Onion is one of the most delicious ingredients that you can add to your recipes. This is a common flavorful ingredient in many savory dishes as well as a great choice for pickling or even use as a raw topping on things like burgers and salads.
For people who love onions, the act of chopping them up or preparing them in some way can be tedious and can delay dinner or lunchtime more than is ideal.
If you love onions, you might be wondering if you can freeze prepared onions, or maybe even whole onions, so that they will last longer.
There is no need to freeze whole onions because onions will keep for months in the right storage container placed in a cool and dimly-lit place.
You can, however, save yourself some prep time each time you want to use chopped or diced onion by freezing it.
If you want to learn more about how to freeze raw onions, you need to keep reading!
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Why Should You Freeze Onions?
You will want to consider freezing onion to save yourself time when you need to make a meal and also to prevent the waste of onion that you have already cut into.
An onion that has been cut in half or even peeled will not keep for very long. This means that any part of the onion that is not chopped up and frozen will go bad fairly quickly.
Freezing onion can also save you some space in your pantry or on your kitchen counters which can be helpful for many reasons.
You will be able to prepare a meal with chopped onion without having to plan well in advance, and you will declutter your kitchen storage!
These are both beneficial end results that make the effort of the storage process worth it.
How to Freeze Raw Onion
This is a very simple process that only requires a little bit of your time and patience and some quality freezer bags or ice cube trays.
Make sure that you also wash your hands before you start chopping or storing your onions. Bacteria that are on your hands when you are preparing the onion can lead to the breakdown of the onion even when it is in the freezer.
You do not want to go to all the trouble of preparing the onion, only to have to throw out a bunch of it because of bacteria that was sealed up with it before it went into the freezer.
The first thing that you need to do is chop or slice up your onion to the desired size that you will need. You can easily chop your onion very fine using a food processor, or you might want to undertake the cutting work by hand.
Either way, make sure that you think about how you are going to use your onion in the future so that you do not cut it too finely for recipes that you commonly make.
The next step is to place the onion in an even layer in the freezer bags that you have picked up for this task.
You will want to be sure that the onion does not slide to the bottom of the bag in a heap, as this will lead to freezer burn, and it will make it tough to use the onion gradually as needed.
When your raw onions are frozen in a sheet that is very thin, you can just break off the amount that you need and let it thaw out without having to thaw the entire bag.
If you are going to use ice cube trays, you will simply place the amount of onion that fits into each slot in the tray and then freeze them.
The downside to the ice cube tray method is that the onion smell will get into your freezer, and it can be very hard to remove in the future.
Make sure that you are pressing all of the air out of your freezer bags and sealing them correctly before you store your onions in the freezer.
You will avoid the onion smell getting into the freezer by doing this, and you will also be able to protect your onions from getting freezer burned or mushy due to air being trapped in the bag with them.
If you want to store more than one bag of onions, just make sure that they will stay flat until they are frozen. Laying the bags over uneven surfaces will lead to clumping of the onions, which can cause them to go bad or lose flavor.
When you need to prepare a dish that uses onion, you can unseal the bag (with clean hands), break off a small bit of the onion sheet, and then seal the bag back up.
The onion that you removed can be allowed to warm up to room temperature or can be placed in the fridge to thaw until you need it.
Freezing Raw Onions is Easy And Can Save You Lots of Time
If you love onion, but you hate having to take the time to prepare it for every dish that you make, you need to consider freezing your raw onion.
Prepared onion keeps well in the freezer when stored correctly, and being able to simply break off a small amount of the frozen onion to thaw can help you prevent waste when you are cooking.
Make sure that your whole onions are stored in the right kind of container and that they are away from light, heat, and moisture. Onions can go bad when they get too warm or too wet, and onions that have access to lots of light can actually sprout!
The storage processes that you use for both forms of onion can make a big difference in your ability to keep this vegetable on hand for your cooking needs.
Taking the time to store your onions correctly will make it much more likely that you will not waste any of the onions that you buy.
