Onions are a flavorful addition to many dishes. You might love onion in so many different meals of the day, from your breakfast to dinner.
This might also mean that you know how long it can take to prepare and chop up onion when you are ready to make a recipe.
For people who really don’t want to have to take the time to get onion ready to cook, it can seem like a good idea to prepare onion in advance to use later.
This does not work as well as you might think, however, because onion does not keep well once it has been chopped up, even in the fridge.
You will be able to use the onion that has been stored in the fridge for about 48 hours, and then it will probably be too mushy to be any good.
If you are ready to learn some more about whether or not you can freeze red onions, you need to read on!
Freezing Red Onions
Red onions are some of the most flavorful of the onion varieties, and they are also the strongest-smelling and oiliest.
You will want to be sure that you keep your whole red onions in the right kind of storage container so that you have raw onions to chop up when you need them.
Once a red onion has been cut into, you should prepare all of it for use so that your kitchen or cupboards don’t smell mostly of onion and nothing else.
Red onions are very powerful smelling and have a lot of flavors, so you will want to make sure their smell does not invade your whole home.
To freeze red onion, you will need to make sure that you have freezer bags on hand, and a food processor can be a big help.
These onions are really pungent, so you might find yourself crying quite a bit if you are forced to chop them up entirely by hand before storing them.
Using the right tools can make a big difference in the efficiency of the chopping and storing process.
Peel your onions first, and then make sure that you remove any skin that is not in good condition. Sometimes the first layer can be bruised or have less flavor due to being handled. You will also want to be sure that you chop off the ends of the onion.
Use the food processer to chop up your onions into the size cubes or rings that you want. You can also do this part by hand. Make sure that you are careful about having clean hands for this process so that you do not impact the health of the onions while they are stored.
Bacteria on your hands can lead to the rapid breakdown of the onion that you are storing, even if it is going into the freezer.
Place your red onion in a thin layer in the freezer bag. This will allow you to be able to break off sections to thaw out as needed so that you do not need to thaw the whole bag each time you need to make a meal.
This is the ideal way to prevent throwing out all of the onion that you have prepared because it has gotten too soft and squishy to be used due to being thawed for too long.
You can also freeze onion in cubes in ice cube trays. This is a great way to get access to small amounts of onion that you can easily peel out of the trays as needed.
The only downside to this method is that the onion will still leech some of its smell into the freezer and might impact the things nearest to it with its strong scent.
When using the freezer bag method, you will need to be sure that you get high-quality freezer bags and not knock-offs.
You will also want to be sure that your freezer bags are sealed perfectly, and that all the air is pressed out. This will help prevent freezer burn.
When storing onion in bags, make sure that you lay the bags flat on the tray or shelf that you are using in the freezer so that they do not slip to the bottom and clump up.
When the onion is frozen in clumps inside a freezer bag, it can get too moist and might actually get freezer burn or break down in the center of the clumps.
This is particularly true if any bacteria got inside the freezer bag during storage.
It is always easiest if you are able to freezer your onion in flat sheets because then you can keep it fresher for longer and make sure that you are only using the right amount of onion for your recipe.
Freezing Red Onion Can be Easy
Red onion is one of the most flavorful and beautiful onions that you can choose for cooking purposes, and having onion on hand to cook with can be a big timesaver.
Make sure that you use the right storage process to protect your onion from breaking down while it is in the freezer, and you will have access to an onion that is ready to cook as soon as it thaws out.
Freezing onion is a big help and can contain the onion smell more readily than other storage methods too.
Red onion is a great choice for all kinds of recipes, and if you use the right storage processes before you chop this onion up as well as after it has been prepared for cooking, you will be able to use this delicious onion for all kinds of uses.
Storing red onion can be a little more challenging than storing other onion varieties due to the strong smell of this vegetable.
Thankfully, this storage method will make sure that you can use red onion for cooking at any time and store it properly for your next recipe, no matter how big or small.
