How to Freeze Any Type Of Fresh Fruit

Learn how to freeze strawberries, peaches and more.

There’s nothing better than a peach picked right in the thick of summer or a crisp apple right from the tree in the fall. But what about the off-season when farm-fresh fruit is difficult to find? Our Test Kitchen experts have an easy solution: Stock up on your favorites and freeze. Not sure if the fruit can be frozen? Check out our guide here.

Freezing fruit allows you to preserve as much of that fresh, flavorful taste as possible without any additives. If you’re looking to save fruit for later, follow these some simple steps if you want the best taste and texture.

How to Freeze Fresh Fruit

Person using a knife to remove the middle of a strawberryPhoto: Taste of Home

Step 1: Business as Usual

Before freezing, prep your fruit as you normally would before serving–that means giving all your goodies a rinse first. Then hull strawberries, remove stems from grapes, chop pineapple, pit cherries, and so on. Bananas, however, can be frozen whole in the peel and sliced after defrosting (and they work perfectly in banana bread recipes).

Test Kitchen tip: If you plan on freezing sliced apples, peaches, nectarines or similar fruits, you can dip them in a wash of lemon juice and water—that’s three tablespoons of juice to every quart of water—to help prevent discoloration. If you don’t mind these fruits browning slightly, feel free to skip this step.

Blueberries being poured on a baking sheet along side grapes and strawberries from a strainerPhoto: Taste of Home

Step 2: Freeze It

Place your fruit on a parchment or wax paper-lined pan and freeze. Avoid overcrowding so the fruits can freeze quickly without sticking together. Having your fruit frozen in individual pieces will make it easier to measure and defrost for future recipes, such as our favorite summer fruit pies.

Frozen fruit is being carefully removed from a baking sheet and put into labelled plastic bagsPhoto: Taste of Home

Step 3: Get Packing

Once your fruit is frozen, you can remove it from the pan and store in zip-top freezer bags. Be sure to label and date your fruit. Frozen fruit such as this is best used within three months.

With a freezer full of fresh fruits, you’re ready to make tasty favorites any time of year. Here are a few tips for getting the most out of strawberries this season.

Here's how to use up your favorite summer fruits.
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Lisa Kaminski
Lisa is an editor at Taste of Home where she gets to embrace her passion for baking. She pours this love of all things sweet (and sometimes savory) into Bakeable, Taste of Home's baking club. Lisa is also dedicated to finding and testing the best ingredients, kitchen gear and home products for our Test Kitchen-Preferred program. At home, you'll find her working on embroidery and other crafts.
Christine Rukavena
Christine loves to read, curate, sample and develop new recipes as a senior book editor at Taste of Home. A CIA alumna with honors, she creates cookbooks and food-related content. A favorite part of the job is taste-testing dishes. Previous positions include pastry chef at a AAA Five Diamond property. Christine moonlights at a boutique wine shop, where she edits marketing pieces and samples wine far higher than her pay grade.