Want to spend less time freezing the season’s green beans and have a better texture after freezing? Then follow my steps to freeze green beans – without blanching first.
Yes, I know everything you read says the “proper” way to freeze beans is to blanch first (immerse in boiling water for about 30 seconds, then plunge into an ice bath). Yes, I know there’s supposed to be an enzyme that will make the beans break down in the freezer if you store them without blanching.
However, I did a little test last year. And I’d like to challenge you to do the same test and see what you think.
Our family used to eat canned green beans. That’s how I grew up and so I never liked the rubbery texture of frozen beans. When I started growing beans, I pickled them and even learned to pressure can, just so I could can green beans. But then we had a child – a picky child – who decided she didn’t like canned green beans anymore, but who would eat them if they were frozen or fresh. Since beans were one of only three vegetables she would eat, guess who started freezing beans?
Except I still didn’t like that texture (or the weird squeaking sound they can make as you chew…). So last summer I did some research. I found mostly the recommendation to blanch, of course, but I also found two rebel souls on gardening forums who said they didn’t blanch their beans and they came out “perfect.”
What, really? I had to try it.
I chopped up the beans like I normally did, but then I put them directly into freezer bags.
And then I used my straw “vacuum sealer” trick to remove as much air as I could from the baggie before sealing and freezing. I froze the bag for two weeks and then served them for dinner – which wasn’t easy when fresh beans were still available, that’s for sure.
The verdict?
We couldn’t tell a difference from beans that had been blanched. I thought the texture was a little better, too. BUT – maybe it was because it had only been two weeks. Maybe that enzyme takes longer to start breaking the beans down.
So, I froze ALL our remaining beans that way. Yep – I didn’t blanch any beans last year at all. But I waited to tell you about it until I knew that they could be frozen for longer than two weeks. I needed to know if they’d last a whole year and hold up like blanched beans. And guess what?
They are just as good – if not better – than green beans we took the time to blanch in the past.
The texture seems better – and my family agrees with me. Really. This year I’ve already put up 8 quart bags of beans – in about an hour. It certainly goes quick when there’s no blanching involved.
So my challenge? Be a rebel like me – try it and tell me if you think so, too.
This is linked to Saturday Nite Special.
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
Non -blancher here too ! Did some last year and they were just like fresh. More are going straight in the freezer this year !
Great to know there are some others out there, too!
Jami-
Hi there! I am new this year to all the freezing of fresh vegetables! This maybe a silly question to you, but once you pull your geen beans out of the freezer- what time frame do you need to cook them on the stove before enjoying??
thanks!
Reading through all these posts has been an inspiration!! I am excited!!
Linda
I’d recommend you cook them as you like them – some like them more done than others. Frozen just aren’t the same as fresh to me – so we tend to cook a bit longer (and I often add them to soups) – 8 to 10 minutes, depending (fresh is usually 5-8 minutes for us). Hope that helps
Oh, this post is so timely for us! We have a BUNCH of green beans to “process” today and I was really dreading the whole blanching/icing process. I’ve done the peas this way and they are GREAT! We will join your rebellion.
Yeah!
Ooh, I’ll have to try it with peas, too – if we ever get enough to be able to freeze, that is!
I always grow lots of peas and just fill freezer bags to the top and seal without sucking out the air with no problems,corn cobs I use the straw method because you have so much air space. Have been blanching beans but will now try the no blanch method, so much easier. Aussie Ian.
Thank you for sharing, Jami! I’ve thought of trying this method myself but never did because, as you know, frozen beans “must” be blanched. I’m one to follow the rules, but seeing that you’re giving us permission, I’m planning to break the blanching rule this very afternoon because my bean vines are ready for picking! Blessings, ~Lisa
We’re rebels, that’s for sure.
You have made me SO happy! First year freezing fresh green beans and I did not blanch them – after I had already frozen them, I read the articles on blanching…OOPSIE! Have you tried this with broccoli as well? I have 3 frozen bags right now that were not blanched either. Guess I will find out
Haven’t tried it with broccoli – but now that you mention it, I will! Can’t hurt to try, can it?
What variety of green beans do you grow? I’m not happy with the ones I have grown for the past couple of years. Thanks!
My main crop green beans are Emerite. They are not widely grown, but I wrote all about why I love them and have grown them every year for more than 10 years here. They are a pole bean, so I start the season with a small crop of bush beans, which produce quicker – by the time they are done, the Emerite’s are in full production. This year I’m also growing a filet pole bean called “Fortex” which is extremely long.
I find if I stick to beans labeled “filet” then they tend to be more flavorful and tender than the regular types. Hope that helps!
Hi Jami,
Last year I did a bunch of my beans frozen too. I also grew up on home canned green beans (huge difference from the store-canned, I won’t eat those), but I wanted to see if frozen were all they were cracked up to be. I didn’t blanch and I “vacuum sealed” using the same method you did.
But these beans are flavorless!! I did some canned as well, and they taste just fine, but the frozen ones have a great texture, but no flavor! I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on why that might be? Especially since the canned ones are just fine.
