Freezer Friendly Recipes & Freezing Tips

Pronounced poh-taazh, potage is a fancy term for a thick and comforting soup cooked in a pot. Typically, it also infers that the soup is made of vegetables and is puréed until smooth. Like many French dishes, it originates from peasants and farmers who were using the ingredients they had available — in this case, any mix of vegetables. Potage is often enriched at the end with some kind of dairy.

And they're ready in less than 30 minutes.

Here’s how to use up that bumper crop.

No special ingredients needed.

When you have a glut of fresh summer fruit, sorbets are the answer. You don’t need a recipe — just a basic template to follow and a little creativity. Strawberry-peach sorbet? Mint-infused watermelon sorbet? Raspberry-rosé sorbet? Yes, let’s make all of these this summer. All you need is chopped fruits, puree it, then add a little simple syrup and lemon juice, chill the base, churn the sorbet, and then freeze it.

I’m visiting family in Texas this summer, and I did a triple-take upon seeing the price of Hatch green chiles from neighboring New Mexico: three pounds for a mere dollar! There are only so many chile peppers one can eat in a sitting, but that didn’t stop me from buying them in bulk and roasting them to put up in my family’s freezer.

Cooler than the original.

If you love margaritas, this one’s for you.

The humble banana gets the spotlight.

It’s so versatile.

They’re decadent and deeply chocolaty.

It’s a must-try!

Banish all thoughts of stringy, tough, sad chicken from your mind. For our chicken salad sandwiches and quick chicken weeknight meals, we want nothing but the best. And for that, poached chicken is definitely the way to go. This poached chicken method is easy, fast, and foolproof. Totally tender chicken breasts that are as good for dinner as they are for lunch the next day? Not a problem.

If you’ve avoided cooking dried beans at home because you’ve heard they are tricky, finicky, or complicated, it’s time to leave all that behind. Cooking dried beans, whether they’re black beans, pinto beans, or dried chickpeas, is no more trouble than filling a pot of water and letting it simmer happily on the back burner all afternoon. In fact, that’s basically all it is.

Make this once, and it will be your new go-to.

They’re soft, tangy, and oh-so tender.

Ever had a classic French palmier? A flaky turnover filled with fruit? A bite of puff pastry filled with cranberry sauce and brie at a cocktail party? All these delicious treats start right here, with this dough. Yes, you can buy puff pastry at the store, but if you’re in the mood for a real baking project, you can make it yourself at home. All you need is a pastry scraper and a French rolling pin, and simple ingredients like flour, water, and butter.

With fresh or frozen bananas.

We've got the secret to fluffy and dense matzo balls.

So tender, so fluffy.

I make them every week.

Mom always knows best.

Oh, and it's so easy to make.

Behold the single food that has revolutionized my weekly meal plan – shredded chicken! The very best thing about cooking up a batch of shredded chicken are all the possibilities it brings to mealtime. It can mean a week’s worth of dinners — everything from chicken tacos and chicken burritos to chicken salad are made more satisfying with shredded chicken. It’s an easy solution for make-ahead lunches and weeknight dinners the whole family will love.

It takes only 20 minutes.

It's hard to eat just one.

It takes just a little bit of time and patience with nearly zero effort.

Hello, gorgeous.

lasagna's lazier cousin.

Yes, it’s really that good.

Perfect with a cup of Joe.

Meet your new favorite sweet.

Many of us turn to beans for our weekly meals. It’s a beloved pantry staple for hearty chili, winter stews, and comforting soups. Canned beans are no stranger to my pantry (there’s always a variety lining the shelves for an emergency), but over these past several months at home, I’ve become a dried bean convert.

Looks fancy, but it's so easy to make.

Trust us on this one.

So light, so citrusy.

Enjoy with a glass of good wine.

Chewy, nutty, chocolaty perfection.

All the pickle girls out there — this one’s for you.

The perfect weekend project.

It's impossible to eat just one.

They bake in half the time as the classic.

King cakes are made around the world as part of the festival of the Epiphany, but in New Orleans, king cakes have truly taken on a life of their own. From the start of Carnival on January 6 through Mardi Gras at the beginning of February, you’ll find one of these sweet, color-splashed king cakes just about everywhere. Did you get “the baby”? That means you bring the next cake — and we have just the cake you’ll want to bring.

Meet your new favorite party recipe: slow cooker baked beans. Long loved for their sweet, tangy flavor and tender, creamy texture, baked beans for backyard barbecues, summer cookouts, and game day parties used to mean heating up the whole house to slowly cook the dried beans for hours upon hours. Here the slow cooker saves the day by doing all the work and keeping you cool at the same time.

It's the most comforting thing you'll cook this winter.

Join the ‘goon squad!

And good fortune!

Pork shoulder is one of my secret weapons in the kitchen. Slow-cooked, it can become a thousand different meals. I can mix in some barbecue sauce and make pulled pork sandwiches, scatter it on top of tortilla chips for pulled pork nachos, or use it as a filling for pulled pork lettuce wraps. And that’s just to start! Here’s everything you need to know about pork shoulder — from choosing the meat to transforming it into a fork-tender meal that can last all week.

They could barely wait to get their hands on this recipe.

Hint: Put down the extra-sharp cheddar.

So warm, so cozy.

Almost everything you need is in your pantry.

If you were to glimpse into my freezer at any given moment, I guarantee you’d find a pound or two of uncooked sausage inside. Hot Italian sausage is my preference — either ground sausage sold in bulk or as links — but really, no matter the variety, ground sausage makes delicious quick and easy dinners. It’s so packed with seasoning that you hardly need to do much to turn it into a meal.

Casually read a book while you wait.

This is a bowl of pure comfort.

And they’re a breeze to make.

Bonus: It's super easy.