Can You Freeze Lettuce?

Technically, yes, you can freeze lettuce. However, lettuce has a load of moisture in it , so it does not make a good freezing candidate. But, if you need to, you can flash freeze both full leaves and shredded lettuce and then bag it in freezer bags. The best way to freeze lettuce is to puree it and freeze it in an ice cube try for use in smoothies.

So, freezing lettuce is possible. Any way you freeze it, it will be mushy and not good for salads or sandwiches. It will work just fine in soups and other recipes that do not rely on it's crisp texture. Frozen lettuce has a freezer life of up to a year with the first 2 or 3 months still retaining the most flavor and quality.

If you want to learn more about how to freeze lettuce (or more exact reasons why you shouldn't) keep on reading!

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Can you freeze lettuce?

As you have already learned from above, freezing lettuce isn't a great idea. It can be done, though, so let's talk more about how to get the best results.

If you want to freeze lettuce you should try and stick to freezing types of lettuce with thicker leaves. While none of them are going to come out still firm enough for a salad, the heavier leaf varieties of lettuce do much better.

Thick Leaves	Midrange Leaves	Thin or Delicate Leaves
Butterhead (Boston, Bibb, Mignonette) Coral Endive Escarole Little gem Looseleaf Radicchio Romain Stem Lettuce	Iceburg Mache (Lamb's lettuce) Oakleaf Speckled	Arugula Cress or Watercress Frisee Mesclun

Freezing Stats

Blanched	no
Prep Style	leaves shredded
Time To Freeze	12 hours
Time to Thaw	no need if adding to recipe (soups, stews, etc)
Uses	best in soups and stews ice cubes for smoothies
Freezer Life	up to 12 months best quality in the first 2 to 3 months

Why do some fruits and vegetables not freeze well?

The more moisture in the fruit or vegetable combined with the fragility of the cell wall is how you can determine if something will freeze well or not. Essentially, what happens is when you freeze lettuce, or something similarly thin like cabbage or Bok choy, the moisture, in this case water, expands while it freezes.

This expansion causes a rupture in the cellular wall which leads to overall instability. An individual, micro, instance of this would not be a problem, but when it spreads throughout the entire body of cells, it changes the structure completely. That is how you go from a crisp, even rigid at times, piece of lettuce to a handful of mushy goo.

Need to get all your food preserved easily? Check out the Ultimate Guide To Freezing Food so that you can fill your freezer without in minimal time.

So, how can you preserve lettuce?

As you may know, preserving food especially via freezing your fruits and veggies is a great way to stay stocked up on the food you eat and cut down on your good costs.

Unfortunately, lettuce is not a great candidate for preservation. Freezing and thawing it destroys it's cellular structure and makes it very mushy.

The best you can do, if you want to keep it crisp, is prolong it's fridge life. You can loosely wrap lettuce in a wet paper towel, bag it, and stick it in your crisper drawer in the refrigerator. You can also store individual leaves in a bag but dry them off first. Neither method will extend the amount of time they are good. They will however, preserve some of the crisp texture for much longer.

Freezer Life	Shelf Life/Fridge Life
up to 12 months best quality in the first 2 to 3 months	7 to 10 days (unwashed, in fridge)

Supplies

• lettuce (any kind, but we're using Romain)
• colander
• mandolin slicer with protective gloves (for shredding)
• knife and cutting board (for shredding if no mandolin slicer)
• cookie sheet (for flash freezing)
• Freezer bags
• Sharpie or marker
• Freezer

How To Freeze Lettuce

We're going to cover two ways to freeze lettuce; flash freeze and puree. Flash freezing can be done with whole leaf, separated from the stalk or head, or shredded lettuce. Puree will be made into lettuce ice cubes.

Whether you grow your lettuce or buy it from the store, these methods will work.

Flash freeze

Flash freezing is commonly used when freezing a lot of vegetables. Basically is a pre-freeze before you store for long term freezing. You get individual pieces of what you are preserving cold enough that the moisture closest to their surface will harden and they will not stick together.

This method keeps foods with more water from sticking and clumping together and makes it easier to only thaw or use what you need at a time instead of the whole container.

You do this by:

• covering a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper
• laying the food out in a single, non-overlapping, layer
• sticking the cookie sheet into the freezer anywhere from 2-4 hour up to overnight (depending on what you are freezing)
• removing the cookie sheet from the fridge and continuing with the instructions

This method will give you the best results with smaller, more moist, foods and portions like when freezing blueberries, freezing blackberries, freezing carrots, freezing watermelon, freezing cantaloupe chunks and freezing raspberries.

Whole leaf or shredded

• Wash your lettuce in the sink over a colander (the colander is in case you drop any so it won't get in a dirty sink)
• Either separate the leaves from the stalk/head or use a mandolin slicer/knife to shred your lettuce.
• Flash freeze.
• Once frozen, place the leaves or scoop the shredded lettuce into freezer safe bags.
• Label the bags with the contents, freeze date, and use by date
• Place in a freezing location that will remain as undisturbed as possible for about 24 hours

Puree

• Wash your lettuce in the sink over a colander (the colander is in case you drop any so it won't get in a dirty sink)
• Cut the lettuce enough to fit the leaves into a food processor
• Use the puree function until it is no longer solid (sometimes the pulse or manual function works better)
• Pour liquid into an ice cube tray, leaving about ¼ open at the top to allow for expansion
• Flash freeze for up to 12 hours
• Once frozen, pop the lettuce cubes out of their tray and put them in a labeled freezer bag.
• Place in a freezing location that will remain as undisturbed as possible for about 24 hours

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some of the more common questions about freezing lettuce.

Q1. Does freezing ruin it?

Q2. Can you freeze a bag of shredded lettuce?

You can freeze bagged lettuce. You would want to follow the same process above that we use for shredded lettuce; wash, shred, flash freeze, bag, deep freeze.

Q3. Can you freeze lettuce soup?

Lettuce soup actually freezes very well. Lettuce soup is probably the best use of frozen lettuce other than lettuce ice cubes for a smoothie.

Q4. How do you defrost it?

Don't thaw it out. You can use the ice cubes frozen and they will blend easily. The leaves/shredded are thin enough that they will thaw quickly in whatever recipe in which they are used.

Q5. How can I use frozen lettuce?

Unfortunately, the two most popular uses of lettuce, salad and sandwiches, are not an option once lettuce is frozen since it will become too waterlogged and soggy. If you have some recipes that do not rely on the crispness of lettuce then frozen lettuce can work. But, again, your best bet is going to be ice cubes for a smoothie.

Final word

Now we know that freezing lettuce isn't very good unless you are planning to use it for smoothies or different recipes. If you are hoping for a nice refreshing salad in about 2 months or so, you are in for a big disappointment.