If you still have a ton of herbs you’ve grown and don’t know how to use them all {or you scored an awesome deal at the grocery store}, you should totally try freezing them in olive oil. They will keep their amazing fresh flavor, and you can pop the whole thing right into the pan in one easy step.
You’ll Need:
Herbs {whatever combos and assortments you like}
Olive Oil
Ice Cube Tray
Directions:
Wash, dry, and chop your herbs into 1/2″ to 1″ segments. {For woody herbs, make sure to just use the leaves.} Put the herbs into the bottom of the ice cube trays and pour olive oil over the top, leaving about a 1/8″-1/4″ headspace. Then, pop them in the freezer. The olive oil will turn kind of cloudy and white, but not to worry, when you heat it up, it will return to its normal consistency. After a couple of hours in the freezer, pop the herb cubes out of the tray and put them into a freezer bag.
Annette shaw says
Might be a silly question, but do you have any resources for good ice cube trays. I do this with all kinds of things like frozen mashed bananas and yogurt for smoothies as well as roasted hatch chilis for recipes but my trays tend to break and shred when I pop the contents out.?
Mavis Butterfield says
Most of my ice cube trays come from the thrift store actually.
Jess says
I don’t know where you live, but we have a dollar tree here. For $1 you can get, I think, two dark blue ice cube trays. I got a couple maybe a year ago and I MUCH prefer them to the more rigid one we had. I got them to freeze mint in, funny enough.
Annette Shaw says
Thank you, I’ll bet taking a trip to the dollar store them. There are a lot of herb I’d like to get in before the freeze!
Jen L A says
Great tip! Any idea how long they last in a freezer bag? Never froze oil before…..just curious! Thanks!
Alicia says
I do this! It works really well. I use silicon trays. Heart shaped 🙂 They pop right out and store them in zip lock bags.
Laura says
Do you use any ol’ cheap olive oil for this? The good stuff is pretty expensive, and an ice cube’s worth is quite a bit. One tray would be an entire bottle of my olive oil.
Mavis Butterfield says
I used the olive I from Costco, if that helps.
carol says
I did this yesterday with pistou (basil, olive oil, garlic and parmesean cheese), following some online instructions, and the cubes wouldn’t pop out. The oil didn’t seem to firm up enough for the cube to pop out like an ice cube. Very disappointing. I ended up having to leave the cubes in the trays. It looks like I’ll have to scoop each cube out with a spoon. I did try freezing some chopped fresh basil in water in ice cube trays. This was a little “iffy,” too, but I did manage to get the cubes out. Any advice?
Carrie says
I would try to spray the trays with Pam first…couldn’t hurt to try it.
Carrie says
This is exactly what I needed today before cleaning out the garden for the year! Thank you so much for the idea. I am off to the dollar store for more ice cube trays right now and to Costco for olive oil!
Julia says
I’ve frozen cilantro and basil in ice cube trays just with water. I just pull them out and pop them in my salsa or sauce it’s great!
Chris says
How long do they stay good for after frozen & put into the freezer bags? I have herbs that I need to freeze before the weather turns on me.
Sue says
Can you think of any reason this wouldn’t work with other oils? Sesame, sunflower, safflower? I try to use olive oil only for cold uses (ie salad dressing) but not for cooking. I try to use oils with high smoke points for cooking.
But it seems like all oils would freeze ok in the freezer?
Sue