Alfredo sauce is an easy sauce to prepare. It goes well with pasta and many other foods. If you’re not so interested in cooking your own Alfredo sauce, you can purchase it at a fair price from a nearby store.
Alfredo sauce, which is made with mozzarella cheese and cream, is a popular comfort food in several homes. Personally, I prefer to make my own Alfredo sauce whenever I have the time. There are times when I prepare a considerably large portion of the sauce for preservation till a later date.
If you didn’t know before, Alfredo sauce can actually be preserved safely for a long time. This possibility of long-term preservation provides a solution to the wastage of leftover Alfredo sauce. So, how can you preserve Alfredo sauce?
Can you freeze Alfredo sauce? Yes, you can freeze Alfredo sauce. Correctly freezing the sauce can prolong its shelf life for up to 3 months – whether it’s store-bought or homemade. Freezing gives you a fresh supply of the creamy sauce whenever you’re craving it with some pasta, or any other food.
If the leftover Alfredo sauce or the batch you prepared for later use isn’t that much, you can make use of refrigeration as a short-term alternative to freezing. Refrigeration is able to preserve the quality of Alfredo sauce for up to a week. If kept any longer than that, the sauce will go bad.
Getting the best quality out of frozen Alfredo sauce goes beyond just the freezing process. It is also influenced by the defrosting and reheating processes. If you are able to freeze, thaw, and reheat your Alfredo sauce correctly, you’ll have successfully preserved its delicious taste and creamy texture over a significant period of time.
Freezing Alfredo Sauce
When freezing sauces, you’ll need to consider the effects of their ingredients. For instance, the dairy products found in Alfredo sauce have their own effects on its freezing process. Typically, dairy products aren’t easy to freeze. The cream and cheese used in the Alfredo sauce are likely to separate after a while in the freezer. This separation affects the consistency of the Alfredo sauce – making it appear different from what you originally froze.
However, regardless of these likely effects and changes, you can still preserve the good quality of your Alfredo sauce through freezing. In fact, freezing isn’t what you should be worried about. Instead, be very careful when you want to make use of the frozen sauce. You need to use the proper thawing and reheating methods.
How to Freeze Alfredo Sauce
If you’re reading this article right now, I believe it’s because you want to know more about freezing Alfredo sauce. So, without taking much of your time, I’ll get straight to it. Here are the steps you should follow when freezing your homemade or store-bought Alfredo sauce.
1. Allow Freshly Made Alfredo Sauce to Cool
If you’ve just prepared some Alfredo sauce at home, you can’t freeze it immediately. Instead, you must give the sauce some time to cool down. You should only place the Alfredo sauce in the freezer when it is at room temperature.
However, you must also be careful not to leave the sauce sitting at room temperature for too long. If the Alfredo sauce is left at room temperature for over 4 hours, it will have to be thrown away.
The reason for not freezing the sauce while it’s still hot is that it will raise freezer temperature and cause other food items to repeatedly thaw and refreeze.
2. Transfer Alfredo Sauce into Freezer-Safe Bags
After the Alfredo sauce has cooled down, you can proceed to pack it for freezing. This step is very important. Failure to pack the sauce correctly will result in harmful exposure to cold freezer air. It is advisable to divide the Alfredo sauce into multiple freezer-safe bags. Doing so will make it easier to grab just the portion you need whenever you want to thaw and reheat.
3. Remove Air from Inside the Freezer Bags and Seal Tightly
After filling all the freezer bags with Alfredo sauce, go ahead to remove as much air as possible. You can make use of a vacuum sealing machine to remove the air inside the freezer-safe bags or you can do it manually. For those who want to use manual methods, insert a straw through each freezer-safe bag and suck out the air. Rapidly seal off the bags so that air doesn’t escape back in.
Try not to completely fill the freezer-safe bags with sauce. Instead, leave some space for possible expansion of the sauce in the freezer.
After sealing the freezer-safe bags, proceed to label them with the present date. This will keep you reminded of how long the sauce has been frozen for.
How to Thaw and Reheat Frozen Alfredo Sauce
As I mentioned earlier, the dairy parts of Alfredo sauce will likely separate in the freezer and cause changes to the sauce’s consistency. However, the original consistency can still be gotten back after thawing the frozen Alfredo sauce.
Here are a few guidelines for thawing and reheating frozen Alfredo sauce:
- Transfer the Alfredo sauce from your freezer into a refrigerator. Because thawing in the fridge takes several hours, it is best to leave the Alfredo sauce inside the fridge overnight.
- After the sauce has thawed completely, you’ll need to bring it back to its original consistency. Grab a spoon and stir the Alfredo sauce together till the desired consistency is returned.
- Place a pot that’s big enough on the stove and pour the thawed sauce into it. Make sure that the stove’s fire isn’t burning too hurt. Grab a spoon and stir the Alfredo sauce together as it reheats on the stove.
- Once the Alfredo sauce is properly heated, take it off the stove and serve it with some pasta or whatever other food you like.
You should know that you aren’t supposed to refreeze Alfredo sauce after you’ve already thawed and reheated it once; so make sure you only thaw a portion of it that can be finished at once.