What is the best way to freeze bell peppers for the winter. How to freeze stuffed peppers for the winter or is it better to freeze stuffed peppers

Freezing is an economical and easy way to keep vegetables fresh for a long time. Whole, sliced, boiled or dried, even ready-made meals are stored for a long time in the freezer. It is better to freeze bell pepper for the winter in August in order to use it for cooking hot dishes as long as possible.

Conditions and terms of storage of frozen raw materials

The finished product can be placed in a stationary freezer or in a refrigerator freezer. The first option is preferable, since there is more space, it is possible to set a low temperature regime. You need to freeze at standard indicators in the freezer -18-20 ° C. If the refrigerator only maintains a temperature of -0-8 ° C, then the shelf life must be reduced by 1.5-2 times. Do not allow premature defrosting or thawing. It will not be possible to freeze the product again, since the organoleptic indicators will deteriorate sharply, and the content of useful substances will decrease.

Fresh frozen peppers are stored for 6-12 months, stuffed with meat - 3 months, heat-treated - 2-3 months. It is preferable to freeze the vegetable and meat separately from each other, because this way they are better preserved. Vegetable mixture can be stored for a long time when using a low temperature for freezing, it is not necessary to separate the components.

Reduces shelf life by combining fresh and cooked (baked) foods. Their storage time should be calculated as for ready meals and should not exceed 3 months.

Selection and preparation of fruits for freezing

It is possible to keep a vegetable healthy and safe for health for a long time only if the preparation rules are followed. Peppers should be frozen as close to the end of the growing season as possible to maximize shelf life. Fruits should be chosen when they have reached biological maturity (colored in the characteristic color of the variety), large, recently plucked.

Damaged, wilted, with putrefactive lesions do not use.

Primary preparation of fruits, regardless of the type of freezing:

• wash;
• carefully cut the stem;
• clean the internal cavity from seeds and partitions with your hands;
• Rinse;
• cut if necessary;
• dry.

Freezing Options

To prepare the feedstock according to the proposed scheme is only half the success. It is important to freeze bell peppers properly. Depending on the purpose, cut, pack in a suitable material, put in a freezer pre-washed before summer freezing. You can freeze only 1 time, do not repeat the procedure. Observe the commodity neighborhood in the freezer. Vegetables should be stored separately from meat and fish, it is advisable not to put together fresh and cooked ones.

Peppers can overwinter in the freezer in the following packaging:

• plastic containers for freezing with a lid;
• zip packages;
• cellophane bags;
• freezer bags.

Whole

Without additional cutting, prepared bell peppers are frozen to prepare a stuffed dish in winter. The fruits should be laid out in 1 layer on kitchen boards wrapped in polyethylene, put in the freezer for 3-6 hours.

Fold the finished product one to one, laying cellophane between them, or immediately into a common package. Before using the peppers, defrost a little, fill with stuffing and cook in the usual way. Some advise blanching the fruits before freezing. This is not necessary, only part of the vitamins will be lost, and it will hardly affect the cooking time.

in pieces

You can freeze sweet pepper for the winter by cutting it into cubes, straws, half rings, rings. Arrange the prepared product in batches or in a common container. Vegetable slices can be used to prepare a salad of fresh vegetables or hot dishes. In the first case, preliminary defrosting in the refrigerator or at room temperature will be required, in the second, pepper must be immediately added to a boiled or fried dish (15-20 minutes before the rest of the products are ready).

In vegetable mixes

You can freeze several vegetables together for 200-300 g. The composition of the mixture should be selected depending on the subsequent use. At will, the ingredients can be replaced with others or completely removed from the recipe. It should be borne in mind that blanched, boiled or baked foods are stored less.

Before cooking, the mixture does not need to be thawed, immediately boiled in hot water, steamed or fried.

