can you freeze spinach and kale for smoothies

One of the easiest ways to freeze spinach, kale, collard greens, chard, or any kind of leafy green is to steam it, blend it, and freeze it in cubes. You can use the leafy green cubes in smoothies, soups, or stew. This easy tutorial shows you how to make spinach smoothie cubes.

If you’re like me, you often find that you have extra greens in your refrigerator that need to be used up right away. Freezing greens like spinach, kale, and Swiss chard is a great way to preserve them before they go bad.

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Once you freeze your spinach or kale into cubes, it’s very easy to use them later in smoothies, soups, stews, or pasta dishes. So, if you find yourself with extra leafy greens on hand, then I hope this guide helpful.

Recipe Steps

Most vegetables need to be cooked before being frozen, and that applies to spinach and kale as well. There are a few reasons to cook your veggies before freezing them. The first reason is to remove any bacteria that might be on the surface of your veggies. The second reason is to slow down the enzymes that are working to break down your vegetables.

Most people either steam or blanch their vegetables before freezing them. My opinion is that steaming is the ideal way since you are less likely to leach out the nutrients from the spinach or kale.

Step One

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The first step to freezing your greens is to steam them. As mentioned above, I find it easier and more beneficial to steam my kale or spinach as opposed to blanching them. You can either use a steamer basket or a microwave.

Step Two

Once your greens are lightly steamed, then you can either transfer them to a glass container to cool, or you can move to step three to puree them.

Step Three

If you want to puree your greens before you freeze them, then the next step is to add them to the base of a high-speed blender. Pureeing your spinach and kale leaves before freezing them is a great way to prepare them to use in smoothie or soups.

Step Four

The next step to freezing your spinach or kale is to either pour the puree into ice cube trays (I like these silicone ice cube trays). They’ll need to freeze about 4-12 hours in the freezer.

Step Five

Finally, the very last step is to remove your frozen spinach or kale cubes and transfer them to a zip-top bag for storage in your freezer.

How to Use Frozen Spinach

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Using frozen spinach or kale cubes is as easy as dropping one of your smoothie cubes into a pot of soup or into a smoothie. Since you’ve already steamed the spinach before freezing it, you don’t have to worry about cooking it again if you don’t want to (like in a smoothie).

Frozen spinach or kale can last up to several months in the freezer.

FAQs

Recommended Items

• Steamer basket
• Silicone ice cube trays

Other Guides to Freezing Food

• How to Freeze Ripe Avocados
• How to Freeze Cauliflower
• How to Freeze Broccoli
• How to Freeze Ripe Bananas

I hope you make this recipe! If you do, please leave a comment and a starred review below.

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