How to freeze Green Peas/Frozen Peas

Freezing Peas at home or Frozen peas is a great way to store the fresh seasonal winter peas and keep them on hand to add in your favourite recipes.

In in winters fresh green peas are available in abundance, freezing is a convenient option to use all the year round. Freeze the peas with blanching method (long use) or without blanching (short term) with detailed step by step method.

About the post

A bag of frozen peas comes handy to use in your favourite recipe all round the year when fresh stock is not available especially in summers

Peas are highly perishable, fresh unshelled peas can be stored for about a 1-2 weeks in refrigerator. Peas with shell can rot quickly if kept for long at room temperature for a week or in refrigerator for more than 3 weeks. Shelled peas when stored properly can be stored for long durations up to an year even at home in freezer.

Freezing peas is a very effective way that helps to maintain the quality and freshness of peas.

Nutritional benefits of Peas

Green Peas are an excellent source of protein. It is rich in fibre, vitamins like E, C and minerals like zinc and magnesium. Peas are known to be rich in iron which supports the growth of red blood cells in body.

It has low glycemic index and has high fibre content and may support low blood sugar balance. It is also known to support heart health and the antioxidant level helps prevent the growth cancerous cells in body.

Why to preserve peas/freeze peas at home

Freezing peas is more budget friendly way than using the store bought bag of peas.

We can use high quality peas as we never know what quality peas are used in the store bought packs.

Prepare peas before freezing

Before storing peas you need to wash peas very nicely. To freeze English peas, shell it, as the shell is quite hard. For Snow peas you can wash, dry and freeze it directly.

How to shell English peas

In India we get English peas variety. And most of us can relate to how we used to shell peas with our siblings during winters. The easiest way to shell peas is to take the straight side down, pop the end where the curve of the shell is with your thumb. This opens up the shell/pod and you can easily take out the peas.

How to preserve/freeze peas with blanching method

• To blanch peas, wash the peas nicely, boil enough water in a pot and keep another bowl of chilled water/ water with ice cubes.
• When the water starts boiling, add the peas to it and let it be in hot water for about 1-2 mins.
• Then take out the peas from boiling water and directly drop in the chilled water with ice cubes.
• Let the peas sit in chilled water for another 2-3 mins. then drain the peas and keep it on a colander till extra water drains. This will take 2-3 mins.

• Then transfer the peas on a tray lined with a kitchen towel and dry peas completely. You can lightly rub the peas with kitchen towel, so that it soaks any extra water on peas. This way the frozen peas won't stick to each other and you will have a batch better than store bought ones frozen peas in much lower cost.
• Then transfer to zip lock bags or mini containers in which you want to store peas and freeze. Use as and when required.

Why blanch peas

Blanching peas is an effective way to store peas for a long time (upto a year).

It locks in the flavour and nutrients. Also, blanching helps to retain the bright green color of peas.

It also inactivates an enzyme which can speed up the microbial/bacterial infection and thus we can store peas for long durations.

Can we freeze peas without blanching

You can also freeze/store peas without blanching but the peas stay good for only 2-3 months.

Also, when peas are stored without blanching, they start to lose the color, flavour and texture as the aging enzyme is not deactivated and keeps on working on shelled peas.

So, you if you want to enjoy your favourite dishes using frozen peas without losing on the flavour then do this extra step of blanching the peas. It won't take much of your time.

How to cook Frozen Peas

A bagful of frozen peas always comes handy, especially when cooking in jiffy. Peas can be added to your favourite rice dishes like pulao, paratha, curries, stir frys and so many more ways.

To cook frozen peas (store bought) take out and keep the peas in cold water to wash out any impurities if there are any. Rinse and add to your favourite dishes.

Home frozen peas can be directly added to curries as we have cleaned it properly though you can always give one rinse and add to curries.

For stir fry frozen peas, add frozen peas in a pan, add butter/oil, stir fry for few minutes till peas are soft, add seasonings and salt, saute for few seconds again and serve. Do not add salt and seasonings in the beginning as the herbs/spices may burn. Also, adding salt while cooking can take out the flavour from peas. Add a pinch of sugar to enhance the flavour of sweet peas.

Recipes with Peas that you will love to try from my blog

No Onion No Garlic Matar Paneer, Matar Ki Kachori, Matar Mushroom, Fresh Mint and Peas Pulao, Aloo Matar ki Tehri, Matar ki Ghugni, Matar Nimona, Vegetable Pulao,

Some other related post for ingredients that can be used in cooking

So when the peas whenever you have extra bag of peas from vegetable vendor/farmer's market or have a big produce in your kitchen garden, do freeze the peas to enjoy the fresh flavours all round the year.

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Swati