I think the variety that we used last year were Kentucky Blue bush beans. That was the main difference from previous years, we used bush beans instead of pole beans.
Thanks for your post! I’m willing to give it another try…
Chrissy
Hm, Chrissy – that’s interesting! I don’t know, really. I guess we have to do what we prefer? I can’t get past the texture to tell the flavor, so having a good texture is my priority.
I always grow tender filet beans, though – I wonder if that would make a difference?
I have a terrible time with ice crystals forming on the food inside the bags, Even things I buy frozen at the store. Does anyone know what causes this and how to prevent it??
I get that to some degree, Carolyn – especially the longer the things are in the freezer. I do know it’s from air inside the bags, that’s why people buy the vacuum sealers. It’s not horrible enough for me to add that expense to our garden produce, though, so I use a straw to try and get out as much as I can.
Can’t wait to try this – I always thought it was such a pain to blanch. I love that you do my “straw” method too – didn’t know it was so common! LOL
Great minds and all that, Susan.
Really? I was just getting ready to blanch a bunch. I use canning jars to freeze my stuff…will that make a difference at all with not blanching?
That was my job in 1968 when I was 5 years old. I never new people blanched them. I scooted on my back side, row after row, and picked the beans. Once home, I stood on a chair and washed and snapped all the beans. Then put them in freezer bags, squished the air out, popped them in the freezer then went outside to play. It was called being a kid then. Today, I think the call it a chore and give an allowance for it – ha! Love your blog – your pesto is AWESOME!
Seriously – 5? Wow – good for you! What a great memory – and good to know non-blanching goes back aways, too!
Nice to know! I generally don’t like that weird squeakiness of frozen green beans either and blanching is certainly a pain in the nether side. Unfortunately, a complete failure of all bean crops here — the heat, the drought, the warm winter thus strange fungi wintering over in the ground. I’ve tried 3 different plantings, both pole and bush, including tough old Rattlesnake beans (usually a completely failsafe regional heirloom to no avail). The garden is so pitiful I’m embarrassed to join the garden party. Even our CSA doesn’t have any beans. sigh.
If this was the 1800′s we’d all have to be picking up from Tennessee and heading west on the Oregon Trail.
Oh, man – that’s tough. I would be SUPER sad without green beans – we WAIT all year for them (along with corn and tomatoes). So sorry.
I also don’t blanch my beans! Great post.
Thanks for the tip about the straw. I will be trying that on my next bag of frozen veggies..
That’s how I’ve done it too…. nice to have you tell me it’s ok. hehe
That’s how I freeze my snap peas too. Then I can just pop a bag into my stir fry. Yummy!
Good to know, Rachel – I’ve only tried freezing snap peas once and was not impressed with the limpy results – and of course I followed the advice to blanch first.
Next time I get enough snaps I’ll have to try it!
Thanks for the tip- I have always blanched, but I put up four quarts today just like you showed. It’s great because I always put the job off until I have more beans or more time (which doesn’t usually happen
)
Hmmm…I have a huge batch of green beans to freeze today. Thanks so much for just saving me a TON of time! And for helping keep my kitchen cool!
LOL I too picked and snapped beans at 5 but my Auntie would not allow us in the kitchen to process the garden goodies, I shelled bushels of blackeyed peas, and snapped tons of green beans also on our list were pintos, corn, squash, tomatoes, zucchini, and eggs to freeze. We were given prizes for shelling or snapping the most beans or peas. We also picked up pecans, potatoes, etc on the halves!!
My how things have changed, huh, Gloria.
Someone told me instead of using freezer bags they used pillow cases. do you know which way would be best.
When air can get to the item it will cause ‘freeezer burn’; which is probably much closer a very slow freeze drying that has not penetrated very deep, plus where fats are involved it can go rancid. Fat does not freeze at the temps that water does. So the usual process of getting as much air out of the air tight freezer bag is the best goal for long term storage. The only way I could imagine one would be happy with beans stored that way; would be to have extra water applied to the surface of the frozen beans and bag to help keep the coldness dried dry air at bay.
Hi Jami,
I was in search of some ideas about freezing green beans other than the way I’ve always done them and I ran up on your website. I was so glad to find out that others are not blanching their fresh green beans and are having a success at keeping them for over the winter. My father taught me to garden years ago and all our family in the country had huge gardens so fresh vegetables are really all I’ve ever known. I guess some people would call it just lazy but I have never blanched any of my fresh vegetables and I freeze everything in sealed freezer bags. I call it “cold packing” as my father did. All I do is pick, shell or snap, wash well and let dry a bit on paper towels to eleminate excess water. Then pop them in the bags and seal. I haven’t tried your straw method but I will tomorrow morning !! I’ve always just pressed the air out as best I could. I also do not add water to any of my vegetables when freezing them and have found this to be an excellent procedure since they’re just like fresh when I cook them. Here in S.C. we tend to garden year round so thanks so much for sharing your tips with all of us.
