Freeze individual servings of soup or stew in a muffin tin
This tip will give you individual servings of soup that are easy to defrost.
Soup storage is easier than making muffins.
As the weather gets colder, I make a massive amount of soup -- and end up with tons of leftovers. The best solution is to freeze it for later, but defrosting a Tupperware bowl full of soup can take almost as long as cooking it from scratch.
Plus, what if you just want some soup for yourself?
Well, there's a way to freeze soup (or stews, or broth!) into individual servings that are easily defrosted. All it takes is a muffin tin, wax paper and large freezer bags.
Here's how:
- Wait until the soup is cooled.
- Pour the soup into the muffin tin (preferably silicone), leaving a little space at the top so the soup has room to expand as it freezes.
- Put the muffin tin in your freezer for two to three hours, or until the soup is frozen.
- Pop the soup muffins out of the tin and wrap each one in wax paper.
- Put the wrapped soup muffins into a freezer bag.
- Close the freezer bag almost all the way and push the air out of the bag before finishing the seal.
- Label the bag with the date and contents using a marker.
- Put the bag of soup muffins into the freezer.
If you have a lot of soup, repeat the steps or use several muffin tins. It doesn't really matter what type of muffin pans you use, but silicone muffin pans ensure that the frozen soup doesn't stick to the pan after freezing. If all you have is aluminum, run a little hot water over the bottom of the pan and the frozen soup should pop right out.
When you have a soup craving, just select one or two of the soup muffins and defrost it in the microwave on low for around 5 minutes. This time will vary depending on your type of microwave, so keep an eye on the soup. Another option is to throw the soup in a sauce pan on low heat.
