How to Freeze Soup (+ thaw it too!)

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Save yourself some time and freeze a big batch of soup that you can eat throughout the week! Here is everything you need to know about freezing soup and thawing it, too!

Preparing food for a busy week or for loved ones in need during an illness or pregnancy can be made easy with these frozen soups or with these crockpot freezer meals!

Soup in freezer safe containers
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I canโ€™t tell you how many times a bag of frozen soup has saved the day in my house, especially after I had my baby Gus. It really solves the โ€œwhat should we make for dinnerโ€ problem we seem to have multiple nights per week because itโ€™s already a made meal, it just needs to be thawed and reheated!

Can I freeze soup? You can freeze most soups, but some soups freeze better than others and there are a handful of soups we donโ€™t recommend freezing (insert: dairy).

Why should I freeze soup?

  • Meal prep: Soup is easy to pack with healthy and tasty ingredients! Meal prepping a healthy recipe and sticking it in the freezer for later ensures you will have a healthy meal option when you need it.
  • Gifting: Preparing soup for friends and family (especially for expecting moms) makes mealtime easy for the person youโ€™re gifting it to!
  • Dinner variety: The soup recipe options are endless! You can prepare so many different soup recipes and freeze them, but still have a variety of flavors to choose from!

How to Freeze Soup

  1. Prepare soup: First things, first, decide on what soup recipe you are going to make. Choose from any of these delicious healthy soup recipes. Next, follow the soup recipe. Remember not to add any cream or noodles to the soup. You will prepare that separately right before serving your soup.
  2. Let the soup cool completely. This is important beucase you donโ€™t wait to create any steam once you cover it. This can create freezer burn.
  3. Transfer the soup into a freezer-safe container or gallon-size plastic bag. Label the soup with the name and date.
  4. Remove as much air as possible and seal.
  5. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Tips for Freezing Soup

Helpful Tip #: If a recipe calls for sauteing or cooking vegetables in the soup, try to undercook the vegetables if you are planning on freezing your soup.

This way, you wonโ€™t end up double cooking your vegetables. Nobody likes mushy veggies!

Helpful Tip #2: The single most important thing when freezing soup is to let the soup cool before placing it in the freezer. 

Helpful Tip #3:  Liquid expands when you freeze it so do not fill your freezer safe container all the way full. Leave 1-2 inches of space in a bag or container for the liquid to expand.

Helpful Tip #4: If you are using a glass or plastic container, line the top of the soup with a piece of plastic wrap to reduce the risk of freezer burn. The less air in the container the better.

Helpful Tip #5: Donโ€™t forget to label the freezer safe container with an โ€œeat byโ€ date! Yes, this is important! You can keep frozen soup in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Soup in freezer safe containers

The Best Soups to Freeze (or not to freeze)

There are some soup recipes that are perfect candidates for freezing and some soup recipes that you just shouldnโ€™t freeze. The perfect soup-freezing candidate is a soup that is brothy, full of hardy vegetables, and proteins.

Soups that arenโ€™t so good to freeze are soups with dairy or soups with noodles. Not so say you canโ€™t freeze soups with dairy or noodles, but there are some extra precautions you should take!

Can you freeze creamy soups?

If you must prepare and freeze a creamy soup, we suggest making the soup without the cream, roux, cheese, etc. and freezing it as a brothy soup. Once you are ready to eat the soup, thaw the soup out, reheat it, and then add the creaming property right before serving! We have tested this with our crockpot chicken pot pie soup and it turned out perfectly!

Can you freeze chicken noodle soup?

Yes, you CAN freeze chicken noodle soup, but you should definitely take some precautions. When you freeze soup with noodles, the noodles tend to soak up all the moisture and can disintegrate during the freezing process.

Hot tipโ€“> Prepare your noodle soup recipe just as you normally would, but leave the noodles out! Freeze the base of the soup.

What should I freeze my soup in?

The best types of containers for freezing soup are reusable glass, freezer-safe containers. However, if you are gifting soup, you can also use freezer-safe gallon-size plastic bags or Tupperware.

We suggest freezing soup in containers based on how many people you plan on feeding. If you are preparing soup to serve one, we suggest freezing soup in single-serve containers like a small stasher bag or a 16 oz. freezer-safe container.

If you are feeding a family, a 32 oz. container, large stasher bag or gallon-size bag should work perfectly!

Placing plastic wrap on top of soup container to prevent freezer burn

Ways to Thaw Frozen Soup

When you are ready to reheat the soup, you have a couple of options!

  1. Thaw in the refrigerator. If you have time to thaw the soup in the refrigerator, we suggest taking the soup out of the freezer and letting it thaw out on itโ€™s own in the refrigerator over night.
  2. Thaw in a water bath. If you need to expedite the thawing process, place your bag or container in a warm water bath until soup loosens from the side of the container. Pour soup (which might still be an ice block) into a large saucepan.
  3. Microwave. We do not recommend defrosting any soup container in a microwave EXCEPT if itโ€™s in a glass container. Remove the metal lid from a mason jar and place soup into the microwave. Use the defrost setting or set the power to low and microwave soup for 5-10 minutes or until soup has thawed.

How to Reheat Frozen Soup

We always recommend reheating your soup on the stovetop. You can do this by transferring your thawed soup into a medium pot and reheating over medium/low.

Youโ€™ll likely need to add some sort of liquid (broth is our go-to!) as lots may have soaked up during the freezing process, so now would be the time to do so.

Before serving, give the soup a taste test and see if it needs anything!

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How to Freeze Soup

Got leftover soup or looking to meal-pre a soup recipe? Learn how to freeze soup so you can stock your freezer with easy dinners!
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 0 minutes
Total: 15 minutes
Servings:
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Ingredients 

  • A batch of soup

Instructions 

  • First, let the soup cool completely.
  • Next, tranfser the soup into freezer-safe containers or bags. We recommend reusable, glass containers when possible, but you can also use Tupperware or plastic bags.
  • Remove as much air as possible from the container. If you are using a container instead of bag, we recommend lining the top of your soup with a piece of plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn.
  • Seal the container or bag and then write the name of the soup and the date on the container.
  • Freeze the soup for up to months.

Tips & Notes

  • To thaw your frozen soup: we recommend doing this in the fridge over night. Then, you can reheat over medium/low on the stovetop when youโ€™re ready to eat.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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About Lee Funke

Lee is the founder of Fit Foodie Finds and based in Minneapolis, MN. She started this website in 2010 as a way to share her love for real food and wellness. The internet has changed so much since then and so has Fit Foodie Finds. Today we're a female-run recipe website publishing hundreds of tried and true recipes developed and tested by our team.

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Penny
Penny
October 2, 2020 10:51 am

What is that Green Monster Soup? It looks good!

Penny
Penny
October 3, 2020 7:41 am
Reply to  Lee Funke

Thank you! I will try it soon.

Remedyabode
September 11, 2019 11:15 pm
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5 stars
Thanks, useful tips. I do freeze my chicken noodle soup after what I hate it when itโ€™s time to eat but now reading this have really helped