Several options for vegetable mixes:

1. Paprikash - chopped bell peppers, green beans, zucchini, blanched tomatoes.
2. Country-style - based on peeled, diced potatoes mixed with broccoli, bell peppers, green beans, carrots, corn, onions. It is recommended to pre-blanch all vegetables except broccoli.
3. Lecho - diced, blanched peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, onions.
4. Dressing for borscht - chopped beets, bell peppers, carrots, onions, tomatoes.
5. Hawaiian mix - half-cooked rice, chopped sweet peppers, corn and green peas.

Baked

So you can freeze pepper for salads, soups:

1. Cutting the stalk, removing the seeds is not required.
2. Wash the fruits, dry, put on a baking sheet greased with a thin layer of oil.
3. Put in an oven preheated to + 220 ° C for 30-40 minutes. After 20-25 minutes turn over to the other side.
4. Transfer the finished product to a saucepan, cover with a lid, leave for 15-20 minutes so that the skin can be easily removed.
5. Next, clean the vegetables from the stalks, seeds and peel. Cut into cubes, strips or freeze whole. Add the juice released during baking and peeling to the vegetable.

Stuffed

A raw semi-finished product can be made in the usual way according to any recipe. Peppers stuffed with meat and rice can be prepared with the following ingredients:

• bell pepper - 7-8 pcs.:
• minced meat - 500 g;
• rice cooked until half cooked - 1 tbsp.;
• onions - 1 pc.;
• carrots - 2 pcs.;
• tomato paste - 2 tbsp. l.;
• salt, ground black pepper, herbs - to taste.

Line a cutting board or baking sheet with cling film. Arrange the prepared semi-finished products at a small distance from each other. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour, then move to the freezer at the lowest possible temperature, trying to freeze quickly. Do not leave on the boards for more than 8 hours, so that the exchange of odors does not occur, the moisture contained in the product does not have time to evaporate. Put the finished pepper in a bag, removing the air, or a container for freezing.

The easiest way to cook delicious pepper dishes in winter without losing their taste and useful properties is to freeze them. At the same time, the cooking process in winter is greatly simplified, since part of the products is ready for heat treatment. All freezes must be signed, indicating the date and allowable shelf life.

Sweet bell pepper can be found in almost every kitchen. This vegetable is very useful and is to the taste of many housewives. Sweet pepper gives freshness to salads and lightness to meat dishes. Stuffed peppers are very popular. You want to eat tasty not only in summer, but also in winter. Therefore, you need to figure out how to freeze whole bell pepper for the winter for stuffing. Cooking it is not at all difficult, and the dish turns out to be hearty and tasty.

How to freeze bell peppers for the winter
whole for stuffing

Yes, you can store it not only in the form of pieces and bars, but also as a whole. Keep in mind that whole peppers will require quite a lot of space in the freezer. But after freezing, it can be stored all winter, and pepper can be easily obtained at any time and cooked right there.

Preparing Peppers for Freezing

Freezing pepper should begin with the preparation of the fruit. You will need intact, even peppers, which must be processed according to the following scheme:

• first rinse and dry with a towel;
• cut off the tops of each pepper along with the stem;
• clean the seeds and partitions.

Make hollow small containers for minced meat from peppers, we don’t need anything extra. There is no need to wash the inside, because excess moisture can impair the taste. You can blot each pepper inside with a paper towel so that there is no excess moisture and seeds.

Where and how to store?

If you're going to be freezing a lot of peppers, a separate freezer is the best option, but a fridge freezer will work too. You can freeze in ordinary food bags or put in a container.

The temperature for freezing peppers should be set at -18 degrees or lower, that is, the usual storage temperature for freezers.

You can store peppers in the freezer for a year, which means that until the next harvest, you can fully provide yourself with the ingredients for your dish. It is also convenient to wash, clean and make blanks in advance. Then for cooking, you can only cook minced meat and immediately start stuffing.

There are several special approaches to freezing peppers for the winter, look at each and choose the most convenient for you.