This is good to know, Kathryn – I was just wondering if it would work with broccoli because it’s always so limp and wimpy after blanching and freezing (at least my home-grown side shoot spears are!). Have you tried the no-blanch method with broccoli?
Hi Jami,
No I haven’t tried broccoli. In fact I have had no success what so ever even growing broccoli. I’m not sure if it is just me or the rabbits are doing double time on it but I will, as usual, plant it again this year. If I do have any success I will try to freeze some. I don’t know why it wouldn’t work since the frozen broccoli you buy in the grocery store seems to be just “cold packed” without blanching. I was also wondering about cauliflower & how well it might freeze without blanching. Have you done any of it? I put up 8 more qts. of green beans today, 4 each of Kentucky Wonders and Jades. Tomorrow I will pick the 5th crop of the Roma II”s. and put them up as well. I really want to try the green beans you said were your favorite, the Emerites. Do you order them online or do you buy them locally? I’ve never heard of them but really am interested in trying them. Sorry I could not help with the broccoli quesstion now but maybe with any luck I will be able to over the winter. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with us.
Kathryn Thigpen
So sorry you haven’t been able to grow broccoli! For me it’s the plant that keeps giving all season when I plant varieties with lots of side shoots. I’ll give the no-blanch method a try with a quart to see how they fare.
I’ve never actually tried to freeze my own cauliflower – ever, now that I think about it.
It lasts so long in the fridge that we’re always able to eat fresh what we grow. So I don’t know about cauliflower, either.
Wow, you’re still getting all those beans? The other varieties I planted stopped producing a few weeks ago, but the Emerites are on their 2nd wind and giving us enough to eat, though probably only enough for 1 more quart frozen. I wrote about Emerite beans (I think I linked to the post in a comment above – or you can use the search box in the green bar) and linked to the online sources where I’ve found them.
I stumbled on another blog a few days ago that said broccoli and carrots could be frozen without blanching, so we tried it. Haven’t pulled any out to test yet, so I can’t report on them, but we got a pound of freshly picked green beans today and I’m glad to see I can freeze them also!
I prefer my beans sliced super thin (the French cut-way). Do you think I should do that before freezing and would that impact the flavor later?
Chris
Oh yeah Chris, you’ll want to do that before freezing. While I feel they retain a better texture without blanching, they’re still not like fresh. They’d be hard to cut.
Good to know about the broccoli – I threw a couple of quart bags in when I had an abundance of broccoli a few weeks ago, so I’ll find out in the next few months if we like it or not.
Hi all,
Googled “do I have to blanch before freezing” and found this site. It seems many people who’ve frozen without blanching report good results, but I read on one of the pro-blanching sites that vitamins are severely affected if frozen fresh. They said that after 9 months or so, blanched green beans retained 1,300% more vitamin C than non-blanched!
So, while maybe the veggies taste ok, maybe they aren’t delivering the same health benefits as the pre-blanched. That’s scary!
Thoughts?
Hmmm, this is interesting, DeeDee. Here’s my thoughts: I don’t usually have enough beans to freeze to last 9 months (ours usually last only 6) and the biggest: we weren’t eating them when I blanched, so the vitamins weren’t doing us any good in the compost.
And we’re not only eating green beans to get our vitamin C (or other vitamins) – during the winter we eat a lot of kale and spinach which have a lot of vitamin C.
But if this is bothersome, by all means blanch-away. We don’t all have to do the same thing.
Thanks for the info!
Thanks SO much for this site. I just got 15 lbs of Italian green beans from Market On the Move (M.O.M) – along with various other veggies in smaller quantities – and wasn’t sure what to do with that many beans since we’re only a family of 3, so could never eat that many fresh before they went bad. I’ve tried blanching and freezing other veggies, such as carrots, broccoli and brussels sprouts with less than stellar results despite all the hard work. I am hoping this no-blanch method will result in fresher tasting beans with little work.
stove top method for cooking blanched beans would u put them in cold water to cook or drop them into boiling water some times i use microwave but never taste the same because i follow the old school my mother told me to put a pinch of carb soda
My Mother used to blanch all her veggies before freezing them, but now that she is 92 (God bless her heart ) she has forgotten how to do it. So I am very thankful that I can freeze green beans without having to go through the blanching thing. thanks
Hi, I’m about to freeze some green beans tonight. I noticed that yours had been cut up before you froze them. Is this necessary? I really like to serve beans whole where possible. Do you think cutting them up makes them freeze better?
I don’t think cutting makes them freeze better, but the texture is not the same, so I don’t use whole frozen beans. I like to have them cut to add to recipes. Go ahead and leave them whole and see if that works for you!
Can’t wait to try this when I harvest beans this summer. Do you think it would work with carrots?
I haven’t tried – but if you do, let us know.
Jamie your unblanched green beans are great
My Mom always did her beans like this ( no blanching) she did not wash them before she put them in the freezer. Do you wash them first. I believe this is why she never had frost on her beans. They came out of the freezer the way they went in. We did not have running water we hauled our water so it was a cherished souce. So not washing until they came out. We have just picked our first bunch for the freezer and are excited.