Easy step by step instructions on how to freeze zucchini without needing to blanch it. This quick method saves you time and freezes zucchini for up to a year. Perfect for making zucchini bread and treats with!
If you have a garden you know that the end of Summer brings you lots of zucchini! Actually, even if you don’t have a garden, but have a friend or family member with a garden, then you probably have a counter filled with zucchini too! Zucchini, it’s the plant that keeps on giving!
Now what are you going to do with those 15 zucchini? Ok, I have some recipe ideas for you. There’s Zucchini Corn Fritters, Pan Fried Crispy Zucchini Fritters and Zucchini Nuggets. Yum. There’s Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze. Classic yum. And there’s Zucchini Muffins. More yum. And oh goodness, my favorite – Chocolate Zucchini Cake. But you still have 10 zucchini left. What are you going to do?
Don’t worry – you can freeze zucchini, keeping it to use for a year! And even better, it’s so easy to do!
Can you freeze zucchini without blanching?
Yes, you absolutely can! This method saves you time without having to bring a big pot of water to a boil and then doing a water bath. The secret is that instead of chopping it into pieces, you want to shread it. This allows you to freeze the zucchini without blanching!
This is my favorite method to freeze zucchini, one I’ve been using for years. I’m known to make homemade zucchini bread every single month in the year, so I love being able to pull a bag of shredded zucchini out of my freezer!
Here’s my full walk through on how to freeze zucchini.
How to Freeze Zucchini
- Hold up, take a step back, and admire that garden beauty if you grew it. God damn, it’s gorgeous! High 5! This is one of our MASSIVE zucchini. I actually got 8 cups of zucchini from this guy! WOWZERS!
- Chop off the the top and bottom of the zucchini.
- Now it’s time to shred this up. You can use a grater for exercise, or you can use a shredding blade with the food processor. I needed some exercise so I hand grated it.
You’ll probably have a big bowl of shredded zucchini by the time you’re done. - Decide how you want to separate it. I like to separate it into 1 and 2 cup bags. Most of my recipes call for 1 or 2 cups zucchini, so this makes it easier to use instead of freezing it all together.
- Place the shredded zucchini into freezer bags. (I always buy these in bulk during the Summer).
- You really want to try to get all the air out of the bags. For this, I like to use the straw trick where you suck the air out of the bag with the straw and then zip it. It works perfectly!
- Write on the bags to label what it is, and how many cups are in each bag.
- Now freeze it! Wasn’t that easy?
How to Defrost Zucchini
Now it’s time to take the zucchini out of the freezer and cook with it. Defrosting zucchini is easy, here’s how.
- Take the zucchini out of the freezer. To show you how fresh it stays and the color it keeps, this is zucchini that is 5 months old.
- Place the zucchini either in the refrigerator to defrost naturally overnight, or pop in the microwave to defrost in a couple minutes.
- Once it’s defrosted, add the zucchini to a strainer and gently press down on it. Your zucchini probably has some added water in it, so we want to make sure we get rid of all that extra water, especially if we’re baking with it.
As you can see, there was quite a bit of water we squeezed out of it!
- Now you have your fresh zucchini defrosted to throw in recipes!
How long does frozen zucchini last for?
Shreded frozen zucchini can easily last for a year. Since it’s shredded, you won’t find the texture weird when baking it in breads, or cooking it in casseroles or nuggets. It also makes a great zucchini soup!
Hope this “How to Freeze Zucchini” post helps you with your many zucchini you’ve harvested!
More Freezing Tips
Need help freezing green beans? Make sure you check out my How to Freeze Green Beans post and How to Freeze Fresh Corn too!
Here’s how to freeze bok choy.
Love peaches? Here’s how to freeze peaches.
Not garden related, but here’s my favorite method on how to freeze cake.
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How to Freeze Zucchini Without Blanching
PrintIngredients
- Zucchini
Instructions
- Take a step back, and admire that garden zucchini if you grew it. God damn, it's gorgeous! High 5!
- Chop off the the top stem and bottom of the zucchini.
- Now it’s time to shred this up. You can use a grater for exercise, or you can use a shredding blade with the food processor.