How to freeze bell peppers for the winter for stuffing

Option 1.
As a preparation, you can put the peppers separately from each other and leave in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. So the peppers will freeze, harden and will not stick together when you put them into each other in the form of a pyramid or Christmas tree.

You can freeze in several batches, having planned in advance the place and time for the stages.

If you want to avoid the pre-freezing step, you can place a small piece of tissue paper or cling film between the peppers. Then they will not stick together and you can easily get as many peppers as you need.

Option 2.

Boil water and dip peppers in boiling water for 30 seconds. After you need to get them and put the peppers into each other. Calculate the length of the chains of peppers based on the size of your freezer. Place stocked peppers in bags or containers and freeze. It is believed that the treatment with boiling water allows you to better preserve vitamins.

Keep in mind that you can only put the peppers into each other if you cut off the tops along with the stalk, and not just cut out the stalk with seeds. You should also carefully stack the peppers so that they do not wrinkle and break in cramped quarters. If this happens, then stuffing them is unlikely to succeed, but you can still cut and add to the salad.

How to freeze bell peppers for the winter in slices

If you want to freeze peppers for salads or for garnishing, it is more convenient to cut them into pieces first. So it will take up much less space, and it will freeze just as well as a whole one. It is best to store such peppers in grippers (zippered bags) so that the pepper does not absorb foreign odors.

For freezing in pieces, this method is well suited: cut the peppers and freeze them on a tray for a day, then take them out and put everything in plastic bags or plastic containers for greater compactness.

You can also dip chopped peppers in boiling water before freezing, so it will be more flexible and it will be easier to pack it compactly in bags. Also, such pepper cooks much faster after defrosting, because it is almost ready.

How to defrost peppers.

There are several nuances in cooking stuffed peppers from frozen blanks.

1. It is better to fill the pepper with stuffing when it thaws a little. Peppers that are too cold are still brittle and may break; those that are too cold will lose their shape and be more difficult to fill.
2. Minced meat should be applied less, because frozen peppers cook faster. So the minced meat may not yet have time to cook, and the pepper will already begin to boil.

It is best to defrost the pepper by holding it for a few seconds under a stream of cool water. So it will thaw just a little and it will be convenient to cut it or fill it with stuffing. If the pepper is frozen in pieces or you do not plan to cut it, you can throw it in the cooking process without defrosting.

If there are still incomprehensible moments, watch the visual video

Choose the best way for you to freeze bell pepper for the winter: whole for stuffing or in the form of pieces / bars. You can use two options at once, because there are so many delicious and healthy pepper dishes.

In August, it is time to freeze peppers, as the price for it is the lowest during this period. Only 35 grams of the fruit of the plant contains the daily requirement of vitamin C, which is necessary for a person. Unlike other frozen vegetables, pepper retains all ascorbic acid for 90 days, after which the content begins to fall. So it makes sense to freeze it in the first place. You just have to do it right.

There are many different ways to freeze peppers, including the Soviet one, in which, when frozen, it was stuffed with rice and minced meat. Do the same with cabbage. Then it remains only to put the semi-finished product in a saucepan, slow cooker or pressure cooker and cook. Below we will give several proven recipes for freezing peppers for the winter, we will describe step by step the preparation of the famous Bulgarian lecho and the hottest chili.

Freezing bell pepper recipe

Ingredients

Servings: - + 4

• bell pepper 1.6 kg

per serving

Calories: 37 kcal

Proteins: 1.46 g

Fats: 0.16 g

Carbohydrates: 5.6 g

10 min. Video recipe Print

We begin to prepare vegetables: remove the stalk with seeds from well-washed peppers and dry them. If the shape allows, it is worth freezing them whole for further stuffing. When the look is unsightly, it makes sense to cut it in halves, and then strips or cubes.

Fresh peppers, which will be frozen whole, must be arranged in a one-on-one pyramid and placed in plastic bags. Loosely pack cut pieces or strips into bags or scatter on a tray. Send to the camera, setting the maximum freezing mode.

