Can You Freeze Vodka Sauce?

Can You Freeze Vodka Sauce?

Anyone who loves pasta probably appreciates some vodka sauce to go with it. Vodka sauce is one of those loveable dishes that aren’t complicated to prepare. Maybe you’ve just had vodka sauce for the first time and you’re craving some more, you can easily go online to find an explanatory recipe on preparing vodka sauce – there are a lot of them on the internet.  The sauce usually has a nice creamy texture and mouth-watering flavor.   

Because the preparation of vodka sauce isn’t so complicated and it can be eaten with various pastas, vodka sauce tends to be a go-to meal when you’re looking for something to cook in bulk and store for some time. When you have some free time to cook, you can get your vodka sauce ingredients together and prepare it in large quantities to feed the entire family in the nearest future.

Now, if you’ll be making a large quantity of vodka sauce, proper preservation is a key factor that comes to mind. You begin to wonder; how can I preserve vodka sauce? Can I freeze vodka sauce? Well, the answer to that question is yes, you can freeze vodka sauce. You may either freeze the sauce separately, or freeze it along with the desired pasta. Vodka sauce can actually last between 3 to 6 months in the freezer.

Regardless of which option you prefer, vodka sauce can definitely be preserved through freezing.

Freezing Vodka Sauce

Now that we’ve established that vodka sauce can successfully be preserved through freezing, there are a couple of things you should know. For instance, you can’t place the vodka sauce inside the freezer immediately after preparation. This is because the vodka sauce is still hot at that point and freezing then would facilitate the formation of ice crystals and cause freezer burn.

Also, when you’re trying to cool your batches of vodka sauce down to room temperature, you need to be careful not to leave them out too long. Sitting the vodka sauce at room temperature for a prolonged period will damage the dish.

With that in mind, you should know that time is a key contributing factor in the preservation of vodka sauce through freezing – it is a relevant factor before freezing, during freezing, and also after freezing.   

How to Freeze Vodka Sauce

To make things easier for you, these are a few basic steps for freezing vodka sauce:

Step 1: Totally Cool Down the Vodka Sauce

Food isn’t supposed to be kept in the freezer while it’s still hot; doing that will result in rapid destruction of the food’s quality. You should allow some time for the hot vodka sauce to totally cool down to room temperature. Sit the bowl of vodka sauce down on the countertop and time how long it sits there. Remember that you can’t leave it out at room temperature for too long.

Step 2: Pack the Vodka Sauce Securely   

After cooling down the vodka sauce, the next step is to pack it properly. Based on your kitchen supplies, you can either use a freezer-safe bag to pack the vodka sauce, or place it in a container. In case you’re trying to eliminate between these two available options, you should know that the freezer-safe bags are actually more advantageous when compared to containers.

When your vodka sauce is kept in a freezer-safe bag, there is sufficient space for it to expand at any point in the freezer. In addition to that, freezer bags also make it easier to arrange your packed vodka sauce in the freezer compartments while conserving space at the same time.

Step 3: Seal the Packed Vodka Sauce and Freeze

After securing the vodka sauce in your container of choice, seal it closed and place in the freezer. It is advisable to write the present date on the freezer bag with a marker; doing so helps you keep track of how long the vodka sauce has spent in the freezer.  

How to Reheat Frozen Vodka Sauce

If you’re planning to eat some of that frozen vodka sauce with pasta soon, you’ll start thinking of how to defrost it. There are a couple of methods that can be applied to defrost your frozen batch of vodka sauce.

First off, you may choose to defrost the frozen vodka sauce in a refrigerator.  This is a reliable method because the refrigerator thaws the frozen sauce while also keeping it cool at the same time. The cool temperature ensures that the integrity of cream used in the vodka sauce isn’t compromised.

Simply take out the frozen vodka sauce from inside the freezer, sit it in a plate, and put in the fridge. However, you need to know that this method takes time. After the vodka sauce is defrosted, you may put it in a saucepan and heat it up.

If you don’t want to wait several hours for the refrigerator to thaw your frozen vodka sauce, you can put it out on the countertop. However, you must not leave it out on the countertop for too long because the sauce goes bad when exposed to room temperature for too long.

Lastly, the microwave oven is another method for defrosting and reheating vodka sauce. The microwave works fast and your sauce should be reheated within few minutes.

How Long Can You Keep Frozen Vodka Sauce?

If refrigerated, your vodka sauce will only be kept preserved for about 4 – 5 days. However, freezing the sauce increases its life to about 3 whole months. When you’re about to freeze your bowl of vodka sauce, make sure you write the present date on it – this way you won’t lose track of how long it has been kept frozen.

 Does Freezing Vodka Sauce Affect the Texture? Yes, freezing vodka sauce can cause a change in its original texture. However, this isn’t an irreversible alteration. Once the frozen sauce is thawed and being reheated, mix the sauce gently together and its texture should be restored.