At harvest time, you’ll be inundated with pole beans and other green beans. We’ll tell you whether you should freeze them raw or cooked and how to do it.
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raw beans
If green beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) are frozen raw, they retain their beautiful, bright green color as well as their aroma and valuable nutrients. We recommend this procedure if you want to prepare the vegetables after defrosting anyway. Vitamins and flavor are best preserved when frozen raw, and you can also prepare the frozen beans without thawing them first. Here’s the best way to freeze raw runner beans:
- Wash beans thoroughly
- Cut off the stem and tips
- if desired, cut into bite-sized pieces
- Blanch beans in boiling salted water
- Leave in boiling water for about three minutes
- Remove and immediately shock with ice water
- drain well on a kitchen towel
- don’t put wet beans in the freezer
- Formation of unsightly ice crystals
- Put the prepared beans in a suitable container
- use freezer bags if you prefer
- put in the freezer
Frozen raw beans can only be stored in the freezer for a few weeks. In a proper freezer or chest freezer, on the other hand, you can keep them for up to a year.
Boiled Beans
Of course, you can also freeze a ready-made bean dish such as a stew or stir-fry. This is very convenient as all you have to do is take the meal out of the freezer and reheat it when you need it. So you can enjoy a delicious and healthy meal even when it has to be quick or you don’t have time to cook. We also recommend freezing cooked beans if you want to use them later for a salad or similar. And this is how you freeze the runner beans cooked:
- Wash and trim beans
- cut off the ends
- if desired, cut into bite-sized pieces
- Prepare bean dish
- cool down quickly (e.g. in an ice water bath)
- Pour into a suitable container and freeze
- alternatively cook beans separately
- Cooking time at least eight to ten minutes
- then quench in ice water
- dry well and freeze runner beans
When cooked, green beans can be stored in the freezer for about 10 to 14 days and in the freezer for up to nine months. Before consumption, the cooked vegetables must either be thawed at room temperature – for example when preparing a bean salad – or carefully warmed up. You don’t have to cook the beans again.
