Sauté & Freeze Chopped Onions | ~ Texas Homesteader ~

by Texas homesteader ~

Sometimes I end up with lots of onions at one time and want to make sure they’re all used or preserved before they go bad. You too?

We all know you can chop & freeze excess onions. But I’ve taken it a step further.

(Note: Some links in this post will take you to other related articles for further information. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click and buy something I could receive a tiny commission.)

Using Sautéed Onions In Cooking

Almost every savory dish I cook includes sautéed onions and/or garlic.

But I don’t always have fresh onions. So I wondered, why not take this glut of Harvested Onions and chop/sauté them now for use later?

I decided to chop & sauté excess onions and then place them in the freezer!

This gives me my own homemade convenience item. (smacks forehead) Why didn’t I think of that sooner??

Preserving Fresh Onions

Back in the day, I’d chop & freeze raw onions so I’d have them available if a fresh onion wasn’t.

Even though the texture of frozen onions changes when it’s thawed, it’s not a big deal if you’re adding it to a dish you’re cooking. That’s because obvs the texture will change when it’s cooked anyway.

But if my recipe calls for sautéed onions, it’s harder to sauté them when they’re frozen. So I’d often just toss them into my recipe thawed but still raw.

Dealing With Too Many Onions

This day I had quite a few onions to deal with. I’d already dehydrated some onions for use in simmering soups & such this winter.

And I’d also Dehydrated The Scraps to grind with my coffee grinder to make onion powder too. No waste!

Easier Sautéed Onions

But now I’m going to chop all these onions and sauté them in a small amount of Bacon Grease, just as if I were about to cook with them.

Thankfully (and I mean THANKFULLY) my mother bought me this *Onion Chopper years ago. Because if not for that handy little chopper I’d be hours chopping onions. (and crying because of the fumes too!)

As it was, I simply skinned the onion, cut off the neck portion and the root section (and dehydrated them for onion powder the same as I’d done before) and sliced each onion into about 1/4″ thick slices.

Then each slice was placed on this chopper and BOOM! Diced onions!

I put a small amount of bacon grease on my 2-Burner *Cast Iron Griddle and sautéed them while I was preparing the next round of chopped onions.

I filled that baby up 3 or 4 times before I’d gone though all of these fresh onions!

Storing Sautéed Onions

Then I placed the sautéed onions in a metal bowl and allowed them to cool. Finally I repurposed zippered bags from previous food purchases and spooned in those chopped sautéed onions.

I gently pressed the bag to flatten out the onions too. Then I used my *dough scraper to score the block of onions through the bag into smaller 1.5″ square sections. I didn’t press hard, just enough to make a small indention.

This will help when I’m using those frozen onions since I’ll be able to easily break off small sections for my recipe.

Then I carefully placed those bags of sautéed onions on a cookie sheet and slid them into our chest freezer. I’ll leave them there at least overnight. That way they’ll be frozen solid inside the bag.

Don’t Forget To Add A Label

But you know how everything looks the same in your freezer? It’s important to label these onions!

So I wrote out a quick label on a piece of paper I cut out of an old envelope. Then I slid all three of these repurposed bags of frozen sautéed onions into a single heavy-duty freezer bag.

The label goes inside the freezer bag (but outside the bags holding the onions). And then I replace the whole shebangie into the freezer.

Now when I need some sautéed onions I only have to go to my freezer, pop out a square or two of them and use them in my recipe. They’re already sautéed to perfection!

By doing this, the onions have been preserved so there’s no food waste. And I’ve made my own convenience food too – as close as my freezer. Work smarter, not harder y’all!

~TxH~

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2 thoughts on “Sauté & Freeze Onions For Kitchen Convenience For Faster Homemade Recipes”

candace ford at

I think I may have written to you about what I do that’s somewhat related but here goes again. I save vegie ends and scraps and stems (not asparagus) in a bag in the freezer, when I get a big bunch I haul them out put them in a big pot and simmer them till they’re done, cool them, put them in zip top bags and freeze them for soup base later on. I was glad to see your repurposed bags for the onions! I do a similar thing with fruit – bruised apple , browning bananas, and so forth – I throw them in my slow cooker cook them down down down and what a delish jam they make or an addition to a cake or fruit bread recipe. And of course bones – the carnivore who lives with me keeps up a steady supply of bones and then there are holiday bones. I throw them in a bag in the freezer until I have a big Dutch oven ‘s worth, brown them under the broiler (a winter time activity) then into the big stock pot, cover with water and boil until they are soft and any joints have given way, sometimes I reach in w/ my kitchen only pliers and crack the bones to let the marrow come in contact w/ the water. Cool, Strain, Store in re-used zip top bags (the bird man likes whole wheat tortillas from the store – I like the bags they come in) place on a cookie sheet, freeze flat so they will easily stack. As a young child I remember my grandmother doing similar things. frugality is an inherited trait.

Reply ↓
1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  I love how you said “frugality is an inherited trait”. YES! I have a huge bag of various bones/trimmings in the freezer awaiting wintertime broth making too. I could make the broth in my Instant Pot on the back porch to keep the heat out of the house, but it would have to be canned since there’s zero remaining room in my freezer right now. And I can’t stand the thought of purposely adding heat/humidity to the house in August! LOL Hope y’all are tucked inside & staying safe these days. ~TxH~
  
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~Texas Homesteader~

Working To Provide For Ourselves On Our Texas Homestead

Sauté & Freeze Onions For Kitchen Convenience For Faster Homemade Recipes