Mashed potatoes are an easy way to enhance your lunch or your dinner – they are creamy, delicious and nutritious – what better combination than this one? Usually, we make one big batch for the whole family, because they are just so good and rarely do we have to keep them as a leftover in the fridge.
As delicious as they can be, however they are a bit time consuming to make and this can prevent you from making them after a long day at work. But for all dedicated mashed potatoes enthusiasts – we have found a way to make your life easier – freezing and reheating mashed potatoes!
We all know that there is a risk for the food to lose some of its qualities during these two processes, although for a dish, as forgiving as this one, it is worth to try it out!
So on to the question – can you freeze mashed potatoes – yes you can! We will tell you more about our tips and tricks on how to freeze your mashed potatoes and even on how to reheat them in such a way so they do not get gloopy at the end.
Freezing mashed potatoes
In portions
If you made several portions of mashed potatoes, you can easily freeze them by spreading them over a tray, lined with baking paper. Cover the whole tray with plastic wrap and freeze it like this.
When you are ready to thaw it, you can put it in the oven on low heat for about 1 hour. The faster you defrost them, however, the higher the chance of them getting gloopy, so make sure to monitor them and at the 30-40 minute mark, you can spray some olive oil on top of them for extra moisture.
You can freeze mashed potatoes for up to six months, which is definitely going to save you time if you are constantly on a tight schedule, another way to thaw them will be to leave them in the fridge overnight – this option will lower the chances of them getting soggy because of the slow change in temperature.
You can freeze any type of mashed potatoes – seasoned or not and you can experiment with a different method of defrosting as well.
In plastic bag
If you have just a small leftover potion, you can transfer it in a leak-proof bag, seal it and freeze it like this. Whenever you are ready to serve it you can thaw it in the fridge – again overnight, or in warm water, under the tap, or even using the sous vide method.
In a cupcake tray
A different way to freeze mashed potatoes will be in cupcake trays. If you are going to have guests during the weekend and are looking for something interesting to serve, you can combine your pre-cooked mashed potatoes with chopped bacon, grated cheddar cheese and chives.
Fill about ¾ of the cupcake tray with the mix and freeze it. When you want, you can get the frozen mashed potatoes out of the cupcake form, soak them in an egg mixture and them cover them with flour and cornstarch. Fry them for about 3-5 minutes and serve hot.
They will be the perfect little appetizer.
On a baking tray
If you are not sure how many portions you will need, you can always cover a baking tray with some plastic foil or parchment paper and spread all of your mashed potatoes with roughly the same thickness overall. This is an important step before the freezing as it ensures that once you are ready to defrost them, it will happen evenly.
Cover the whole tray with plastic wrap as well so you can avoid having your mashed potatoes infused with the other scents from the fridge or forming an icy coat, which can happen if the temperature of your freezer has not been carefully regulated.
To Summarise It
Depending on how you will serve your mashed potatoes, once thawed there are different ways to freeze them – in pre-set portions, in a plastic bag for a quick meal or in cupcake tray for a fun appetizer.
A good tip will be to get your mashed potatoes to room temperature if they were hot and only after that in the fridge. Once they have cooled, you can freeze them. Because of the moisture in the potatoes, you do not want to change their internal temperature too rapidly, instead, in order to avoid them getting gloopy and soggy, it will be best if you try to gradually bring down the temperature, before freezing them. In this way, the water molecules that will expand will cause the least damage to the starchy cells.
We hope you enjoyed our article on how to freeze mashed potatoes and we trust that now you will feel more prepared for every situation that will require for you to serve a delicious portion of this classic, easy to prepare meal!