After 3-4 hours, collect raw frozen peppers and put them compactly in a bag or container, and turn on the freezer in the usual mode.

Recipe for freezing lecho from bell pepper




Cooking time: 10 minutes

Servings: 4

Energy value

• calorie content - 24 kcal;
• proteins - 1.03 g;
• fats - 0.12 g;
• carbohydrates - 4.52 g.

Ingredients

• bell pepper red, green, yellow - 300 g each;
• tomatoes - 600 g.

Step by step cooking

1. We remove the stalks from the sweet pepper, remove the seeds, cut into strips or pieces.
2. Wash the tomatoes, make slices 2 cm thick.
3. Gently mix so that the juice does not flow out of the tomato, and arrange in containers or bags. The benefit of such a blank is space saving.
4. We send it to the freezer, setting the maximum freezing mode for 3 hours. Later we return to normal temperature.

Chili Freeze Recipe

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Servings: 1

Energy value

• calorie content - 37 kcal;
• proteins - 1.82 g;
• fats - 0.19 g;
• carbohydrates - 8.75 g.

Ingredients

• chili pepper - 300 g.

Step by step cooking

1. Place the well-washed and dried peppers tightly with a cone down in a plastic cup and cover with cling film. So later it will be easier to pull out the right amount in order to cook.
2. Put a glass of hot pepper in the freezer and turn on the shock mode for 60 minutes, then transfer to normal mode.

Recipe for freezing hot peppers

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Servings: 1

Energy value

• calorie content - 37 kcal;
• proteins - 1.82 g;
• fats - 0.19 g;
• carbohydrates - 8.75 g.

Ingredients

• Hot pepper - 300 g.

Step by step cooking

1. Wash and dry hot (bitter) peppers. Scoop out all the seeds and spread the stripped peppers in an even, thin layer on a tray or flat plate.
2. Put in the freezer and set the lowest temperature for an hour.
3. Transfer after 60 minutes to normal mode, pack in a container or plastic bag.

Freezing Secrets

Pack peppers carefully, as they love to give off their scent to other foods. You can also freeze in baked form, so it takes up very little space. The oven copes with the task perfectly, where the pepper is laid for 40 minutes, and later placed in containers. In this case, the stalk is easily separated. Also, to save space, we recommend blanching the pepper, but in no case boil it. It is stewed and frozen, fried also tolerates freezing well.

How much can be stored

Pepper can easily not only overwinter, but also be stored for a year until the next harvest, at a temperature of -18 degrees for the first 3 months completely saving vitamin C, and then losing it up to 10%.

In what container to store

Food-grade plastic containers or bags are suitable for packaging. If it is a chili pepper, then it is convenient to fold it compactly into plastic cups and close the container without a lid with a film, as in the video or photo. You can freeze any variety of pepper, freezing is well tolerated. This is quite profitable, since in winter they try to sell it as expensive as possible, the cost reaches three-digit figures.

The question of how to freeze Bulgarian and hot peppers for the winter at home can be considered resolved. From the mass of recipes, choose the right one and use the freezer area one hundred percent. This is good for health, as pepper retains all its vitamins and minerals. It can be added to first and second courses, salads, cooked on the stove, in a double boiler and microwave. Freeze, make your stock for the winter. Good luck replenishing your bins!

Juicy, aromatic fresh bell pepper is one of our favorite summer flavors! How I want to keep it in winter, so that it will delight us with its bright sunny colors. Of course, in the cold season you can buy pepper in the store, but, firstly, its price bites quite a bit, and secondly, the taste is not the same. Especially if your garden has pleased you with a good harvest of this vegetable. You can preserve peppers in jars in many ways, but we suggest freezing them fresh. At the same time, we will discuss what can be prepared from it.

