Can You Freeze Mushrooms?

What happens when you freeze mushrooms

Mushrooms are a sponge of water held in fine structure, and raw-freezing destroys the structure while releasing the water: thawed slices come out slick, gray, and rubbery. Sautéed or roasted first, they are transformed. The water has already gone, the flavor has concentrated, and freezing barely touches what’s left. A bag of cooked mushrooms is one of the most useful things in a freezer — it lands in pasta, risotto, gravy, omelettes, and soup with no thawing and no fuss.

How to freeze it right

1. Wipe them clean rather than soaking; they don’t need more water in them.
2. Slice or quarter, then cook in a hot dry pan until the liquid boils off and they squeak — or roast them.
3. Cool completely before bagging; warm mushrooms steam themselves into ice.
4. Freeze flat in bags with the air pressed out, or in an ice-cube tray with their pan juices.
5. Label with the type and the date.

Thawing and using it

Tip them into the pan frozen and let them heat through — sauces, ragùs, stroganoff, and pasta take them straight from the bag. There’s no reason to thaw at all, and the counter is never the place to do it. Duxelles and mushroom paste can thaw in the fridge and be spread cold.

Can you refreeze it?

Fridge-thawed cooked mushrooms can be refrozen safely; they turn chewier and darker each time, so freeze them in portions the size of one pan of pasta.