Whether you make it from scratch or buy it from the supermarket, chicken liver pate doesn’t have the best shelf life, and you will have to use it up pretty quickly. So can you freeze chicken liver pate, or should it be avoided?
Can You Freeze Chicken Liver Pate?
Yes, you can freeze chicken liver pate for up to 3 months. If you’re freezing shop-bought pate, check the use-by date before you freeze it. If it’s homemade, the sooner you freeze it after preparing it, the better!
Does Chicken Liver Pate Freeze Well? Yes
Can You Refreeze Chicken Liver Pate? No
How to Freeze Chicken Liver Pate
If you’re freezing shop-bought pate, wrap it up in cling film and place it straight in the freezer! There’s nothing more to it.
However, if you’ve spent a considerable amount of time preparing your pate in the kitchen, here’s how to freeze it without making a mess:
- Portion Your Pate: If you’ve made a decent amount of pate, it’s a good idea to separate it into portions before you freeze it. Cover a tray with greaseproof paper and place your portioned pate on top.
- Cover with Cling Film and Freeze: Cover the whole tray with cling film and place it in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until frozen. Take the tray out of the freezer when your chicken liver pate is frozen solid.
- Wrap Individually: Now that your pate portions are hard, it’s easy to wrap them individually with cling film. We’d recommend double wrapping them, as you don’t want any air getting to the pate, as this could result in freezer burn.
- Place Into a Container and Freeze: Place each of the individual pate portions in a freezer-safe box. If you have space, don’t stack them on top of one another. Instead, lie them flat with a bit of space in between so they don’t stick together while in the freezer.
- Label and Freeze: Then label the box with the date you prepared the pate and when you should use it.
3 Tips for Freezing Chicken Liver Pate
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing chicken liver pate to have the best results:
Keep It Wrapped
It’s so crucial that your pate is fully wrapped and protected before you place it in the freezer. As such, you really can’t wrap it enough! If you’re worried about freezer burn, you could always double-wrap it and place it in a freezer-safe bag.
Freeze It Whole
It’s OK to freeze your pate block whole instead of separating it into portion sizes. However, if you do this, ensure you understand that refreezing the pate isn’t a good idea. If you freeze it whole, you will have to use it all, so unless you have friends to enjoy it as a starter, it’s best to portion your chicken liver pate before freezing it.
Wrap Individually
If you don’t have time to freeze your pate on a tray initially, you can wrap the portions individually and place them straight into a freezer-safe container. We don’t recommend this because pate is sticky and can be challenging to wrap when it’s not frozen.
How Long Can You Freeze Chicken Liver Pate?
You can freeze chicken liver pate for around three months.
With any meat-based pate, it’s important that you freeze it as soon as you can after preparing it to ensure it remains both fresh and safe to enjoy at a later date.
If you want to keep it in the fridge for a while after you’ve made your chicken liver pate, it should be good for 3-4 days before you need to transfer it to the freezer.
How Do You Defrost Chicken Liver Pate?
To defrost chicken liver pate, you will need to take it out of the freezer the night before you plan to use it. Take the portion you need out of the freezer and place it, still wrapped, on a shelf in the refrigerator.
When you come to need it the following day, it will have thawed perfectly, and you can enjoy it as if it was freshly made.
If you’ve had a nightmare and forgotten to take your pate out the night before, don’t panic! If you need to use it within a couple of hours, prepare a bowl with room-temperature water and place your wrapped and bagged pate in the water.
Although not instant, this speeds up the defrosting of your chicken liver pate and will save you some blushes at the dinner table!
Can You Refreeze Chicken Liver Pate?
We definitely wouldn’t recommend refreezing chicken liver pate. Freezing and refreezing pate time and time again will change the overall texture, and it’s likely to go squishy.
As we’ve mentioned throughout, the best way to ensure you only take out the pate that you need is to separate it into individual portion sizes and thaw the required amount the night before you want to enjoy it.
Does Chicken Liver Pate Freeze Well?
As long as you double-wrap it and protect it from freezer burn, your pate should freeze well.
However, if you skip the initial freezing process, you might find that the texture is a little out of shape, and your pate might not look as desirable as it would if you freeze it first and then store it in a freezer-safe container.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing chicken liver pate or pate in general, then these may help:
Although vegan pate and chicken liver pate are only similar in name, the process for freezing vegan pate is exactly the same. Mushroom pate, for example, needs to be wrapped, frozen and then stored in a Tupperware container.
Brussels pate can be frozen using the same method as you would use for freezing chicken liver pate. As with all types of pate, it’s vitally important that you keep it airtight if you store it in the freezer.
Yes, chopped liver pate can be frozen for around 3 months. You may find it loses some of its texture once frozen but it’s perfectly safe to consume still.
