This time of year, I find myself staring at copious amounts of fresh herbs, ready to lend their flavor to a variety of tasty dishes. However, no matter how many herbed salads, dill sauces, or rosemary cookies I make, I can never seem to use up my entire harvest.

Drying herbs is a great option. Dried herbs work great in cookies, baked goods, gifts, and other kitchen ventures. If that’s what your project list looks like, check out this great post on drying herbs here.

With autumn on the horizon, at least half of my kitchen plans will involve hearty soups, sauces, and stews. For these dishes, I prefer a fresher taste. In that case, freezing is the name of the game.

Freezing Herbs: Use Oil

Freezing delicate plants like herbs and greens by any method makes them mushy when they thaw. The freezing water inside the plant forms crystals, which burst the cell walls. So, thawed frozen herbs don’t go in a salad — but they are fabulous for salad dressing.

There are lots of ways you can freeze herbs, but the best way I’ve found is to freeze them in oil.

Why use oil?

Oil does a few things for your herbs. First, it protects them from freezer burn. Freezer burn happens through moisture loss. As mentioned before, when the water in the herbs freezes, it forms crystals. Those crystals begin to migrate to the top of the food and eventually to the coldest part of your freezer. A thin coating of water or oil over the herbs helps prevent that from happening.

The second thing oil does is it allows the frozen herbs to melt faster than if you were to freeze them in water. This is important — the faster the herbs melt into your sauce, stew, or soup, the more evenly they cook and the fresher they taste. Herbs are living plants, and their flavor compounds and enzymes change significantly when they are heated.  If the outside of the herb cube melts much faster than the inside — as it does with water — some herbs get overcooked while others are still frozen.

The Method

Freezing herbs in oil is pretty simple. Before you begin, wash your herbs thoroughly in cool water — hot water will wilt them, making them harder to chop — and dry completely. Strip the leaves from the stems. You can save the tough stems to put into veggie stock, or you can toss them into a compost pile or a garbage bin.

Step 1: If you have only a handful of herbs, chop them finely, then pack into ice cube trays. If you tend to cook smaller dishes, pack the cubes half-full.

Step 2: Top the cubes with a thin layer of neutral-flavored oil, such as vegetable oil, light olive oil, or grapeseed oil. You can also use extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or other cooking oil if you prefer — it will just have a stronger flavor.

Step 3: When the cubes are frozen solid, pop them out of the ice cube trays and put them in a freezer-weight zip-top bag. (Freezer-weight bags are thicker and help prevent freezer burn.) Push all the air out of the bag and put it in a handy spot in your freezer.

Bulk Herb Freezing

If you have a lot of herbs, wash and dry them completely, strip the leaves and put them in the food processor.  Mix 2 tablespoons or so of oil in with the herbs, then pulse in a food processor until finely chopped.

Pack the herbs into a freezer-weight zip-top bag (I like to use quart-size). Press them into a thin, flat layer.

Put the bag on a cookie sheet or a really big plate — something to keep the bag totally flat. The bag will freeze quickly. Take it off the cookie sheet and store in your freezer. When you need to use some herbs, break off what you need and put the rest back in the freezer.

Chef’s Note: To blanch or not to blanch?

 Blanching herbs is a great way to keep the color vibrant and fresh. However, it does mellow the flavor noticeably. If you will be using the herbs for a dish where color matters more to you, such as green goddess dressing, blanching before freezing may be a good option. If the color doesn’t matter as much to your dishes, I wouldn’t worry about it.