Overhead of whole, hulled, individually frozen strawberries in a glass container.

Each May, I pick around 100 pounds of fresh, red, ripe strawberries. While a lot of those beautiful berries go straight into my familyโ€™s mouths, I do manage to save some of them for freezing as well.

Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits to freeze because freezing preserves the flavor so well, and frozen strawberries are stupendously versatile! We love using frozen strawberries in jams, smoothies, crisps, pies, and oatmeal. Frozen strawberries are a wonderful way to bring a little bit of summer to wintertime!

Overhead of fresh strawberries in a ceramic punnet with fresh berries spilling out.

How do you freeze strawberries without them getting mushy?

Letโ€™s be honest, no matter what you do, frozen strawberries are never going to have the same texture after defrosting as they would if they were fresh. But you can help the strawberries keep their shape and avoid mushiness if you follow a few simple rules:

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  • Avoid using overripe strawberriesโ€”if they are dark red and already super-soft before going into the freezer, they will be mushy when you defrost them.
  • Freeze your strawberries in a single layer on a baking sheet before moving them to containers. Big clumps of frozen berries will defrost unevenly, making them more prone to mush.
  • Wash your strawberries before freezing. This will remove any potential mold or bacteria that would help your strawberries break down faster.
Lidded glass container labeled strawberries filled with whole, frozen strawberries sits atop a wooden cutting board alongside fresh strawberries.

Should strawberries be washed before freezing?

For organic strawberries, itโ€™s recommended, but not absolutely necessary. A gentle wash in cold water to get off any dirt before freezing will do the trick. For conventionally grown strawberries, we absolutely suggest washing the berries well before freezing.

One caveat here, if you are planning on using your berries for wild yeast in beer or wine brewing, do not wash your berries before freezing. This will remove any of the wild yeast.

Close-up of fresh strawberries cleaned and hulled on a baking tray.

Is it better to freeze strawberries with sugar?

That’s a matter of preference! We don’t sweeten our strawberries before freezing, because we like the flexibility that unsweetened berries provide. Sugared strawberries are great if you’re making a dessert or a sweet sauce, but you may not want them to be as sweet in your cocktails or smoothies. And you need unsweetened berries if you plan to turn them into jam later!

If you do want to add sugar, sprinkle the berries with sugar before spreading them out on a baking sheet to freeze.

Is it better to freeze strawberries whole or sliced?

It depends on what you are using your strawberries for! We use most of our frozen strawberries for smoothies, so we stick with whole berries because itโ€™s simpler. If you want to make pies or crisps, you might want to go with sliced. Or maybe you want to do a little of both. Itโ€™s up to you!

Close-up of glass container labeled strawberries filled with individually frozen whole strawberries.

Okay, teach me how to freeze strawberries!

The process to freeze strawberries is super simple:

Wash your fresh strawberries. Just rinse them gently with cool water.

Close view of fresh berries in a ceramic punnet.

Remove the hulls. Now you need to remove the green leaves and any tougher white core. You can do this with a sharp paring knife, orโ€”my favorite tool for this, a strawberry huller! If you plan on freezing a lot of strawberries regularly, it is worth buying one. I got mine for $2 at a local strawberry patch 10 years ago, and it still works wonderfully.

Collage of images showing how to hull strawberries using a strawberry huller.

Time to freeze! Spread your strawberries out in a single layer on a baking sheet, and slide it into your freezer. Once they are frozen, youโ€™re ready to move on!

Protip: Adding sugar.

If you want to freeze sweetened strawberries, add the sugar before spreading the berries out on the baking pan.

Overhead of fresh strawberries cleaned and hulled on a baking sheet.
Overhead of whole, hulled, individually frozen strawberries on a baking sheet.

Move the strawberries to your freezer containers. Move your strawberries to your freezer containers or bags, label, and seal! Be sure to squeeze out as much air as you can.

Freezer bag labeled strawberries lying on it's side, closed, and full of whole, hulled, individually frozen strawberries.

Wholefully Protip

We flash freeze strawberries (freezing them flat on a baking sheet) first to make them easy to measure out later and easy to thaw evenly.

What containers should I use to freeze fresh strawberries?

What containers you use to freeze your strawberries depends on a few factors. How much freezer space do you have? How are you planning on using your berries? What is your personal belief on the use of plastic to store your food?

Overhead of various freezer containers such as vacuum seal bags, plastic zipper lock bags, glass containers with locking lids, and mason jars.

Here are the four main ways you can store your frozen strawberries:

  1. Glass Food Storage Containersโ€”They take up more space, but are reusable and completely freezer safe. They also stack really nicely, which is wonderful in a chest or upright freezer.
  2. Glass Canning Jarsโ€”They also take up more space than plastic baggies, but wedge better in small nooks in your freezer. Make sure to look for freezer safe jars (the ones with straight sides).
  3. Zip-top Freezer Bagsโ€”These are the most affordable of the options, and they take up less space, but they are also single-use plastic and give you the shortest freezer life.
  4. Vacuum Sealing Bagsโ€”This is the way to save the most space and get the longest life from your frozen berries, but it does require purchasing a special piece of equipment and using single use plastics. Vacuum sealing isnโ€™t the best option if you plan on grabbing just a little bit at a time (like a handful of berries for a smoothie) because it is difficult to reseal the bags once they are cut open.
Overhead of plastic freezer bag open and filled with individually frozen whole strawberries.

There is no right or wrong answer here, and in fact, in our freezer, youโ€™ll see a combination of all four of these. For our strawberry haul each year, I usually put most of it in quart and gallon vacuum sealed bags. The quart size is perfect for crisps and crumbles, and the gallon size works to dump into a large glass food storage container to keep at the ready for smoothies.

Wholefully Protip

You must flash freeze strawberries before putting them in a vacuum sealer. If you donโ€™t, the pressure of the vacuum will smoosh the berries and suck the juice into your sealer.

Overhead of frozen strawberries in a vacuum sealed bag.

How long will my frozen strawberries last in the freezer?

Without vacuum sealing, youโ€™ll want to use your strawberries within about 8-12 months. If you have vacuum sealed your berries, you can get as much as 2-3 years out of frozen strawberries!

What can I do with frozen strawberries? Do I need to thaw them first?

Strawberries are one of the most versatile things you can freeze! Whether you need to thaw them first depends on how youโ€™re using them. Here are a few ideas we have for using them (and weโ€™ll let you know if you need to thaw first or not:

Frozen berries piled high in a glass container resting on a wooden cutting board.
 
Overhead of whole, hulled, individually frozen strawberries in a glass container.

How to Freeze Strawberries

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes

Preserve the flavors of summer by learning how to freeze strawberries! It's an easy task that takes just a few minutes.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups strawberries

Instructions

  1. Rinse the strawberries gently with cool water.
  2. Slice the hulls (the green and tough white parts).
  3. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet, and slide the sheet into the freezer.
  4. Once frozen, move the strawberries to freezer containers or bags, removing as much air as possible.

Notes

  • Strawberries can be frozen whole or sliced.
  • This can be done with any amount of strawberries, as long as you have enough space in your freezer!

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1/2 cup
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 28Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 2gSugar: 4gProtein: 1g

At Wholefully, we believe that good nutrition is about much more than just the numbers on the nutrition facts panel. Please use the above information as only a small part of what helps you decide what foods are nourishing for you.

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