Christmas pudding is everybody’s favourite traditional Christmas dessert. Served hot, with brandy butter or custard, it’s the centre point of the dinner table at the annual family dinner. But, what do you do with those leftovers?
Can You Freeze Christmas Pudding?
Yes, you can freeze Christmas pudding for up to 1 year. You can either freeze a complete, whole Christmas pudding or you can freeze portions of leftover pudding.Â
Does Christmas Pudding Freeze Well? Yes
Can You Refreeze Christmas Pudding? No
How To Freeze Christmas Pudding
The best time to freeze your Christmas pudding is once you have prepared, matured and boiled the pudding. This allows the flavours to develop and it makes it much easier for you to reheat on Christmas day.
- Cool: Take your prepared Christmas pudding and make sure it has cooled down completely.
- Wrap: Wrap the pudding in a double layer of cling film. This helps to protect the Christmas pudding from freezer burn. To make extra sure you can add a layer of tin foil wrapping too.
- Label and Freeze: Label the pudding with the date and contents and pop it into the freezer. It really is that easy!
How to Freeze Christmas Pudding Leftovers
As long as your Christmas pudding is freshly made and cooked then there is no reason you can’t freeze any leftovers you have.
Just make sure that the pudding hasn’t already been frozen and thawed out as this can degrade the pudding too much.
- Prepare Freezer Bags: Prepare some freezer bags by labelling them with the date and the contents. You need one freezer bag per portion of Christmas pudding. You can freeze all of your leftovers in one go or handy portion packs for one or two people.
- Bag Up: Pop the Christmas pudding into the bags.
- Seal: Squeeze out any excess air and seal the bag tightly.
- Freeze: Pop the bags into the freezer.
3 Tips for Freezing Christmas Pudding
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing Christmas pudding to have the best results:
Consider Portions
Think about how many people will eat the pudding and then freeze it in portions of this size. If you won’t get through a whole Christmas pudding then don’t freeze one whole.
Thaw Slowly
It can take a day or two to defrost in the fridge but this is the best approach to take so plan ahead. If you try to speed up the thawing process you may make the pudding rubbery.
Keep It Airtight
As with most items stored in the freezer, it’s vitally important that you keep the air out. Wrapping it in multiple layers of cling film is a great way to prevent any air from getting in.
How Long Can You Freeze Christmas Pudding?
How long you can freeze a Christmas pudding will depend largely on how you cooked it and the ingredients used. For most traditionally made Christmas puddings you can freeze them for as long as a year!
This type of pudding is a fairly hardy mixture and it can cope with a long time in the freezer. Just be careful if you have used alcohol in the mixture then this can make it more difficult to freeze.
You can keep leftover Christmas pudding in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container or a covered dish.
How Do You Defrost Christmas Pudding?
Christmas pudding is made with a dense mixture with lots of ingredients and as such a large pudding can take a while to thaw out fully.
You do need to make sure it is fully defrosted before heating and the best way to do this is to thaw it out in the fridge for two to three days before you plan to use it.
It might be tempting to speed up the process by popping it into the microwave but be careful of doing this because it can make the pudding a little rubbery in texture and you are in danger of overcooking it.
Can You Refreeze Christmas Pudding?
You shouldn’t refreeze Christmas pudding. You probably wouldn’t even want to! Doing so could make the Christmas pudding less flavourful and the texture change may be too much.
Luckily, you are unlikely to have too many leftovers to deal with and you will be able to eat it before it goes bad.
Does Christmas Pudding Freeze Well?
Christmas pudding does freeze fairly well.
Any change will be minimal and you shouldn’t notice too much of a difference as long as it has been well wrapped while being in the freezer. If it hasn’t been wrapped in several layers then you might find the taste changes due to freezer burn.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing Christmas pudding or Christmas in general, then these may help:
Yes, plum pudding can be frozen whole or in portions. If you know you’ll consume a whole pudding then freeze it wrapped it in clingfilm otherwise bag up individual portions.
Cooked Christmas pudding can be frozen but it must be completely cool before you do so. Once cooled, cut it into portions, bag them up, seal and freeze for up to 12 months.
