Cold weather is soon to be upon us here in Maine. We've had a few good frosts already, and I expect that within the next week or so we'll get a "killing frost" - which will be the fat lady's song for the few tomatoes and squash vines hanging on in the garden. My zucchini plants have given me one last hurrah over the last week or two, so I found myself with one more good pile of zucchini to squirrel away before the real cold hits us.
I've found that my favorite way of using zucchini in the winter is in our baking. We LOVE our zucchini breads and muffins around here. So I like to save the bulk of our zucchini by freezing it, already shredded, in convenient one-cup portions. Since most of the zucchini recipes I use call for either one or two cups of zucchini, it makes it really easy to just grab the number of one-cup portions that I need for baking day. Here's how I go about it.
Both the food processor and the shredding attachment on my Kitchen Aid work well for this task. I find that I really don't have a preference, and simply opt for whichever one isn't in the dishwasher at the moment. In today's case, that was the Kitchen Aid.
While I usually try to stay on top of the zucchini harvest and use them while they're on the small side, they do occasionally get away from me. If you have a giant baseball bat of a zucchini, you'll definitely want to carve out the seeds, which will be getting large. You'll also want to trim away the skin, since it gets pretty tough on those big monsters.
Once it's all shredded up, let it sit in a big colander over a bowl or sink, for about half an hour. I find it it makes a substantial difference in the quality of my baked goods to let the zucchini drain out some of that excess moisture before freezing it.
Then, using a one-cup measure, just portion it out into freezer bags. I use a vacuum sealer to seal the bags. For long-term storage (3 months or more), I do feel that vacuum sealing makes a difference in preserving quality.
Once upon a time, I used to dutifully blanch zucchini before freezing it. However, I did a taste test last winter using frozen zucchini that had been blanched, alongside some that had simply been shredded and frozen. Honestly - I preferred the batch that had not been blanched. Hallelujah! That's one less step to bother with, and these days, any time-saver is a godsend!
To use the zucchini in baking, I pull a bag or two out of the freezer the night before I plan to make up a batch of muffins or bread. It thaws nicely overnight in the fridge. In the morning, it's ready to go!
That photo on the right is of muffins and bread made from Danielle Walker's zucchini bread recipe, over at Againstallgrain.com. Do you have a favorite recipe that calls for shredded zucchini? Leave me a link in the comments!
Christine says
I froze zucchini following your instructions. This morning, I made a batch of zucchini muffins with a bag of thawed zucchini. The muffins turned out great! Thanks for sharing this method!
Anna says
Oooh, zucchini muffins!! My favorite! So glad to hear it worked well for you, and thanks so much for the kind comment!!
Ashlee says
How do you manage to seal it? Even with draining it my vacuum sealer pulls so much moisture from the zucchini that it messes up the seal.
Anna says
Hi Ashlee! That can totally be a problem with the vacuum sealers that aren't made to handle moisture - mine included! If I'm having a hard time getting a good seal, I fill the bags then freeze them unsealed. As soon as they're frozen, the moisture isn't an issue, and I go ahead and seal them all, then pop them back in the freezer. So far when using them, I haven't been able to notice any difference in quality between the batches that were sealed before being frozen and those that were sealed after. I hope that helps!!
shirley krause says
I do freeze our zucchini and measure it into 2 cup and freeze. My problem is when you defrost it, do you drain it or squeeze out the liquid?? I keep trying to adjust my recipes but have not come up with a good recipe.
Anna says
Hi Shirley! What I do is let it sit and drain for a bit before freezing, and then you're right - after freezing there still is some excess liquid. I find I get best results by snipping off the corner of the freezer bag and pouring off and discarding about half of the liquid. If I pour off every last bit, I generally find my recipes end up too dry. Hope this helps!!
Jennifer says
I agree with the no blanching! I got 'lazy' last year and decided I was just going to make ' noodles' out of my zucchini and freeze them right away.. I didn't have time to blanch them. To my surprise, they came out of the freezer wonderfully! They were almost crispy. I thought for sure they would be a soggy mess, but no, just like the day I put them in there! Soo much faster this way! I have an abundance this year and am going to freeze the 2 cup shreds for easy recipe grabs.. what a great idea! Thank you!
Donna says
Thanks! I was wondering about the necessity of blanching!
Anna says
I'm so glad this could help Donna! Happy freezing!! = )
margaret gurney says
I never blanche my shredded zucchini and it is totally fine. Add to soups etc.
Karen Merhalski says
Wow! Thanks Anna, for the wonderful hints and ideas! I especially love the one cup freezer bags of zucchini as easy measuring for baking!