Looking at your latest bountiful harvest, you may realize that you need to learn how to freeze broccoli. This is a great problem to have! When your garden efforts pay off with a bumper crop, you can preserve your vegetables to enjoy year-round. There are several steps required to freeze broccoli, but it’s pretty easy. All you need is a good knife and cutting board, along with a large pot and a large bowl. In this article, you’ll read tips for harvesting broccoli, all you need to know to prep broccoli, and finally, how to freeze broccoli that you grew yourself.

Why freeze broccoli from the garden

Eating “local”—meaning from the garden—is an aspiration for many of us. While season-extension techniques, like floating row cover and cloches, can yield harvests through many months, sometimes you just want to eat more green vegetables in the dead of winter.

To me, this is the best reason to learn how to freeze broccoli. There are other reasons, too:

• Freezing excess homegrown vegetables reduces food waste and saves money on groceries.
• The time you invest now will pay off in casseroles, soups, stews, stir fries, and maybe even your favorite broccoli au gratin side dish over the winter.
• Frozen broccoli from the garden has traveled many fewer miles than frozen broccoli from the grocery store.
• Studies have even shown that the nutrient content of frozen broccoli is comparable to that of fresh broccoli.

Tips for harvesting broccoli for freezing

Time your broccoli harvest so you’re picking it at the peak of maturity. An essential piece of how to freeze broccoli for the best flavor and quality to is start with a fresh, quality harvest.

Here are a few tips:

• Depending on the broccoli variety, it will likely mature in 60 to 70 days. Mark your calendar, and start paying close attention to your broccoli plants around this time.
• You can freeze both the main broccoli head and the side shoots that grow after the main head has been harvested. For both, you want broccoli with solid green, densely packed buds. Once the broccoli head goes to flower, it’s too late to harvest.
• It’s best to start the freezing process within a couple of hours of harvest, but if you must keep the broccoli for a few hours or days, store the harvested vegetable in plastic bags in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.
• Discard any broccoli that shows signs of decay or mold.
• We have an article about when to harvest broccoli with more tips.

Preparing the broccoli for freezing

An important first step in how to freeze broccoli is to wash it. Even though it came straight from your own garden, you need to remove insects and contaminants that it may have come in contact with it. There are four steps:

1. Prepare a brine to remove insects and dirt that have taken up residence among the broccoli florets. This brine is simply 4 teaspoons of salt dissolved in 1 gallon of water.
2. Trim leaves and woody portions off of the broccoli heads and stalks. Split the heads into whatever size necessary for them to be immersed in the brine container.
3. Soak the broccoli in the brine for 30 minutes.
4. Rinse away the salt water and drain in a colander.

After washing the broccoli, it’s time to blanch it.

Why blanching broccoli is required prior to freezing it

Blanching broccoli—in the kitchen—quickly and partially cooks the vegetables to destroy the enzymes that continue the ripening process and could lead to changes in taste, texture, or color during freezer storage. Blanching can be achieved with boiling water or steam, followed by an ice bath.

Blanching broccoli step by step

There are five steps to blanching broccoli:

1. Cut the head so florets and stems are about 1 1/2 (about four centimetres) inches across.
2. Boil water in a large pot. Use one gallon of water per pound of broccoli. It’s okay to do this in batches, if you don’t have a large enough stock pot.
3. When the water reaches a rolling boil, submerge the broccoli. Let the water come back to a boil, and set a timer so the broccoli remains submerged for three minutes at low altitude, four minutes at 5,000 feet and above.
4. Remove the broccoli from the boiling water and immediately submerge it in an ice bath in a large bowl. The cold water stops the cooking process and keeps the broccoli crisp. A steamer basket makes this step easy, but you can also do this using a slotted spoon. Leave the broccoli in the ice bath for as long as you had it in the boiling water.
5. Drain the blanched broccoli well.

How to freeze broccoli in portioned bags

There are two ways to freeze broccoli: in portioned bags or as individual pieces on a sheet pan. How to freeze broccoli is up to you. There are pros and cons to each.

To freeze broccoli in portioned bags, measure out your desired amount. This requires a little bit of planning for future meals. Do you typically use one cup, one pint, or one quart for your favorite recipes? For reference, you can expect to pack about two pounds of broccoli into a quart bag or container. Freeze the portions in the quantity you think you’ll need in freezer bags or containers. In the future, when you’re ready to cook with your frozen broccoli, you can just grab the properly sized bag from the freezer and get cooking.

From here, there are just a few steps:

1. After blanching, pack the broccoli tightly into the bag.
2. Be sure the seal is free of moisture and food bits.
3. Remove as much air as possible from the bag to minimize freezer burn, and seal the bag.
4. Label and date the package.

How to freeze broccoli on sheet pans

The other way to freeze broccoli is as individual pieces on sheet pans. This requires a few more steps than freezing in portioned bags, but allows more flexibility at cooking time.

Here are your steps for freezing on sheet pans:

1. After draining the broccoli from the ice water, pat florets dry with paper towels.
2. Spread out broccoli pieces on a baking sheet in a single layer.
3. Place the tray in the freezer for two to three hours, until the broccoli pieces are frozen.
4. Remove the frozen pieces from the tray, and put them in a freezer-safe bag or container. Work quickly—you don’t want them to thaw.
5. Remove as much air as possible from the bag to reduce the chance of freezer burn, and seal it.
6. Label and date the package.

When you’re ready to cook with this broccoli, you can measure out the amount that you need according to your recipe and return the bag to the freezer.

How long does frozen broccoli last?

Broccoli that’s frozen properly should maintain high quality for 12 to 18 months, if kept in a deep freezer. Expect slightly less quality or longevity if kept in the freezer compartment of a fridge-freezer combo. Also keep in mind that the best-quality frozen broccoli comes from the best-quality fresh broccoli.

As you’re considering how much broccoli to plant next season, think about all the possibilities that come with having a freezer bags of it. You can’t plant too much once you’ve learned how to freeze broccoli. The homegrown flavor in a mixed-vegetable roast straight from the oven is a winner year-round.

While there are a number of steps in the broccoli-freezing process, they’re relatively easy and quick to complete. Clean and prep your broccoli, blanch it, and package it for the freezer. Your challenge now is how to be smart about your freezer space. Between your frozen broccoli, green beans, kale, and squash, you’ll probably need more room soon.

Freezing other vegetables, fruits, and herbs

Here are some further tips on freezing:

• Kale
• Green beans
• Squash
• Berries
• Basil
• Herbs