- Decide how you want to separate it. I like to separate it into 1 and 2 cup bags. Most of my recipes call for 1 or 2 cups zucchini, so this makes it easier to use instead of freezing it all together.
- Place the shredded zucchini into freezer bags.
- You really want to try to get all the air out of the bags. For this, I like to use the straw trick where you suck the air out of the bag with the straw and then zip it. It works perfectly!
- Write on the bags to label what it is, and how many cups are in each bag. Freeze it.
- Time to defrost the zucchini? Take the zucchini out of the freezer.
- Place the zucchini either in the refrigerator to defrost naturally overnight, or pop in the microwave to defrost in a couple minutes.
- Once it’s defrosted, add the zucchini to a strainer and gently press down on it. Your zucchini probably has some added water in it, so we want to make sure we get rid of all that extra water, especially if we’re baking with it.
- Now you have your fresh zucchini defrosted to throw in any recipe you want!
WMorgan says
Don’t like the language, GOD didn’t dam it he blessed it, seen that… didn’t read or try the recipe.
S J Smith says
Which God are you referring to ?
Margaret Wardhaugh says
That is my valid email address
Marie says
So glad I found your website – thanks for the instructions, can’t wait to discover more.
To the church club of righteous ladies – tolerance goes both ways FYI. If you don’t like something (unless it’s life-threatening and needs to be acted upon) – just scroll past. Kindness (NOT snarky comments) is the way, pretty sure Jesus would agree!
Dolores Fisher says
After freezing and than thawing you said strain to get the juice out. Do you still have a cup for the recipe after you strain the juice out?
Mitzi Vollenweider Hund says
I love this. I always have lots of zucchini.
When I froze 2 cups of the zucchini in bags and then drained it I had only 1 cup of zucchini. My recipe calls for 2 cups. Do I need to put in another cup?
Dallas says
So glad I found this doing a Google search. I was like god damn!?!, What am I going to do with all this zucchini before it goes bad!! Thank you!! I will give your zucchini recipes a try when I get around to baking. Have a blessed day.
Pamela says
I’m so happy this method helped you Dallas! Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Diana Helton says
Going to grate my zucchini today , good idea on using a straw to get the air out. . I was offended on why you took Gods name in vain, didn’t see any reason or need to say his name like that. He blesses us so much .
S J Smith says
Which God are you referring to ?
Donna says
Get over it people. Why don’t you worry or take action about something that really matters and perhaps changes the world to make it a better place?
Kathy owens says
Taking the Lord’s name in vain is one of the ten commandments . Hearing someone else say it is easier to overlook. When you read it, it’s like saying it yourself. I would never read a book with this language. Unexpected in a recipe.
Lillian Grey says
Get a life and stop being a Karen over this. God damn it. YOU do not own the word God and I and everyone else can use it anyway they see fit. You don’t like, move on and don’t preach to others
Jane says
So sad you had to blow this with using the Lord’s name in vain. Such a waster.
Diane says
Great instructions. Really did not appreciate the cussing (please don’t take the Lord’s name in vain-really offensive) so don’t plan to use this site again
Nicole says
GOD DAMN, this is genius! Thank you for sharing! Also here to support you while the grandmas out there are hating on the internet.
Pamela says
Happy that this freezing technique worked for you Nicole! Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Debra Hess says
I also was surprised that in doing a simple plan for freezing zucchini that
you would use such offensive language! Very disappointed…
Dorothy says
There is no reason to take the Lord’s name in vain. How disappointing is right. God created this for us to use.
Barbara J Ponsler says
I found this to be very helpful I can care less what language you use
Traci Crawley says
Do I need to squeeze the liquid out before I freeze the shredded zucchini?
Pamela says
I do this after it’s defrosted. Once it’s defrosted, add the zucchini to a strainer and gently press down on it, removing excess water. Hope this helps!
Sarah says
This was the answer I was looking for, thanks. Might be helpful to others as well if you wrote “no need to strain before freezing” above. I see other questions since this one asking. Thanks for the tip, I have too much zucchini to handle atm!
Renee Jolley says
This will be GREAT for the mutant zucchinis I’ve been ‘gifted’ with!
