Dirty rice is one of those meals that it’s impossible to hate – since everyone has a favourite recipe, and it’s super easy to make, everyone makes their ideal version. To keep some dirty rice on hand for when you need a carb boost, have you considered freezing it?
Can You Freeze Dirty Rice?
Yes, you can freeze dirty rice for up to 3 months. The best way to do this is to ensure that you cool it down to room temperature as quickly as possible before placing it in a freezer-safe container and then into the freezer.
Does Dirty Rice Freeze Well? Yes
Can You Refreeze Dirty Rice? No
How to Freeze Dirty Rice
The first step to freezing dirty rice is to ensure that it’s as cool as possible as quickly as possible. If you allow the rice to cool too slowly, then the combination of heat and slight condensation creates excellent conditions for bacteria to grow.
Over time, this can lead to your rice becoming unsafe to eat.
We suggest spreading the rice out in a thin layer on one or two plates so that it cools down to room temperature in no more than an hour. Once the rice is cool, you can get to freezing it:
- Transfer to a Container: Transfer the rice to a lined, airtight, freezer-safe container when it is cool. This process will ensure that the rice comes into contact with as little additional moisture as possible and that freezer burn stays well away.
- Seal: Once the rice is in the container, seal it, label it with the date, and transfer the container to the freezer.
This process protects against moisture because the airtight container will ensure no additional water gets into the container with the rice.
The lining of the container protects against freezer burn as the ice will form between the lining and the container long before it forms into and around the rice, leading to freezer burn.
3 Tips for Freezing Dirty Rice
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing dirty rice to have the best results:
Cool the Rice Quickly
Ensuring that you bring the rice to room temperature over the course of no more than an hour will make sure that you prevent bacterial growth as much as possible.Â
Leave Headspace
A little headspace above the rice will ensure that you can press the lid down to seal it completely. Often, an overfilled container cannot be properly closed, which leads to spoilage.Â
Reheat Until Steaming
Rice is a dangerous food in terms of overall food safety (just read what the NHS says). For that reason, it’s always exceptionally smart to reheat rice until it’s steaming hot all the way through when it comes to eating it. This will kill any bad bacteria that may have grown within the rice, making it safe to eat.Â
How Long Can You Freeze Dirty Rice?
Mostly anything can be kept in the freezer virtually forever to ensure that it is kept food safe – provided the temperature stays below 0F.
However, to ensure that the quality of the food isn’t compromised over time, the best bet is to only keep frozen dirty rice for a maximum of three months.
Beyond those three months, the air between the rice grains will likely have condensed, frozen, and pushed the grains to succumb to freezer burn. At that point, the quality will massively deteriorate.
How Do You Defrost Dirty Rice?
The best way to defrost dirty rice is to thaw it in the microwave. We suggest this because any other way of bringing rice to room temperature and cooking can result in bad bacteria throughout the rice.
Therefore, we suggest removing the lid from the rice so it’s slightly askew and there’s a hole for steam to escape through.
Then, move the container to the microwave, and zap it in one-minute increments at high heat until the rice is steaming hot all the way through – at that point, it will be entirely safe to eat.
Can You Refreeze Dirty Rice?
Technically, yes, you could refreeze dirty rice. However, we’d very much recommend against it.
Rice cooks by the individual grains absorbing water and swelling up. Through you cooking, cooling, freezing, and thawing rice, again and again, the rice will lose its ability to do that in a particularly good way.
Therefore, once thawed, we’d suggest refreezing dirty rice.
Does Dirty Rice Freeze Well?
Yes, dirty rice does freeze well, though only the first time. The process of freezing the grains does some amount of damage to them every time, and that damage is negligible the first time through the freezer.
Therefore, dirty rice freezes well, with little to no damage to the food, the first time it freezes.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing dirty rice or dirty rice in general, then these may help:
Yes, Cajun rice can be frozen like most other rice dishes. It’s vital that the rice is cooled down as quickly as possible before it is portioned out into good-quality containers, sealed and then frozen.
You can reheat dirty rice once, providing that it was quickly cooled and placed into the fridge overnight. 
