by Texas Homesteader ~
To accumulate my fresh garden okra until I have enough to fry, I use this okra seasoning mix to coat okra pieces and store in the freezer. Then I’m able to fry them up when I have enough.
Okra Grows During Hot & Dry Summer Months
I only planted a few okra plants in the garden since okra is a powerhouse in the garden. Heat? Drought? Poor soil? It just seems to laugh at it all! It will produce you out of house & home if you let it.
So I only planted four (count ’em – f-o-u-r) plants! But I’ll needed a way to harvest & accumulate enough okra until I have enough to fry. Thankfully it’s easy!
I’ve mixed up a savory dry seasoning mix that I keep in a freezer bag in my freezer. Each day I’ll harvest a couple of pods of okra, cut them into rounds & add it to my dry mix each day until I have enough to fry.
How Long Should Okra Pods Be To Harvest?
RancherMan & I love, love, LOVE fried okra. Of course we try to eat fried foods in moderation only. The 4 plants in my garden should allow me to harvest slowly and have an okra-fry later. But how do I prepare and preserve it until we’re ready?
Each morning when I let the chickens out of their coop I stop by the garden and harvest anything that’s ready.
I’ll look over my okra plants and harvest any pods that are about 3″ long. They should be nice & tender. I’ll bring them inside and prepare them for the freezer
Savory Fried Okra Coating For Freezer
Into a freezer bag I’ve placed a savory okra-coating mixture:
Flour
Cornmeal
Paprika
Onion powder
Garlic Powder
Salt/Pepper
(full printable recipe is below)
How To Prepare Fresh Okra For The Freezer
I cut my okra pods into 1/2″ chunks and toss them into the bag, shaking to make sure all the pieces are coated with the okra coating mix.
Then I return the bag back to the freezer.
I repeat this step each day until it’s time for me to prepare a fried-okra side dish for that handsome man of mine.
Frying Coated Okra From The Freezer
I’ll bring out the bag of frozen, flour-coated okra and sift it quickly to separate okra pieces from the flour mixture. The dry mix is sifted onto a piece of clean newspaper for ease of the next step.
In a small bowl I mixed up 2 eggs and a little salt/pepper. As the oil in my Cast Iron Skillet was heating up I dropped portions of frozen dry-mix coated okra chunks into the egg and made sure the okra was coated.
Now that my oil’s hot I transfer those egg-coated okra pieces to the dry mix I’d just sifted onto the newspaper. The okra pieces are coated well with the dry mix & placed into the skillet of hot oil.
Those battered okra pieces fried up quickly.
When they were done I transferred them to a plate lined with another clean piece of newspaper to soak up the oil.
They were delicious, delightfully crispy and RancherMan loved ’em.
Ok, I think we have a winner. I’ll continue to accumulate fresh okra from the garden and keep them in this mix in my freezer. Heck we’ll even be able to enjoy fried okra in the cold months too!
What Goes With Fried Okra?
Fried okra is a southern delicacy, gracing many southern tables with its flavorful crispy coating. Here are our favorite things to pair with fried okra:
Healthy Air Fryer ‘Fried’ Chicken
Stuffed Poor Man’s Steak
Did you make this fried okra? Please rate the recipe in your comment below!
Okra Coating Mix For Freezer
I'm harvesting only a couple of okra pods each day from the garden. This dry mix stays in the freezer. I simply cut the okra and drop them into a freezer bag containing this dry mix. It's stored in the freezer until I'm ready to enjoy fried okra! #TexasHomesteader
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- Daily okra harvest - pods about 3" long
- 1 cup All purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Black pepper
Instructions
Directions;
-
Mix all dry ingredients and place in a zippered baggie. After daily harvest wash & pat dry fresh okra and chop into 1/2" pieces.
-
Drop okra pieces into dry mixture & shake to coat. Replace bag into freezer and add okra daily until there's enough to fry.
When Ready To Fry Okra
-
When ready to fry, heat enough oil to cover okra pieces in a heavy-bottom skillet. (don't fill the skillet over 1/2 way with oil!)
-
Mix 2 eggs with a small amount of salt & pepper in a small bowl. Add the coated okra pieces to the egg mixture and coat completely.
-
Drop coated okra pieces into hot oil and cook until golden brown. Remove from skillet and allow to drain (I use clean newspaper)
Serve immediately.
~TxH~
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Other Side Dishes We Love
Rice
- Rosemary Rice
- Buttered Rice w/Fresh Sage & Garlic
- Cilantro-Lime Rice
- Texas-Style Spanish Rice
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Beans
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- RancherMan’s Green-Bean Casserole
- Cooking Dry Pinto Beans in An Instant Pot
- Fun Flavor Variations For Plain Pinto Beans
- Black-Eyed Peas With Rotel Tomatoes
Vegetables
- Roasted Vegetables
- Fried Okra Fritters
- Simple Homemade Creamy Coleslaw
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I never have enough okra to fry at one time. Coating in this mix and freezing works great. The extra coating after dipping in the egg makes them good and crispy! This is how I use okra from now on.
Thank You for this. We both love orka here
I often wondered how to freeze without the orka turning mushy so thanks for sharing.
It’s sure worked well for us Colleen. And I’m still accumulating it so we’ll be able to enjoy garden okra even in the winter months. ~TxH~
I have found if you just cut and freeze on cookie sheet single layer works really good . Then when frozen package the size you need that works good. When I want to try i open package pour in some hot water let sit few minutes. Pour off water add cornmeal some flour. Stir and then fry. This allows the batter to stay in so !ugh better. Try this way once .
I’ve never tried it this way – thanks for sharing your tip. ~TxH~