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Can You Freeze Feta Cheese?

Maria Foster
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by Maria Foster

If you are reading this article, you have likely come across a situation that requires you to freeze feta cheese. Maybe you have too much and need to store the cheese. Or maybe a new recipe is asking you to. Regardless of the reason, you are looking to freeze feta cheese.

Before you freeze the cheese, you likely have some questions about the process. The biggest question you may have is “can you freeze feta cheese?” These questions are reasonable, and you should explore them before freezing your cheese.

This article will provide you with all of the information you need to know about how to freeze feta cheese.

Can You Freeze Feta Cheese?

Feta Cheese

Can feta cheese be frozen? The short answer is, yes you can. Some changes will occur after you freeze the feta, however. It is important to be aware of these differences, as they can affect the taste of the cheese.

There are multiple reasons that someone may end up shoving their feta cheese in the freezer. If you have leftovers, you may want to avoid wasting food. A good way to keep leftovers in eating condition is to store them in the fridge or freezer.

If you already have feta cheese growing old in your fridge, you don’t have to throw it away. Freezing the cheese can increase the shelf life of your food.

It is reasonable to wonder if your cheese will handle frozen temperatures well. But now that you know you can freeze feta cheese, it is time to talk about how to do so.

More on freezing cheese:

How To Freeze Feta Cheese

Feta Cheese

Does feta cheese freeze well? Freezing feta cheese is a simple process. The first thing you will want to do is to identify the condition of your cheese. How long has it been in your fridge? Are you freezing just leftovers or all of your feta cheese?

If your cheese is not moldy or smelling especially off(all cheese is a little smelly)then you can store the feta immediately. The best way to freeze fresh feta cheese is to find an airtight container. The container needs to be able to seal well. You can store all of your feta cheese(or as much as you want to freeze)in the container and place it in the freezer.

Before placing your containers in the freezer, you will need to date the food. You can use tape or a piece of paper. Write down the date that you store the cheese and the date that the feta expires.

If you are freezing both your fresh feta and leftovers, make sure to store the cheeses separately. Storing the fresh and old cheese together can open up risks of cross-contamination. Food safety is not something to mess around with, and cross-contamination is a fast way to get people sick.

How Long Will Feta Cheese Last In The Fridge/Freezer?

To properly store your frozen feta cheese, you need to know how long it will last.

Typically, frozen feta cheese will last anywhere from three to six months. The shelf life of your frozen feta has a lot to do with when you put the cheese in the freezer. If you wait to freeze your cheese until after a couple of months, the shelf life will lower.

However, if you store the food correctly you can get a good three months before the cheese goes bad. Once you freeze feta, you are also likely to change the texture and taste of the cheese. Frozen feta cheese may come out tasting a little bland, and feeling a little dry.

If you are freezing leftover feta cheese, the flavor may go away a little more quickly. The cheese may dry out faster as well. However, feta cheese has a strong and distinct flavor. That flavor is difficult to mask entirely, so don’t worry too much about losing flavor.

The most important aspect to worry about is properly labeling your frozen cheese. Having the correct label will help prevent you from eating or serving food that has gone bad.

To label your container, you can use a piece of tape. You can also use a piece of paper. While tape or paper will suffice, some people like to buy special stickers for labeling their food. These stickers provide a format for you to write the date and time that you put the food away. There is another format for writing down the date and time the food expires.

You can easily recreate this format on a piece of tape, however. You will just need to make sure that you write down all of the important information. The important information when labeling food includes the date you freeze the food, and the date the food will go bad.

Along with that information, you will also want to write down whether you froze the food in the morning or the evening. The difference of just twelve hours can drastically change the quality of your food, even if you freeze it.

If you froze something in the morning, then your food will also expire in the morning. The same logic will apply to freezing food at night. Some do not have an overnight hold, meaning they go bad within a day of using them. Luckily, feta cheese can last for months.

How To Tell If Your Frozen Feta Cheese is Bad

Of course, sometimes you cannot prevent food from going bad. Each time that you pull out feta cheese from the freezer, you will want to make sure that you check it. Checking your food is the first step you need to take to ensure that it is still fresh.

Mold

One of the biggest signs that feta cheese is no longer good to eat is if you see mold. Mold forming on food is the biggest indicator that the food is no longer safe to eat. Once you see the mold, you need to throw it out.

Unfortunately, mold does not always form where you can see it. Any mold can likely start growing within the cheese, instead of the outside. In these cases, you won’t be able to see the mold unless you break the cheese apart.

When you are observing the cheese for signs of spoiling, make sure you break apart the cheese. Getting a good look on the inside will help avoid overlooking any hidden mold.

Feta cheese is a soft cheese, similar to ricotta or cream cheese. As a result, any sign of mold means that you have to throw away all of the cheese. When dealing with hard cheese, you can typically remove the section of cheese that has mold. After removing that section, you can continue to eat the rest of the cheese.

You cannot use the same method when it comes to soft cheese, however. If you see mold anywhere in the feta cheese, throw it out. There’s no amount of cutting or removing that you can do to guarantee that you got all of the molds.

Dryness

Another big sign that your feta cheese has gone bad is how dry it is.

There is bound to be a little drying out when you freeze feta cheese. However, your cheese has likely gone bad if it is too dry and crumbly to eat. In this case, your best bet would be to throw the cheese away.

What To Do With Frozen Feta Cheese

Now that you know how to freeze feta cheese, you may be wondering what you can do with it. The truth is, there is a lot that you can do with frozen feta cheese once you thaw it out.

Dishes that involve crumbled feta cheese work great with frozen feta. Because freezing the cheese can dry it out, you will want to find dishes that work well with crumbled feta.

One of the biggest components of feta cheese is the salt content. Any dish that goes well with salt will likely go well with feta cheese. If you are looking to add a little extra saltiness to your food, throwing some frozen feta on top is a great option.

You can also add frozen feta cheese to pasta dishes. Because you are mixing the feta in with a lot of sauce, you can end up rehydrating the cheese. As a result, the dry texture is likely to disappear.

Almost any regular dish that involves fresh feta cheese can also incorporate frozen feta. You will just need to keep in mind the changes that the cheese goes through once you freeze it. But if you can work around those changes, you can add feta cheese in naturally.

Conclusion

Can you freeze feta cheese? Freezing your feta cheese is a good way to extend the shelf life by a few months. You can store the cheese in a container and label it. Whenever you need to add the cheese to a dish, simply thaw out the feta beforehand.

Feta cheese may dry out a little bit during the freezing process. But for the most part, you can incorporate the frozen cheese into nearly any dish!

You might also be interested in alternatives to feta cheese.

About Maria Foster
Maria Foster
Maria Foster is a mother of 3 and she and her husband of 23 years share their home with 2 faithful dogs. Besides being CEO of the household and active in her community, Maria is the lead contributor to Food Champs and loves to try new food ideas and kitchen accessories to make easier and more delicious meals.
Maria Foster
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