The other day, a friend gave me a bunch of peppers. She had used what she wanted and couldn’t use anymore. I thought surely I would use them before they went bad. Well after 2 days I realized I probably wasn’t going to use them all before they went bad. So what do you do with lots of extra peppers?? Freeze them! Peppers freeze amazingly well and then you will have pre-cut peppers to add to omelets, fajitas, soup, spaghetti sauce, salsa, enchiladas, meat pies, and lots of other yummy dishes. You can also freeze whole peppers and they hold up great for stuffed peppers. Our tutorial on how to freeze peppers is so simple you will want to freeze all your peppers!
First, rinse your peppers well, and dry them. I had Anaheim and mini sweet peppers.
Next – and this is important – put GLOVES on! When I cut these peppers, I thought to myself – ‘Self – these variety of peppers aren’t hot so I don’t need gloves’. Not smart. My hands were literally burning the rest of the day. After your gloves are nicely secure (I just use disposable latex gloves) seed and chop your peppers to desired size. The Anaheims I cut into strips for fajitas, and the mini sweet peppers I chopped for omelets.
Put in a Ziploc bag, or Foodsaver – then freeze. Simple. It will save you so much time during meal prep.
If you are wanting to freeze whole peppers:
- rinse the pepper
- cut the top off and remove the seeds.
- place on a baking sheet to flash freeze
- once frozen, transfer to an airtight container and freeze
These peppers can be frozen anywhere from 8-12 months ( at 0 degrees F) depending on how you package them. If you get most the air out they will last longer. Your peppers will still be safe to eat after this time period, but will be lower in quality. I have peppers frozen from my garden last summer that I am still using. So what are you waiting for? Ready, set, freeze!
Thanks! This is so timely as I just bought a huge bag of the sweet/hot peppers myself. Doing this tonight!
I tried this last year with green peppers from the farmers market. I had read that you should blanch them first to kill the enzymes, otherwise they will continue to break down, even when freezing. But I didn’t, I chopped them up and vacuum sealed them. The result: when I thawed the peppers they smelled rotten right in the bag. This year I will heed the advice and blanch them. Have you had any issues like that with chills?
I have never had issues with that and have frozen a lot of peppers of all varieties. The blanching method is recommended for peppers you plan on using in cooked dishes, as it will soften them and they will lose their crispness. If the other method didn’t work for you then definitely try the blanching method! Also, I have read that some people just freeze the entire pepper as is. I have never tried it myself, but maybe that would help solve your problem! The review was that it keeps the pepper fresher and it is easy to chop when partially frozen. Good luck!