If you need to expand your zucchini repertoire, I highly recommend checking out the zucchini recipes on the King Arthur site! I can’t make the brownies or oatmeal cookies fast enough! Guess that’s a GOOD thing! I’ve learned that pureeing the zuchs makes a WORLD of difference in finished products!
Pamela says
Hey Renee, happy to hear this freezing method will help you! Thank you for the recommendation, check out my Cucumber Cookies – you can swap the cucumber with grated zucchini instead, they’re delicious: https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/cucumber-frosted-cookies/. Enjoy all your zucchini!
Debi Kelly says
I can’t believe you said God Damn
Susan says
GASP!!!!!!
Emily Stapp says
GOD DAMN am I glad I found this wonderful, helpful post. Once again for the people in the back, GOD DAMNNNN 😝
Mikaykay says
Sweet Jesus this is a helpful article!
Allison says
So glad I found your site. This is great for dealing with a ton of zucchini when it’s too hot to bake. Just processed 20 cups of zucchini in about an hour. I’m looking forward to lots of zucchini bread this fall!
Pamela says
I’m so happy to hear you liked this freezing method Allison! Enjoy all the zucchini bread in your future! 🙂
Doloris R Pawel says
Was the profanity necessary? Line 1
Rose2002 says
I don’t see how she used profanity. If you want to hear REAL profanity I can name a few so we can distinguish the two. Don’t get me started. We have this thing in this country called freedom of speech. You may have heard about it in the constitution. Don’t shun someone because they are expressing themselves in a recipe. My God! What has this world come to? If you don’t like it, click the back button and find another recipe.
Frankie L Harper says
i am mortified at your language on this post turned me off completely to ever wanting to use any post you may have
Judy Steinborn says
Did u really have to use the Lords name in vain? So dissapointed.
Augie says
Why do you feel it is necessary to say this…
“Take a step back, and admire that garden zucchini if you grew it. God damn, it’s gorgeous! High 5!”
ronette wise says
Thank you for the recipe, but I don’t think it was necessary to cuss in the description of your zucchini.
Jay P. says
REALLY?? You feel the need to take the Lord’s name in vain just to share a recipe?? Even if you’re not a Christian, it seems like you could refrain from breaking one of the Ten Commandments out of respect for those who are!
Bethany says
Get over yourself Jay and all you other bible thumpers. She’s free to say whatever she wants according the Constitution. Don’t like it? Bug off!
Pamela— thanks for the helpful tips!
Denise V says
God damn this is PERFECT! Thanks for the tips!!!
Matthew Luke Johnson says
Get over your god damn self. Taking God’s name in vain means swearing to God to tell the truth – then lying. BTW what is God’s name? Saying god doesn’t mean you are breaking a commandment or less christian – although I know you completely disagree with me because you replied to her, so you are one of the all knowing christians….just like today’s social justice warriors – you’re a religious justice warrior.
Sheilalala says
Thank you very much for this awesome information. This is such an easier way of freezing . Also I will use your method for other veggies . 😁 keep your great personality going that’s one of the reasons I stopped to read your article.
The remarks on the language, please save it for your church ..this is not your podium.
Mary Evans says
Can I freeze shredded carrots ?
Henry James says
Goddamn great post thank you!
Joni Chism says
I don’t see the necessity of taking God’s name in vain. I won’t read ANYTHING you ever write!
April P. says
Pamela, I am grate-ful (lol) for this article since I found a bunch of zucchini on markdown at the store. I couldn’t resist and bought a bunch. Also, I’m growing it and will hopeful have a bumper crop! I wanted to add: I too, was shocked to see how you wrote “God” wirh an expletive. Please consider that it comes across extremely shocking to many who have faith. Thank you and enjoy your day. I still appreciate you.
Sandy says
I totally agree with you, the use of Gods name was completely uncalled for!
Carol says
I am thinking this would be a great method for freezing squash too. I planted quite a lot of them and they have taken over certain section of my greenhouse, but they look wonderful and I should have plenty. I love when you are not sure of how some things will do when you plant them and then they just thrive. So do you think I might be on the right track with this?
Pamela says
Hey Carol, absolutely – I use the same method for squash! Sounds like you are going to have quite the squash harvest – enjoy! 🙂