It can be warming on a cold winter’s evening or refreshing during the summer, soup is one of the most nutritious meals to knock together. But preparing it in batches would save you plenty of time.
Can You Freeze Soup?
Yes, you can freeze soup for up to 3 months. This applies to standard vegetable soups which have been blended. There are different rules to follow for different types of soup.
Does Soup Freeze Well? Yes
Can You Refreeze Soup? No
How to Freeze Soup
The easiest types of soup to freeze are soups made with stock and a hearty mix of vegetable ingredients. These are simple to make and easy to pop into a suitable container and freeze, and they taste great too!
They can be blended into a smooth consistency or left chunky.
This simple method will work for any soup type from a basic minestrone through to a complex African peanut soup:
- Cool: Once you’ve made your soup, allow it to completely cool. You never want to place a hot (or even warm) dish into the freezer, so allow it to cool down.
- Bag Up: When your soup is cool, place it into either a freezer bag or a freezer-safe container. Make sure you leave some space in the container as the soup will expand slightly when freezing.
- Freeze: Finally, please it in the freezer.
When freezing a soup made with a simple stock, it really is that simple. If you’re using a freezer bag, then make sure it is suitable for liquids.
Many of the cheaper bags you can buy will not be completed liquid-proof, and before you know it, you’ll have flooded your freezer with chicken broth.
A simple vegetable soup can be frozen with great success. Once cooled, either pour it into good-quality freezer bags or into airtight containers, seal and then place the bagged vegetable soup into the freezer.
How to Freeze Different Soup Types
Soup can be found in so many forms that it’s impossible to cover all soup types in one freezing method. Below, we have outlined a few popular soups, so you know how to go about freezing them and whether it’s possible to do:
How to Freeze Soup with Cream
If you add cream or cheese to your soup, you have to be careful when defrosting, and heating as the dairy can curdle, and no one wants a soup with a strange texture!
One recommendation for avoiding this is to make your soup base a broth with plenty of vegetables and freeze it as a broth-based soup.
When it comes to using your soup, you can add the cream or cheese when you are heating it – you still get a great creamy soup without any difficulty!
How to Freeze Soup with Noodles
The same applies when adding ingredients such as noodles and croutons, these work best when added after the soup has been defrosted and heated.
Adding noodles that have been prepared separately just before you serve ensures you get the noodle soup you want but without the noodles soaking up too much moisture from the soup and getting soggy.
How to Freeze Fish Soup
Extra care needs to be taken when using fish in your soup. These make a great tasting soup, but extra care needs to be taken when freezing. For best results, make and freeze your soup base and prepare the fish separately.
Then add to your defrosted and heated soup just before serving – this helps you avoid any dodgy fish tummies.
How to Freeze Lentil Soup
Lentils will freeze well and will, therefore, also freeze well as part of a soup. The method is identical to the one listed at the top of this page. Cool, bag up and freeze.
How to Freeze Potato Soup
Like most vegetable soups, potato soup can be frozen using the method at the top of this page. You do need to consider what other ingredients you have used in the soup, however.
3 Tips for Freezing Soup
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing soup to have the best results:
Stick to Veggies
To avoid anything going wrong, stick to simple veggie soups instead of soups with meat, fish or dairy products that don’t freeze as well.
Use Quality Freeze Bags
There are plenty of cheap freezer bags out there, but they’re cheap for a reason. They will often leak, leaving you with soup all over your freezer. Instead, buy good-quality, thick freezer bags.
Freeze in Portions
Make sure you portion the soup into suitably sized portions so you can grab a bowlful of soup at a time. If you freeze it in one bag, then you’ll need to thaw it all and consume it all.
How Long Can You Freeze Soup?
You can keep soup in a freezer for up to three months which is plenty of time to create a large batch and then use it as you need it. Why not spend a couple of hours making some batches of different soups?
You can then use them to take to work for lunch and have a few extras in the freezer for those times when you need an extra meal or warming snack. Don’t forget to label your soups, so you know when you need to use them and what flavours you have.
Homemade soup can be kept in Tupperware containers or a bowl covered in cling film for around 3 days before it needs to be thrown out.
How Do You Defrost Soup?
It is best to defrost your soup in the fridge overnight. This will ensure it has time to thaw out fully before reheating. Make sure you pop the frozen soup in its container or bag in a bowl before putting it in the fridge.
There can be some liquid escaping as it defrosts. If your soup is a little too thick once it has defrosted, add a little water until it is your preferred consistency.
If you need your soup to thaw a little quicker, you can pop it in the microwave. Use the defrost setting until it is fully thawed, then heat as normal. Make sure it is piping hot before you eat it
Once your soup has defrosted, it is best to eat it within 24 hours of it being thawed. This helps with both the flavour and, of course, ensuring the quality and safety of your soup.
Can You Refreeze Soup?
Refreezing soup is not advised. It can ruin the taste and can also lead to illness if you’re not careful.
Instead, try to store soup in portions in the freezer to make it far easier to thaw a portion at a time, therefore avoiding the need to ever refreeze it.
Does Soup Freeze Well?
If care is taken and freezing is done properly, then there should be absolutely no difference between your frozen soup and your fresh soup. It can taste just as good and be as healthy as the day it was made.
Make life easy for yourself and batch cook some soup and freeze them for great on the go easy meals.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing soup or soup in general, then these may help:
You can… But it’s not something we’d advise. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, mason jars are quite cumbersome. Unless you have an industrial-sized walk-in freezer, then chances are you want to preserve space.
That’s why freezer bags that can fit in neatly are better. Secondly, with the soup expanding as it freezes, there is a small risk the glass will crack.
Freezing soup in Tupperware is advisable. It’s easy to do and will prevent any spillage that can occur with bags. Just make sure you don’t fill the container. Liquids will expand when frozen, so give them room to move a little.
