How to store fresh herbs in the fridge can easily become an issue. This all depends on how many of the herbs you wish to store and what space is available considering some herbs are bushy. The over-arching concern, of course, is the freshness of the herbs after sometime in storage. The end goal here is to maintain the freshness as much as possible else we did just go for dried herbs.
I have come across some approaches to store fresh herbs in the fridge involving wrapping them in paper towels, for example. While this may work, I find it bulky, short-term and won’t go anywhere further than what I did fancy. So in this fresh herbs fridge storage method, we are tackling space, freshness and how long the herbs would last.
The process is super simple as you shall see. We will cover it in a few straightforward steps.
In this tutorial, I wanted to store some spring onions or green onions which I grew here together with some parsley which I bought from a farmer’s market. To be sure, you can apply this method on a variety of other herbs.
Needed to prepare your fresh herbs for fridge storage
- The herbs
- Preferred cooking oil (canola oil, vegetable oil, olive oil etc)
- Sharp knife (that can chop with little effort)
- Chopping board
- Ice cube tray (one or many depending on amount of herbs at hand)
Also learn how to grow other vegetables from scraps such as Chinese cabbage, potatoes, regular onions and green onions a.k.a. spring onions.
Step 1 – Get your herbs together
Gather your herbs together. This is to make sure that you do not leave anything you did want to be included. Have everything readied in front of you. In my case I only had parsley and onion to fridge store.
Step 2 – Chop up your herbs
Next, chop up all the fresh herbs. What size you chop them into will depend on how you would want to use them in the future. Do you want the herbs to show in your dishes or do you want them to just “melt away” and blend in with the other ingredients? The answer to this will determine whether you should finely chop them or not. Place the chopped herbs in separate heaps until decision time in the next step.
Step 3 – Put chopped herbs in the tray
With all your herbs chopped, finely or otherwise, take your ice cube tray. At this point you will need to decide whether to mix the chopped herbs together or keep them separate. Some herbs go well together in certain dishes and some do better separately. Once they are combined at this stage they can’t be separated at a future cooking time. If you aren’t sure how you did want to use the fresh herbs in the future, it is best to keep them separate.
Take the mixed or separate herbs and fill the ice cube tray one at a time making sure you press them down, so they fit properly in each cube. If you have many chopped herbs you may need more than one tray. In this case I only needed a single tray.
Step 4 – Cover the cubes with oil
Next, take your preferred oil and begin filling each of the cubes. In this case each cube took about a tablespoon of oil. This should be taken into account when using the cubes in your dishes later.
Furthermore, take care here that certain oils will maintain their flavour and may not be suitable in some dishes. I have in mind here as examples, coconut oil, sesame oil, peanut oil and such others which tend to be strong. It’s good to be aware that these may not be suitable for all dishes later. In that case it is best to use a “neutral” type of oil in terms of its own flavour so you do not lose control of flavours in future dishes where the cubes will be applied.
Step 5 – Store your fresh herbs in the fridge
That’s it. You are done. Now take the tray with herbs covered in oil and place in a freezer. Overnight or at most within 24-48 hours, you will have your fresh herbs preserved in oil ice cubes just like in the ice age 🙂 From now on simply place the tray in the fridge to allow some defrosting prior to use. Shown here is my tray following an overnight stay in the freezer.
Using a spoon or a fork you should be able to pop a single herb cube each time you want to apply it in a recipe. The tray should be placed back in the freezer once you have taken what you need.
Storing your fresh herbs in the fridge in this way will gain you some 4 to six months of great flavours from fresh herbs. This method is particularly useful when getting into seasons when certain herbs are not available.
Summary of how to store fresh herbs in the fridge
Here is a quick summary of how to store fresh herbs in the fridge. See the full tutorial with pictures on how to do it step by step.
- Gather your herbs together.
- Chop the herbs finely or otherwise.
- Take an ice cube tray and fill each cube with the chopped herbs.
- Take your favourite oil and fill the cubes with the chopped herbs.
- Place the ice cube tray in the freezer overnight.
- Defrost the tray each time you want to use the herbs in your dishes.
- Return tray to freezer after use until the cubes are finished.
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