Can You Freeze Avocado? (Storage Tips & Prevent Browning)

Avocados are nutritious little superfoods jam-packed with essential nutrients and all the good stuff.

However, as many know, the avocado season isn’t all year round, and come certain seasons, avocados seem to simply vanish off the shelves of grocery stores!

That’s when you store them.

You shouldn’t simply chuck the whole avocado in the freezer and hope for the best.

You’ll need to prepare it in advance and store it in an airtight freezer bag or cling wrap.

In addition, you can consider cutting up your avocados and storing them in meal-sized portions like in halves.

Here’s how to freeze your avocados so you can enjoy them all year round!

1. Cut your avocado in half and remove the seed or pip. Be careful! Avocado seeds are notorious for causing accidental cuts and nicks from the knife.
2. Squeeze some lemon juice on the avocado, which will decrease the possibility of your avocado turning brown when defrosted.
3. Wrap the avocado meat in cling film or wrap, and place it in the freezer on a plate or in a container overnight.
4. When they have completely frozen, you can remove them from the plate and place them in a ziplock bag to retrieve them when you require them. This flash freezing method will assist protect the avocado when you freeze it for a more extended period.

How do you store avocados in the freezer?  

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different portions to store avocado.

Some might prefer their avocados stored in halves or single-serving portions, while others might choose to store them whole.

The most challenging part of freezing avocados is preserving the aesthetically pleasing green color after weeks or even months.

The key to this is minimizing or eliminating the amount of air in the container or airtight freezer bag before the avocado gets frozen.

If you own a vacuum sealer, now’s the time to use it!

When a vacuum sealer, you can even store whole avocados optimally without additional equipment, plastic, or unnecessary waste.

Wait till the avocado is ripe before removing meat from the shell and seed.

If you want to store the avocado in a freezer for a longer period, it is recommended that you store the entire avocado in a closed container or airtight freezer bag to avoid having the rest of your frozen food adopt the smell and taste of the frozen avocado.

Frozen avocados can be stored for up to six months.

When you’re ready to enjoy the avocado, thaw it out in the fridge overnight and slice and use it as needed.

Experiment with the timing and monitor your avocado closely.

Ideally, you’ll want to cut your avocado when it is partially thawed. If the avocado is allowed to thaw out for too long, it might become mushy and too soft.

 

Did you know that avocados are actually a fruit and not a vegetable?

This delicious and creamy fruit is packed with nutrients that are essential for good health.

Avocados are also very versatile and can be used in both sweet and savory dishes.

To add the icing on the cake, many people don’t know is that avocados can also be frozen without affecting their nutritional value.

That’s right!

You can store avocados in the freezer for later use and they will still retain all of their healthy fats, fiber, and nutrients.

Just remember that frozen avocados will be slightly mushier than fresh ones when thawed, so they may not be ideal for use in salads or other dishes where texture is important.

But for smoothies, dips, and sauces, frozen avocados will work just fine.

Add a dash of lemon juice to prevent the avocado from browning due to oxidization, and seal the avocado tightly in plastic or a vacuum sealer.

While the final texture of a defrosted avocado is not as creamy as the fresh fruit, it is pretty darn close!

Once you are ready to use your frozen avocado, remove it from the freezer and thaw it in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

Thawing normally takes about 1 hour at room temperature and a few hours if left in the fridge.

Try not to thaw the avocado for too long, which can result in a texture that is excessively mushy and soft.

Thawed avocado can be used for salad dressings, smoothies, and other dishes like guacamole dips and spreads.

If your avocado smells terrible or is very mushy, you will need to throw it away.

Here are a few ways from which you will know when an avocado is rotten.

• Don’t bother about a few brown spots on the flesh, but it should still be about 65% green when you cut it in half.
• If your avocado is visibly moldy and it is 35% brown, then you should throw it away.
• If your ripe avocado doesn’t smell bad and has some friendly, firm green spots, you can probably cut away the bad parts and still freeze the good parts.

However, this doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

In fact, many people swear that frozen avocados taste even better than fresh ones!

You can add a dash of lemon juice to your avocados before popping them into the freezer.

This prevents oxidization and will help keep the avocado meat from browning.

The texture is noticeably different with frozen avocados.

They tend to be softer and mushier, so try not to fully thaw them out before use.

While using thaw avocados, try to avoid using them in salads because of their mushy texture.

Smoothies and dips are excellent choices for frozen avocados.

Avocado is a delicious fruit that is used in almost every country around the world.

Because this fruit is not available all year round, many buy copious amounts of this addictive fruit to store and consume during the off reason.

The most commonly used storage method for avocados is freezing.

Although freezing often degrades the quality of many types of fruit, avocados tend to retain their nutritional content even after thawing.

There are numerous ways to defrost an avocado.

Some are quick, while others take time.

Be patient, often, quick ways to defrost often cause the food to lose some of its nutritional content.

At room temperature, the avocado usually defrosts in about an hour.

It only takes a few minutes in the microwave to defrost, but it is risky, and over-zapping your avocado will make it mushy and cause it to lose heaps of its nutritional content.

Lightly spraying your avocado is also another way to prevent browning.

Fill a cheap spray bottle with lemon juice from the dollar store.

Then, before freezing, evenly spray your avocado pieces and you might just be able to prevent the browning from oxidization when defrosting.

Lemons are a natural preservative, and they contain citric acid and Vitamin C, both of which work to inhibit oxidation.

In addition, lemons also have a very low pH, which further helps to preserve avocados and keep them from browning.

When you add lemon juice to avocados, it not only helps to keep them from browning but also adds a delicious brightness and acidity to the fruit.

Try as much as you can to store avocados in airtight containers, or freezer bags that are vacuum-sealed or with the air squeezed out.

However, if despite your best efforts, you cannot seem to prevent your avocado from turning brown, fret not!

You can still eat a brown avocado.

The quality of nutrients and the overall taste is not significantly affected.

The brown is simply caused by the fruit’s exposure to oxygen.

Avocados are an excellent source of healthy fats, vitamins, and essential minerals like potassium, vitamin C, and vitamin E.

If you feel squeamish about the brown parts, you can simply cut the browning outer layers away and you should see fresh, green flesh beneath.

So, there you have it! You can absolutely freeze avocados and they will still retain many of their nutrients.

In fact, freezing them can actually help to preserve some of the antioxidants that are found in this delicious fruit.

So go ahead and stock up on avocados at your local farmers’ market and enjoy their fresh taste and nutrient-rich goodness all year long!