How to Freeze Brussels Sprouts

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If you recently harvested brussels sprouts from your garden or got a lot of them on sale at the grocery store, you may be wondering how you’re going to eat them all before they go bad. Luckily, you can store your brussels sprouts in the freezer for up to a year so you have plenty of time to enjoy them.

If you want your brussels sprouts to keep their flavor and nutritional value for longer, blanch them before stashing them in the freezer.

Before you freeze your brussels sprouts, take them off the stalk and soak them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes to clean them. Then, put the brussels sprouts in sealable plastic freezer bags and press out any excess air with your hands before closing them. Write the date on the bags in permanent marker and place them in the freezer. Store the brussels sprouts for up to 12 months. To learn how to blanch your brussels sprouts before you freeze them, scroll down!

1 Take the brussels sprouts off the stalk. If they’re already off of the stalk, you can skip this step. Otherwise, grab the individual sprouts and pull them away from the stalk until they snap off. Once all the sprouts are off, dispose of the stalk.^[1]
2 Soak the brussels sprouts in warm water for 10 minutes. Soaking the brussels sprouts in warm water is an easy way to clean them before storing them in the freezer. The water will wash out any dirt or particles underneath the leaves on the sprouts.^[2]
3 Rinse the brussels sprouts with fresh water and then pat them dry. Use a dishcloth to carefully dry each of the sprouts.
It’s important that they’re completely dry before you store them in the freezer or ice crystals could form on them.^[3]
Place the brussels sprouts in sealable plastic freezer bags.
4 Depending on how many brussels sprouts you have, you may need to use several bags. Once the bags are full, press out any excess air with your hands and seal the bags.^[4]
- You can also make it so each freezer bag has 1 serving of brussels sprouts in it. Then, when you’re ready to cook, you can grab a bag and not have to worry about doing any measuring.
5 Write the date on each bag with permanent marker. Writing the date on the bags will save you the trouble of having to remember how long the brussels sprouts have been in the freezer. You can also write the…