froze soups for my personal chef clients. When my clients reheated the soup they could simply stir in the cooked starches and enjoy their soup without sacrificing taste or quality.

Temperature plays an important role in safely freezing and thawing soup. It's just as important to keep the soup outside of the temperature danger zone when you're thawing it as it is when you're cooling it to freeze. Though it may seem like the fastest way to thaw soup quickly, especially if you're hungry, defrosting frozen soup on the counter is unsafe and can lead to foodborne illness. Even if it was frozen in small portions, it takes several hours for frozen soup to thaw fully.

The absolute best way to thaw and reheat frozen soup is simple. To keep things safe, you should thaw your soup in the fridge overnight and then reheat it. Thawing it in the fridge is a safe option because it ensures that even as the soup defrosts, it will still remain at a safe temperature, never warming up higher than the temperature inside your fridge, which should be at 40F or below. If you're short on time, you can place your frozen soup in the microwave to speed things up. It's imperative that you bring your thawed soups to a boil for at least three minutes to kill any bacteria that might be present. Keep in mind that you should only reheat thawed frozen soup once to maintain the quality of the soup.

One easy way to preserve the texture and flavor of soups you're planning to freeze is to slightly undercook the vegetables in your soup. When you undercook vegetables in soup you plan to freeze, you're giving them an added layer of protection against the most common complaints people have about freezing food in general, a deterioration in the texture of the veggies in the soup. Cooking the vegetables until they're just underdone will prevent them from becoming too soft or mushy when they're reheated. What we love about vegetables in soup is the varied texture they provide. If they're overcooked when reheated, they will lose their bite, and your soup will be less enjoyable.

You can make sure your vegetables are undercooked in a few ways. First, you can simply add them to your soup later than your recipe calls, for so they have less time in the pan. You can also cook them for less time by taking your soup off the heat when the veggies are still a bit firm. If you're only freezing a portion of your soup, another option is to remove the amount you want to freeze when the veggies are al dente and continue cooking the rest of the soup.

Sometimes it's the smallest details that get in the way of things going smoothly in the kitchen. You might not think remembering to label your soup container with the name of the soup and the date you prepared it are important, but I speak from experience that there's not much worse than either being unable to identify the mystery frozen block in your freezer or thawing out the wrong food by mistake because you were unable to identify the mystery frozen block in your freezer.

Not labeling frozen soups can lead to confusion about what's inside, making it difficult to keep track of what's in your freezer. No matter how sure you are that you'll remember, always take the extra few minutes to grab a Sharpie and label your soups before you freeze them. You should also include any instructions for reheating, especially if your soup needs added ingredients, like noodles or cream, once it's thawed. Marking your soup with the date it was frozen may actually be more important than writing the name of the soup on the container. Most soups will last in the freezer for up to three months. Labels will help you stay on top of what you should thaw and eat sooner rather than later so you're not asking yourself or Google if it's safe to eat two year old frozen soup. Future you will thank you for your labeling efforts.