Can I Freeze and Reuse Marinade? Good Questions

Q: I marinated some vegetables and tofu in soy sauce, avocado oil, fresh garlic, and fresh basil. Delicious! In an effort not to waste yummy (and expensive) avocado oil, can save the marinade to use again? Freeze it maybe? If yes, should I take out the garlic and/or basil?

Sent by Kate

Editor: Kate, what a great question! I don't see why you couldn't freeze it, topping it up later with some fresh soy sauce and herbs. I do think that eventually, after two or three uses, it may lose its flavor and taste more of tofu than marinade. But getting an extra use or two out of it is smart.

Readers, what do you think? Any advice to share?

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Related: Try This! Baked Tofu

(Image: Emily Ho)

Categories: Advice, Main, Budget, Questions, Recipe Questions, Sauce

Posted by Faith Durand

Faith Durand is the executive editor of The Kitchn and the author of Bakeless Sweets: Pudding, Panna Cotta, Fluff, Icebox Cake, and More No-Bake Desserts. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.
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Comments (6)

Just wanted to say that the marinade sounds yummy. Would love to see the recipe. :)

We regularly freeze and re-use marinade that has been used on fish or meat. Have not saved anything for a third use, but maybe that would work on veggie marinade. Note: when we reuse marinade that has been on meat we use it on something that will be thoroughly cooked, not something that will be quickly grilled. Just in case any microbes multiplied while it was in the freezer.

I'd take out the basil but not the garlic. Maybe add a little fresh basil for the next use.

There's no issue with vegetable only marinades being saved/reused, though you may need to re-salt it.

Marinades that has actually been used with meats or fish should NOT be saved. While it is possible that a high acid or salt marinades will not be harboring pathogens, you are creating a risk that should be avoided. Make extra marinade if it's such a complicated one and freeze that, but reuse of meat marinade is simply asking for trouble. Here you have a bad of marinade that's contaminated and you're putting it into your freezer.

bad=bag but it's bad marinade.

I think you can reuse it as a marinade and freeze it, but it might be easier to just incorporate it into your next salad dressing.

thanks, all! LOVESITC1, you can see the recipe here: http://www.katesshortandsweets.com/2012/06/soy-sauce-marinade-vegan.html