topic Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies in Recipes

Freezing Breaded Veggies

Icegoddess — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 21:58:39 GMT

Has anybody frozen BREADED eggplant/squash/zucchini like okra for frying/Air Frying? Does it come out as expected?

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

KingstonsMom — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 23:07:13 GMT

Absolutely you can.

Many breaded veggies are sold in supermarkets in the freezer dept. and come out fine.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

fthunt — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 23:09:11 GMT

My guess - don't thaw first. Ready breaded meats (QVC) - like chicken - and Omaha breaded products........says don't thaw, just put in oven at 400 - 450 degrees and then it turns crispy instead of soggy. Perhaps that goes for veggies too; but I've never tried them. Check your book for air fryer temps.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

Icegoddess — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 23:15:28 GMT

Thanks, I just don't remember seeing anything but breaded okra in the freezer aisle so I was afraid there might be a reason. I freeze my breaded okra on a cookie sheet and then put them in a Foodsaver bag.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

KingstonsMom — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 23:46:08 GMT

@Icegoddess

Freeze your breaded eggplant, zucchini, etc., the same way!

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

ECBG — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 00:24:28 GMT

@Icegoddess wrote:
Thanks, I just don't remember seeing anything but breaded okra in the freezer aisle so I was afraid there might be a reason. I freeze my breaded okra on a cookie sheet and then put them in a Foodsaver bag.

In my experience purchased breaded okra seems to be "hard" after cooking, probably from what the vender used as a coat to help the cornmeal and flour bind.

I can easily slice through whole frozen okra, run through a little milk and a mix of cornmeal and flour and it's great.

The pre breaded was horrible!

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

KingstonsMom — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 00:59:58 GMT

@ECBG

I agree about buying the frozen breaded okra, so much tastier and fresher taste to bread and freeze your own.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

Icegoddess — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 01:18:16 GMT

@ECBG wrote:
@Icegoddess wrote:
Thanks, I just don't remember seeing anything but breaded okra in the freezer aisle so I was afraid there might be a reason. I freeze my breaded okra on a cookie sheet and then put them in a Foodsaver bag.
In my experience purchased breaded okra seems to be "hard" after cooking, probably from what the vender used as a coat to help the cornmeal and flour bind.

I can easily slice through whole frozen okra, run through a little milk and a mix of cornmeal and flour and it's great.
The pre breaded was horrible!

@ECBG I have never eaten store bought frozen breaded okra. I have heard it's terrible. I make my own from fresh. In fact, I am growing dwarf okra in containers this year because my front yard is the only place I have that gets enough sun to grow veggies. I have okra, patio eggplant, and a cucumber plant. However, I have been living here 20+ years and this is my first time here doing that. I have been missing fried okra something terrible, only getting it when I ate out. Last year I bought some from a Farmer's Market and froze it, but my home grown looks so much better although it takes a bit to get enough pods for a meal.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

Icegoddess — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 01:34:23 GMT

I actually came up with a different recipe for use with my air fryer. For deep frying I soak in buttermilk w/egg and then coat with a mixture of equal parts flour and white cornmeal. However, that didn't work too well for me in the air fryer. The flour didn't brown and it was hard. I have heard if you spritz it really well with oil and let that soak in awhile the flour will brown, but I haven't tried that.

For the air fryer I started out with almond flour, then the buttermilk/egg mixture and then breading with a breadcrumb mixture and that worked out really well. Tonight I tried just plain flour instead of the almond flour since it is the bottom layer and it worked well too. So, I think as the bottom layer almond flour or AP flour works equally well.

Tonight's menu: Honey Hoisin Pork Tenderloin, Mashed Potatoes, & Air Fried Okra

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

Kachina624 — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 01:41:21 GMT

@KingstonsMom wrote:
Absolutely you can.

Many breaded veggies are sold in supermarkets in the freezer dept. and come out fine.