Is it worth freezing bell peppers for the winter

It is freezing that allows you to save most of the vitamins and other useful substances in the products. During pickling and preservation, which are necessarily preceded by hot processing - frying, boiling, dousing with boiling water, etc., not only almost all useful qualities are destroyed, but the taste of vegetables completely changes. And just want to keep it.

This is where deep freezing helps us. What's more, properly frozen peppers can easily keep up to 15 months, so you can enjoy them until the next harvest.

Ways to freeze fresh peppers for the winter

Housewives who have been freezing vegetables and herbs for a long time probably know several ways of such processing, and among them they chose the most convenient and suitable ones. Basically, they depend on what dishes the pepper will subsequently be used for.

The first rule when freezing peppers, regardless of the method: choose well-ripened fruits of bright colors. They should not be damaged - stains, rot. The brighter the fruits and the denser their pulp, the richer the taste and aroma.

Freeze bright fruits of different colors for a little bit of summer in the middle of winter

Freezing in pieces

Rinse the fruits thoroughly and wait until they dry. After that, you can start preparing.

Chopped peppers can be used in hot dishes such as soups, sauces and stews. Thin long slices are good for decorating pizza. It is also good to add them to fresh vegetable salads. To do this, speed up the defrosting a little by holding the pepper for a couple of minutes in hot water or steam. Do not defrost too long or the pepper pieces will become soft.

Video: freezing bell pepper in portions

Freezing whole fruits

Another convenient way to freeze peppers is without cutting, with whole fruits. It is desirable that they be the same size - so it is easier to store them later. But how large they should be, this is optional. Such peppers are used for stuffing, which is very convenient: when frozen, it is very convenient to “stuff” them with stuffing. It is even easier to freeze them immediately stuffed.

In principle, peppers can be frozen already stuffed.

In principle, if you have dried the peppers well, then you can immediately put them in pyramids, pack them in bags and freeze them. They then separate well without damage.
Some housewives recommend blanching fruits before freezing. Yes, the pulp from this will become more tender, and subsequently stuffed peppers will cook faster. But if you keep the fruits in boiling water for more than 1 minute, they will become too soft and freeze in the form of flat cakes.

Video: how to freeze bell pepper for stuffing

Freezing bell pepper reviews

Of course, you can fold the pepper lids randomly, but I make sure that later, when I defrost them, each lid fits its pepper, well, so as not to completely confuse it, so that when you stuff it, the “lid” is attached. I freeze in batches that are not very large, based on my saucepan, it is not very large, in practice 6 pieces fit. It is better to make varied portions, because you can make a saucepan at a time, or maybe a 5-liter saucepan.

JULY55555

I put peppers in a separate chamber from everything else!!! Pepper, even scalded, has a very strong aroma! And if you don’t want to eat fruit with pepper flavor in winter, pack it tightly either in a separate chamber or in a container with a tight lid!

iskrovaja

https://forum.say7.info/topic47186.html

Especially for freezing, I bought a large chest, as in stores. Now I can freeze large volumes of vegetables from the garden and you can see everything. I grind the peppers and freeze them whole. Such preparations are very helpful in the winter.

When the summer has already come to its logical conclusion, the question becomes relevant - how to save more fresh vegetables for future use in order to have tasty and healthy products in stock in winter?

One of the most common ways is to freeze vegetables. There are a number of nuances that must be observed in order to achieve the best result. Find out how to freeze bell pepper for the winter, how much and under what conditions to store it - our photo and video instructions will help with this.

frozen pepper recipe

Let's start with the simplest - freezing chopped vegetables. In this form, it is added to soups, all kinds of main dishes and even fresh salads.

This is interesting: In addition to sweet pepper, bitter pods can also be frozen for the winter. Hot peppers are frozen both whole and cut into cubes. You can also store it in the freezer.

Ingredients

Servings: - + 5

• Bulgarian pepper 500 g

per serving

Calories: 24 kcal

Proteins: 1.3 g

Fats: 0 g

Carbohydrates: 4.7 g

20 minutes. Video recipe Print

Rinse the peppers well under running water. Check each fruit for spoiled spots, cut them off if necessary. Remove the seed box and the rough baffles inside.

