How to Freeze Raspberries
Who doesn’t love fresh raspberries? But unless you know how to freeze raspberries, you are quite limited as to how often you can enjoy the fresh raspberry flavor. Unless you want to spend a lot of money at the grocery store buying them out of season. But who wants to do that right? Let me show you how easy it is to freeze raspberries now, so you can enjoy fresh raspberries all year long!
Freeze Raspberries now to enjoy them later
So why don’t more people freeze raspberries? It could be a few reasons:
- Not enough room in a freezer
- No access to a large amount of raspberries when in season
- They simply don’t know how easy it is
Well, I can’t really help with reason 1 & 2, but I can help you understand just how easy it is to freeze raspberries. Then you can enjoy the fresh berries all year long. Literally!
After you pick your raspberries, you want to ensure that they are washed and free of twigs, bugs, dirt and debris. Then allow them to drain in a colander for about 10 minutes to allow them to dry. You don’t want to be freezing wet berries, it will turn into a big icy mess with mushy raspberries. And who wants that?
After my raspberries drain, I like to spread them out on a paper towel to absorb any extra water that could be lingering.
Then spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. You want something with a rim to it so the berries can’t roll off into the freezer.
Freeze the berries until they are frozen solid. This can take around 12 hrs. I like to just freeze them overnight. It makes it really easy to throw them into the freezer at night, and then package them up in the morning.
Now it is time to package the raspberries for storing them in the freezer. I use a FoodSaver. Because of all the years I’ve been freezing raspberries; the FoodSaver is the only method where I can freeze raspberries and still have them fresh and not freezer burned for more than 6 months! Any other method my berries always got freezer burned around 3-6 months and they weren’t usable any longer.
Now you can still store your raspberries without a FoodSaver, but they won’t keep as long. Simply place them in the best quality freezer bag possible. Make sure you get out as much air as possible. Label the bag and place in the freezer.
With my FoodSaver, I estimate how big I need the FoodSaver bag. Do I want to divide the raspberries into portion sizes? Or do I want to keep them all together in one bag? I try to portion mine into about 4-6 cups per bag. Simply because that is the portion sizes I tend to use the most. And it allows for a little easier organization in my freezer.
Make sure you label your FoodSaver bag with a permanent marker with the date and amount of raspberries you have included. It is easier to label the bag before you put the raspberries in it. But if you forget, that is ok, you can still label it afterwards.
Fill your FoodSaver bag with your frozen Raspberries and then seal. The FoodSaver removes all air from the bag and seals it all for you. It allows for your berries to stay extra fresh for a much longer time period. I use the gentle setting on my FoodSaver, to ensure it doesn’t over squish the berries.
Now you are complete! See I told you it was easy! With this method to freeze raspberries, your berries should stay fresh up to a year, maybe a little longer. Just in time for the next season’s batch of raspberries to be picked and enjoyed!
Frozen berries are perfect for making smoothies and shakes and work beautifully in baked goods! When you freeze raspberries, it is also a great way to postpone making jam! You know for when you get a big batch of fresh raspberries but just don’t have time to make jam that week! You know your raspberries won’t still be good in a few weeks when you have time. So I just freeze raspberries until I am ready to make my jam. I just simply defrost them and use them like I would use fresh raspberries. I have the best Raspberry Rhubarb Jam that I often make from my own frozen raspberries.
What are your favorite things to create with frozen raspberries?
Have you ever tried to freeze raspberries before?
I freeze my raspberries, too! I love putting them in smoothies/shakes and on top of desserts or even breakfast. I don’t have a food saver machine– but I should look into getting one for sure.
I don’t have freezer space but I take advantage of the space I do have. I met the Food Saver brand at BlogHer and learned a lot about their products and now I want one. My boys eat a lot of berries but Ive never had them long enough to freeze.
We LOVE raspberries, but only buy them in season at the farmers markets. I had no idea this was so easy and here’s another reason to buy a sealer!
I love raspberries and am going to have to try this for sure. Frozen berries are great for smoothies, or throwing into waffle batter (yum, and then spread the warm waffle with peanut butter and honey? PERFECT!). This sounds like a better solution than buying pre-frozen berries too–at least cheaper!
We don’t have a lot of freezer space, so I don’t freeze a lot of food. But when there are summer fruits and great prices, it makes a lot of sense.
Great photos and detail. Thanks!
Thank you for this! My raspberries always get mushy when I freeze them but this looks like it would work well! I’m excited to try it!
I freeze lots of our raspberries too. They are awesome in smoothies!
This is a great idea! We’re not huge raspberry fans, but this is a great way to save huge and use them during the winter!
Thanks for the tips. We love raspberries and now I will start freezing them so we can enjoy them year round!
So glad you posted this! I buy items for smoothies when they are on sale and freeze them but they are always all stuck together and gooey! Now I know what to do. Thanks!
You are welcome! I hate gooey berries or when they stick together. This is much easier. 🙂
Lock in the vitamins! I love this, especially now that I see them at the farmers market. Here in NY the fruits and veggies could come from out of state and be 1 week old by the time we get them. Freezing freshly picked from the farmers market means more nutrition later!
thanks for this!
mitch
That is great to know. I love raspberries. Thanks for the info.
We just love FoodSaver units, they save our family so much money each year. We also like to freeze grapes and (pit free) cherries, just to munch on frozen!
I’ve not frozen raspberries but I do freeze cherries this way. Works great!
You are always so great about knowing these kind of tips! Thanks!
Great idea! I need one of those sealing machines for now I buy all my berries frozen at Coscto. I like your idea because they were fresh.
This is wonderful! We waste so many rasperries by not freezing them! Thanks for the great advice!
That looks easy. I honestly feel that raspberries are just a pain because they become a mess if you try to do anything with them, but I guess I am wrong
Your pictures are divine! Loving the raspberry shots as they are my favorite fruit.
I just won a Food Saver at Blogher and I cannot wait to try it out. We always buy tons of berries so I will definitely be trying this out.
omg! I love raspberries and I have the freezer space yay!
i love the food saver and using it to store our food 🙂
Those look SO YUMMY! My girls LOVE smoothies, so this is perfect. Thanks!
We use these frozen berries in frozen smoothies all the time. Huge family favorite.
How neat I have never tried to freeze them, so I will remember this and give it a try!! Always nice to buy fruits when in season and full of flavor, and freezing them I could use all year round! Thank you!
That’s why I love to do this, cause I’m getting fruit that IS in season so it has the best flavor. And then I can enjoy it all year long. Even out of season. 🙂
We have tons of raspberry bushes. I will have to do this next year.
This is great. My mother loves berries in her cereal in the morning. Buying while in season and freezing would be great, plus I have a near by park that is full of them!
Freezing these while in season would be a fantastic idea. I love peaches even in ice cream, desserts and baked
Such a good idea! I love raspberries and could eat them all year-round but don’t when they aren’t fresh, I will have to freeze some before summer is over. Too bad I don’t have a food saver though!
Thanks for the info! I’ve never tried freezing fresh fruit in larger quantities, but now that I’ve got some extra freezer space I think I’ll try it.