Freezing cilantro is a great way to preserve the often bountiful harvest of this biennial herb. Its unique flavor survives well in the cold for a while unlike drying which strips the herb of its signature flavor. Depending on how you ultimately intend to use your cilantro there are two main methods for freezing.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 CiCi Li, Asian Home Cooking | 2020-05-22 18:00:08 |  487,527 Views |
3 Ways to Preserve Cilantro for Weeks or Months! CiCi Li – Asian Recipes for Home Cooking
Whichever method you choose start with perfectly clean cilantro. Rinse it in cold water to remove any dirt grit or dust that may be clinging to the leaves. Since excess water will create harmful ice crystals you’ll want to dry it thoroughly. One way to do this is to spin it in a salad spinner and layer it with paper towels. Starting at one end roll the paper towels up around the cilantro to absorb any excess moisture.
This method is the easiest choice as you simply put the leaves in a bag and freeze them. Once the cilantro has thawed the leaves don’t look great so it’s better to use the herb as an ingredient in recipes rather than as a garnish with this method.
Cilantro frozen this way works best in dishes where it will be cooked like turkey tacos or potatoes in cilantro sauce or in recipes where the leaves are really mixed like chili-cilantro guacamole. You will likely lose much of the herb's distinctive green color during the freezing process.
