When you want to freeze baked beans, there are some things you need to know before letting them sit in the freezer for a few months. Those can help you prolong the life of your frozen baked beans and store the best taste of them.
Baked beans are easygoing foods that can appear in the meal of each family, no matter if it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can even elevate them by learning how to create BBQ baked beans or other more complex versions to serve in the potluck.
For this basic taste, you can have it on both the homemade version or the canned version. But the way you treat the leftover beans or the almost used beans of those two versions is different.
If you are wondering about freezing the homemade baked beans or the canned baked beans, how to freeze them, how long will they last? Those questions will be answered in the information of this writing.
How To Freeze The Baked Beans?
Even if the baked beans you have are leftover baked beans or canned baked beans, there are a few steps you need to do in order to freeze them.
- Let the beans in or under the room temperature: Hot and warm baked beans are not allowed to go to the freezer. This step is the main difference in how you can store and freeze the homemade or canned beans.
- Divide them into serving: Separate baked beans into each serving is more convenient for each time you defrost them.
- Transfer them to the freezer bags: For safety, metal cans are not recommended to store baked beans in the freezer.
- Label them: You should take note of the freezing day to be sure for the best time to use.
- Freeze: If all the steps are already done, it is the time to freeze your baked beans.
Why Do You Need To Freeze Baked Beans?
Most of the time, baked beans sold in grocery stores usually have a long shelf life. Typically, it is up to a year if you have not opened it. However, even canned baked beans of the highest quality can still go bad should you fail to store them properly.
To store baked beans correctly, you’ll need to understand the dish’s nature. For instance, you should be aware of whether baked beans can be considered vegetables, fruits, legumes, etc. Then, you’ll need to consider if your baked beans are leftovers or not.
To freeze a can of unopened baked beans in the freezer may seem weird, but freezing the leftover baked beans is more appropriate.
When you buy more food as a sale, the price will be lower than just one of them. So, storing the leftover baked beans you haven’t eaten in the freezer will save their taste for subsequent use.
Gluten-sensitive individuals tend to make baked beans on their own rather than buying canned ones as they fear if the baked beans are gluten-free or not. And in the homemade meal, if you have the leftover baked beans, freezing them is the most appropriate way to reuse them next time.
Instead of wasting food, you can store them in the freezer and still have them in taste within 6 months.
Moreover, freezing baked beans also prevents them from being spoiled or harmed when compared to the room condition.
How To Freeze The Baked Beans?
Although the time length baked beans can last in fridges is quite impressive already, you might want to extend it more by freezing the dish. Luckily, this process is quite easy. There’s only one small difference between freezing homemade beans and canned beans that you need to know.
To Freeze The Homemade One
Most of the time, homemade baked beans do to freeze are the leftover beans, which are left behind after your meal. You don’t want to waste them and freezing them is the best way of storage in the long run.
The first thing that needs to be done is to let them cool down. Before letting it cool down, make sure the dish’s consistency is to your liking first. Runny baked beans require more water; and among the various ways to thicken baked beans, I’d suggest using cornstarch.
Now that everything is exactly how you want it, let the beans cool down completely before putting the dish inside the freezer.
When the beans are totally cool down, you can divide them into each serving due to the need of your family for a meal.
After that, transfer them to the freezable containers, which are safe in the freezer. Do not use breakable glass jars or metal cans to store baked beans, and it could potentially explode or crack in your freezer.
Within 6 months is the safest time to use your baked beans. If you want, you can store them for a longer time. However, at that time, the beans will gradually lose their taste.
Freezing baked beans is not as hard as you think by watching this video:
To Freeze The Canned Baked Beans
The beans left in the opened-bought can should go to the freezer for a long shelf life. However,when you open and consume a store-bought baked bean, they are usually at room temperature or under it.
In this case, you don’t have to wait for them back to room temperature, you can divide them for each serving and send them to the freezer.
For your safety, you need to use the freezer bag or freezer container to store the baked beans.
How To Defrost The Baked Beans?
When you want to use the freeze-baked beans in other recipes, you need to thaw them before using them. There are 4 ways that you can defrost the frozen beans.
Leave Them Aside:
This is the easiest way but takes the longest time. When you want to thaw those beans, take them out of the freezer. The room temperature will slowly defrost the beans and this process takes from a few hours to a night.
When you thaw the baked beans this way, you should place them in a dried sink or on a plate. The water defrosting from beans is going to leak out.
If you only have a short time using this way, soaking the frozen bag beans in water will boost the thawing process.
In The Fridge:
The second way to defrost baked beans is to leave them in the refrigerator. The temperature of the fridge is lower than in the freezer, but it’s still cold enough to keep them fresh.
Placing the frozen beans in the fridge will gradually increase those beans’ temperature then defrost them without affecting the taste.
However, there is water leaking when you leave the frozen beans in the fridge. So, another container such as a plate or bowl is recommended to be used.
By Using The Microwave:
Microwave is a convenient house appliance for both defrosting and reheating foods. When you choose the microwave for thawing baked beans, you need to transfer the beans to a microwave-safe container.
You also need to set the appropriate time and temperature to defrost the beans. If the temperature you set is too high, the beans will end up with the burn in the edge but still frozen inside. If the running time is not enough, your beans will not wholly thaw.
By Saucepan:
If you don’t want to use the microwave, you also can defrost the baked beans with a saucepan. Take the beans out of the freezing bag and transfer them into the sauce, and then turn on the fire in the low or medium. That is all you need to do.
Using a saucepan, you should not use the high mode. It will burn your beans before they thaw. Moreover, it would be best if you also stirred them frequently to avoid burning.
How To Reheat The Beans?
You can reheat the baked beans by microwave, oven or saucepan.
After thawing the beans in those ways, a few more minutes adding will help you reheat them.
Or after you naturally defrost them, you can use a microwave, saucepan, or oven to reheat them too.
In The Microwave: You can plus 1 or 2 minutes to the thawing time to reheat the beans. Or you can switch to reheat mode after the microwave finishes its defrosting way.
In The Saucepan: When the frozen beans are melted, stir them regularly until the boiling bubbles appear. They have reheated already. Now, it’s time to choose some compatible side dishes with baked beans, and get ready to serve.
In The Oven: To reheat the baked beans in an oven, you should use the heatproof with a lid or a cover. This will prevent your beans from being dried on the surface. The suitable temperature is about 180°C or 360°F for about 10 minutes.
Another advantage of using the oven to reheat your baked beans is that it can also be used to retain your food’s warmth. I’m not exaggerating, with the right techniques to retain food’s warmth in the ovens, you can keep your baked beans hot throughout the meal.
Do Not Refreeze The Baked Beans
If you can not eat all the beans you have reheated, do not freeze them again.
It can lead to food poisoning when you eat the beans frozen twice.
To prevent this, you should divide the beans into each serving enough for your family meal. And then store them in separate freezer bags.
If you want to use the beans, just defrost one or two bags, not the whole frozen baked beans.
FAQs
Besides the primary information above, there are some questions that you may ask about freezing baked beans.
Freeze Them If You Can Have Them At One But Not Twice
Although baked beans are easy to preserve by the frozen method, one should not toss the whole bag into the fridge, and separating it into smaller portions to use in the future is the recommended method. Moreover, the defrost process should be noticed for optimal taste.
I hope that this article has provided you with the best way to preserve and defrost your baked beans.
If you obtain any valuable knowledge about baked beans, feel free to share it with others via the comments area below.
