Okay, I’ve got a quick tip for you today that I hope will as life changing for you as it was for me. Here it is: you can freeze whole citrus. Say whaaaaa? If you’re already privy to the magic that happens when you cook with fresh citrus, but hate paying a dollar or more for just one lemon, this tip may just change your game. If you’re sitting here thinking, “Why on earth would I want to freeze whole citrus fruit??” read on and allow me to explain…
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Why Cook with Fresh Citrus?
Between bottled juice and freeze dried citrus peels, there are a lot of ways to add citrus flavor to your food, but none compare to fresh juice and zest. It’s just a whole different beast when fresh. Cooking with fresh citrus is a total game changer and will take any meal up about ten notches. Sure, I will sometimes still use bottled juice when it’s a more secondary ingredient, or just needed to act as an acid in a chemical reaction, but when I’m making a recipe where lemon or lime is the star of the show, fresh is an absolute must.
Here are some of my favorite recipes that feature the awesomeness of fresh citrus:
- Greek Turkey and Rice Skillet
- Lemon Blueberry Cream Cheese Galette
- Lemon Butter Green Beans
- Lemony Cucumber Couscous Salad
- Lime Crema
- Cilantro Lime Chicken Drumsticks
- Mexican Red Lentil Stew
- Easy Orange Chicken
- Simple Cranberry Sauce
Freezer to the Rescue!
The problem is that buying a single lemon or lime can be super pricey. They’re quite a bit less expensive when you buy them by the bag, but I can never seem to go through an entire bag before they shrivel and die. UNTIL, that is, I learned that you can freeze whole citrus fruit. So go ahead and buy a whole bag without worry. Use one or two now, stash the rest in your freezer, and use them as needed.
Frozen lemons and limes are almost easier to zest, and once thawed they’ll release their juice more readily because, as with any fruit or vegetable, freezing and thawing weakens the cell walls. You can thaw the fruit quickly with a brief 15-20 seconds in the microwave, or by running under warm water for a few seconds. Always zest before you thaw because once the fruit is soft post-thawing, zesting can be difficult.
Must the Citrus be Frozen Whole?
Nope, you can totally cut or slice the citrus fruit before freezing, or even just freeze your unused leftover peels on their own, but I prefer to freeze the fruit whole. Why? Because I usually use a combination of the juice and the zest in my recipes for extra citrusy flavor, and they are much easier to zest when whole (and frozen solid). Plus, keeping them whole protects the insides from drying out as quickly. Natural protection!
The Method:
- Wash and dry your fruit to remove any waxy coating. While the waxy coating will actually help protect them in the freezer, you don’t want to have to worry about the waxes later if you plan on zesting your fruit straight from the freezer.
- Place the whole citrus fruit in a heavy duty freezer bag and seal it up tight. Air exposure is the enemy when it comes to freezing food because it sucks out moisture and deadens flavors.
- Freeze the citrus. There is no exact cut off date for how long the citrus will last in your freezer. Instead, they will just slowly dry over time. Over a long time. Like months. If and when the peel begins to dry out, the zest may not be as flavorful, but the juice inside will still be quite usable. That being said, I usually try to use up my frozen foods within three months to ensure optimum quality.
- To use the frozen fruit, remove it from the freezer bag and zest the fruit while frozen solid. Once zested, thaw the fruit through by either microwaving for 15-20 seconds, or running it under warm water. Once thawed, slice in half and squeeze the juice as usual. The juice should flow from the citrus quite easily.
And that’s it! I hope you get as much use (and FLAVOR) from citrus as possible in the future, without having to pay a premium. :)
I’ve got 2 lemons in the fridge that are old but look good. No time now to zest, juice, and freeze, which is the only thing I know, but now I know — THANK YOU — how easy it is to zest a frozen lemon and how juicy a thawed lemon is. This information is GOLD and I so much appreciate you sharing this!!
I have been freezing my whole lemons limes and oranges for years, and I use them frozen by grating them into my cooking food. The entire lemon and lime can be used that way and it gives the food an extra kick. With oranges I scoop the fruit out and just freeze the skins for the zest.
Freezing is a great idea. But have you checked out drying, pickling, candying, and canning. I use all those too. They are used different ways. But add yumminess. For example, dried peel without pith can make a nice chewy treat or garnish when dipped in choolate or diced fine and added to cookie or cake dough. Pickled citrus works nicely in meat dishes, candied citrus curls spiff up a cheese platter, and home canned orange or grapefruit sections can be sweetened or spiced to taste and opened to add to salads (or eaten straight from the jar if my kids get to them first. I’m sure you will come up with bettet uses than mine. If you have time, maybe check it out?
What a lifesaver (or shall I say budget-saver?)! Thanks so much for this tip, I’m still basking in the knowledge that you can freeze feta and now this, I’ll probably never throw away a brown lime again :)
Hello from British Columbia, Canada………..For years I have purchased bags of lemons as well, and this is another method to always have fresh lemon juice and zest on hand in the freezer………………………..I wash and dry them and then zest them…………my helper husband then extracts the juice with an electric juicer………..I put about a teaspoon of zest in each section of ice cube trays and then pour juice over it…………..they hold about 2 – 3 tablespoons in each section or you can adjust to what you mostly use..…………………when they are completely frozen, I release the cubes into a ziplock bag and return them to the freezer. When you need juice, you can thaw one or more cubes at room temperature or in seconds in the microwave, and if you don’t require zest you can strain it off. I find it really convenient to do it this way and it doesn’t take up much room in the freezer. This method also keeps the zest from drying out if you were to freeze it separately.
I have a bag of lemons in the fridge right now that I keep meaning to use. (I’ve only used one so far) Perfect timing on this tip.
Just in case, like me, your freezer space is scarce and precious, here’s an alternative: I buy a bunch of lemons and freeze the fresh-squeezed juice in ice trays. Standard trays usually hold very close to 1 TB. I also zest and freeze THAT in ice trays; the moisture in them freezes them into blocks. Since I need my ice trays (because I use this technique for everything from pureed chiles to extra tomatoes and sauces), I pop the frozen cubes into a plastic freezer bag and stick them in a plastic box in my freezer that I use only for prepped stuff. (That’s a lifesaver in itself.)
I know zesting can be tough, but here’s where I’ll note that a Microplaner is a great investment. Having used graters for years for zesting, I thought everything about Microplaners was hype. Got one as a gift and am I ever glad.
Thanks for the tip, Beth! And all the great, simple, budget-wise food and, as always, for your great writing and presentation.
A great tip, Beth!
This came at the perfect time! We just moved to the country so, trips to the grocery store are less frequent than they used to be and I was afraid we would need to get used to using bottled citrus juice.
As always Beth, you are a life saver. I have learned so much following you. Thanks for all your hard work!
What a spectacular idea!!!
I am so excited about this and am not sure why this never occurred to me but am very glad it occurred to you! Costco lemons and limes, look out – you are hitting my buggy.
Same!
Wow! I know a lot about food and I use my freezer A LOT, but this is a new one on my. My lemons usually last a fairly long time, but limes….. they’re often a disappointment by the time I get to them. Thanks for this.
I’m ridiculously excited about this! I LOVE Meyer Lemons, and the season for them is just around the corner. I can never manage to use the entire bag before they go bad, so this is a perfect solution.
Meyer Lemons are the best!!
Wonderful! Do you think you’d be able to slice lemons or limes into wedges (after freezing) to use for a garnish-squeeze on seafood?
They’re not quite as pretty after thawing, but they’re definitely nice and juicy and good for squeezing over food!