@KingstonsMom Processors have special equipment and ingredients for preparing and flash freezing them. I visualize the homemade variety being a big mess. I'd preparsmall quanityvas an exoeriment.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

Icegoddess — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 02:03:39 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@KingstonsMom wrote:
Absolutely you can.

Many breaded veggies are sold in supermarkets in the freezer dept. and come out fine.
@KingstonsMom Processors have special equipment and ingredients for preparing and flash freezing them. I visualize the homemade variety being a big mess. I'd preparsmall quanityvas an exoeriment.

@Kachina624 I have heard the breaded okra you can buy in the freezer section is pretty bad. My frozen breaded okra is good, so unless the eggplant/squash does something funky in the freezing process such that it wouldn't work I see no reason why me freezing it wouldn't work just fine. In any event, I'm experimenting with a single-serving size of my own personal patio eggplants I grew so I'm not out a lot if the experiment fails.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

homedecor1 — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 05:17:18 GMT

@Icegoddess

I assume you're asking about homemade vs. store bought.

I love eggplant so I make it in large batch.

I always peel & slice - then layer in 13x9 salting "lightly" each layer. I let sit for a hour or so, if I see moistures out, it's ready. Lightly rinse and pat dry. For breading I use panko bread crumbs and fry.

Once fried, I lay on brown paper bag covered with paper towel to absorb any excess oil, salt lightly. I allow it to cool then transfer to sheet pan lined with silpat or parchment paper. I freeze -- once completely frozen -- I transfer to freezer bag.

I reheat by putting in oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or until "crispy" on wire rack cookie sheet. Of course, if making it into eggplant parm I put it together frozen and bake 350 degrees covered with foil (I spray foil with Pam so cheese doesn't stick) for about 45 minutes or until bubbly.

I've done it with zucchini & sure you could do with other vegetables.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

Nightowlz — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 20:11:34 GMT

We have okra in the garden right now.

DH uses it in Gumbo & Jambalaya recipes. He also likes it fried.

DH did not like it in the air fryer. He probably needed to toss it in some olive oil to coat with oil well instead of just a spritz of oil for it to work out.

We slice it up, dip in coating & freeze on cookie sheet before putting in freezer bag.

Forgot we blanch it first. I use pickyourown.org for info on blanching, freezing veggies etc.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

Icegoddess — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 19:55:32 GMT

@Nightowlz wrote:
We have okra in the garden right now.
DH uses it in Gumbo & Jambalaya recipes. He also likes it fried.
DH did not like it in the air fryer. He probably needed to toss it in some olive oil to coat with oil well instead of just a spritz of oil for it to work out.
We slice it up, dip in coating & freeze on cookie sheet before putting in freezer bag.

@Nightowlz I think you really have to coat all the breading mixture in oil if using flour, which sorta defeats the low fat purpose of air fryers, although still less mess.

Try this. After cutting your okra, while it's still dry, dust well with seasoned flour or finely ground almond flour. Next soak in buttermilk w/beaten egg. Regular milk may work just as well, but I always use buttermilk, so don't know. After you remove from the milk coat in a mixture of regular breadcrumbs, panko breadcrumbs and fnely grated parmesan cheese. I then give a good spritz of oil and keep in the fridge until ready to cook. I cooked it in the air fryer at 370 degrees for about 10 minutes, but I check frequently.

Re: Freezing Breaded Veggies

msgb — Sat, 01 Aug 2020 03:05:07 GMT

One of my sisters had a garden. My father loved fresh veggies. One year my sister was out of town most of the summer with her children and my mother went with them to take care of the children. My father asked me to pick all sorts of the veggies.

I made a lot of items for him and then froze them. I wrote down how to reheat them in the microwave or the oven or the stove. My mother usually did most of the cooking (unless they went out for dinner). So there are recipes that can be searched on the internet to make and then freeze.

This is a good memory. My father passed in late 2017 and I know he appreciated what I did to help him.

He would say that the reheated food from frozen turned out well. In fact when my mother returned there were still some items left in the freezer. My sister had a large garden and I made a lot.