Lay the peppers out on a kitchen towel and let dry. In the freezer, you should put the vegetable without moisture so that an ice crust does not form.

Cut the peppers into strips or cubes and pack them into bags. Calculate the approximate amount needed to prepare one serving. Periodic defrosting adversely affects the beneficial properties of the vegetable.

Send the bags to the freezer. If your refrigerator has a shock freezing function, use it, but with the usual camera parameters, everything should work out fine.

Bulgarian frozen pepper recipe




For everyone, the most familiar option for stuffing peppers is filling them with minced rice and vegetables. Make a preparation of a Bulgarian dish that will amaze anyone with its taste palette and save time in the kitchen.

Servings: 2

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Energy value

• caloric content - 346.9 kcal;
• proteins - 21.3 g;
• fats - 24.7 g;
• carbohydrates - 10.2 g.

Ingredients

• sweet pepper - 2 pcs.;
• egg - 2 pcs.;
• minced meat (pork + beef) - 150 g;
• parsley, herbs - to taste;
• cheese (brynza) - 150 g;
• breadcrumbs - 150 g;
• flour - 100 g;
• salt - to taste;
• garlic cloves - 2 pcs.

Step by step cooking

1. First you need to remove the skin from the peppers. To do this correctly and not spoil the fruit, you can resort to the blanching method. We offer you a slightly different option - bake peppers. To do this, place the vegetables peeled from seeds on a baking sheet, grease them with a small amount of vegetable oil and bake for no longer than ¼ hour at 200 degrees.
2. At this time, grate the cheese with a coarse grater, add it to the minced meat (it is preferable to grind the meat yourself). There also add the garlic passed through the garlic press, 1 egg, salt and finely chopped greens. Mix the mince well.
3. Place the fried peppers in a regular plastic bag, tie it up and leave it in this state for a couple of minutes. Due to the hot steam inside, the skin will move away as if by magic. Remove skin.
4. Stuff the peppers with prepared minced meat, arrange on a kitchen board and send to the freezer. When the workpiece becomes hard enough from the effects of temperature, arrange the dish in bags. With the further use of the homemade semi-finished product, you will only have to roll the baked peppers in the egg, flour and breading, add the tomato sauce and simmer. You don’t need to start anything, just cook in a tomato.

This is interesting: choose red peppers for cooking. They, unlike green ones, have denser and fleshy walls and have a rich taste.

whole frozen pepper recipe

Many housewives love to please the household with stuffed peppers. In most cases, this dish is a vegetable stuffed with rice and meat stuffing, stewed in sauce. Festive snacks are also often prepared with pepper cut into circles. Unfortunately, in winter, not everyone can afford to buy peppers - the price tag increases significantly. There is an alternative - freeze the pepper yourself.

Servings: 5

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Energy value

• calorie content - 28 kcal;
• proteins -1 1.3 g;
• fats - 0 g;
• carbohydrates - 5.7 g.

Ingredients

• Bulgarian pepper - 500 g.

Step by step cooking

1. It does not matter in what form you freeze the pepper, in circles or whole - the procedure is identical in both cases. First of all, you need to wash and clean the pepper from the seeds. After - dry.
2. Now put the vegetables on a cutting board (its dimensions should match the size of the freezer) and refrigerate for 1.5 hours. During this time, the vegetable will seize from exposure to low temperatures and will not lose shape during subsequent storage.
3. Take out the frozen peppers, arrange them in bags and send them to a permanent storage place.

This is interesting: if you have prepared pepper slices for cooking hot dishes, then it is not necessary to defrost them first. But for stuffing it is still worth letting the vegetable thaw at room temperature.

Preparing vegetables for future use by freezing is the easiest way to preserve vitamins. Use these step-by-step instructions to delight your household with healthy food!