Poblano peppers are delicious, full of rich green color and can vary from mildly spicy to a decent kick to them. Learn how to freeze poblano peppers at the peak of freshness to preserve them for months to come!
August and September are a busy time in the kitchen as far as canning, dehydrating, freezing, and otherwise preserving all of the best produce that summer has to offer. I recently had a pepper preservation day in my kitchen. This day was spent dehydrating jalapenos, freezing jalapenos, and of course, freezing poblanos. When I have sweet corn, I make sure to freeze sweet corn for later, as well.
Freezing peppers is so easy, there's little to no prep work involved. All you have to do is decide if you want to leave your peppers whole, sliced, or diced! For this round, I left some whole, some sliced in half lengthwise, and some diced (perfect for soups)!
Do you need to blanch poblanos before freezing?
No, you don't. The skin is relatively thin and is almost always kept on in recipes. I find blanching them to be an unnecessary extra step.
If you need to blanch peppers for some reason, these instructions for how to blanch tomatoes will get you pretty close to what to do.
Can you freeze roasted poblano peppers?
Yes, you can. And you will thank yourself for doing it! Certainly not a necessary step, but roasting poblanos before freezing them is a great way to give them extra flavor and helps you complete an additional step of prep work ahead of time. They can be frozen whole or diced.
After roasting, allow to cool completely. Place roasted poblanos on a baking sheet in a single layer and freeze for 1 hour. Then place into freezer bags, seal, and place back into the freezer until you are ready to use them. It may be a good idea to label the bag with a sharpie!
Supplies
- fresh poblano peppers
- sharp knife
- cutting board
- baking tray
- freezer bags
How to freeze poblano peppers
Wash peppers to remove any dirt or debris and dry peppers thoroughly.
Decide how you want them prepared. I like to do a variety of shapes and sizes.
If leaving whole, place on baking tray.
If halving, slice lengthwise with a sharp knife. Use your hands to remove stem and seeds. Place halves on baking tray.
If dicing, do the steps above and then slice into strips and dice into evenly sized pieces and then place on a baking tray.
Place tray into freezer and freeze peppers for 1 hour.
Remove frozen peppers from the tray and place poblano peppers whole, halved, or diced into freezer baggies. Remove as much air as possible, seal the bags, and store poblano peppers in the freezer for up to 1 year.
Best way to avoid freezer burn
The best way to avoid freezer burn is to get as much moisture off of the peppers as possible, and seal the bags or containers very tightly.
Freezer burn is caused by air getting into your storage containers and freezing any water crystals it finds. Patting the peppers completely dry with a paper towel and then sealing the storage bags with as much air squeezed out as possible, is the best way to avoid freezer burn.
Recipes to make with poblanos
Now that you have all of your harvest saved and your fridge full of delicious, slightly spicy poblano peppers, you may be wondering what to use them in. Here are some of my favorites!
- chicken stuffed poblano peppers
- Instant Pot chicken and poblano soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup (sub in poblano for the bell pepper)
- ground venison chili
- chiles rellenos
How to Freeze Poblano Peppers
Ingredients
- 6-8 fresh poblanos
Instructions
- Wash peppers to remove any dirt or debris and dry peppers thoroughly.
- Decide how you want them prepared. I like to do a variety of shapes and sizes.
- If leaving whole, place on baking tray.
- If halving, slice lengthwise with a sharp knife. Use your hands to remove stem and seeds. Place halves on baking tray.
- If dicing, do the steps above and then slice into strips and dice into evenly sized pieces and then place on a baking tray.
- Place tray into freezer and freeze peppers for 1 hour.
- Remove frozen peppers from the tray and place poblano peppers whole, halved, or diced into freezer baggies. Remove as much air as possible, seal the bags, and store poblano peppers in the freezer for up to 1 year.
Ashton Christie
After roast them can you sweat them to get the skin off and freeze them, to make Rellanos later?
Sarah Baumeister
Yes, you can! They may be slightly more difficult to work with, as they will be softer. But it will still work.
-Sarah
Rachelle Nash
Is it ok to roast then prep and freeze peppers before use?
Thx
Sarah Baumeister
Yes, definitely.