Can You Freeze Cooked Pasta? (YES! Here’s How!)

If you like to mix your pasta noodles and sauce together before serving and you end up with a bunch of leftovers, you can freeze the two together.

To freeze pasta with sauce: Put the leftovers into a freezer-safe container, cover, and label before freezing.

You can also mix your leftover noodles and sauce together in one dish to make sure they are well combined for quick reheating later on! This is especially helpful if you don’t have time to package them up separately.

Absolutely! Pasta freezes so well that you can store it for up to a year, and it will still taste as good as the day you made it. Pasta is one of the most commonly frozen foods because it stands up to freezing so well. Think about when you’re browsing the freezer section at your local grocery store; pretty much every other frozen dinner is a pasta dish.

You can freeze any type of pasta, but each different type will have a slightly different result when being reheated. For example, if you’re freezing longer kinds of pasta like spaghetti or linguine, you may end up with some clumps from them sticking together when you thaw and reheat them. Thinner pasta varieties such as angel hair are more delicate, and those types of pasta can be overcooked easily when you reheat them.

Macaroni, penne, ziti, bow tie pasta, and the like are good choices for planned cooking, then freezing if you are trying to meal prep.

If your pasta noodles are about to expire, you can freeze them uncooked and then cook from frozen. This might be a better option than pre-cooking and freezing if you’re low on freezer space. Dry pasta has a long self-life in general, though, so it’s not necessary to freeze it right after purchasing.

Yep! You sure can! Just make sure to cook it slightly under, even a little less than al dente, to avoid overcooking the noodles when you go to reheat them. Fresh, homemade pasta tends to be more fragile than the dried pasta you buy at the grocery store.

In a regular freezer, the pasta will last for about three to six months.

In a deep freezer, the pasta will last for at least 12 to 18 months.

It is important that you date the noodles before freezing them, so you’ll know how long they have been in storage and if they are still good! It’s also handy to write what kind of sauce was mixed with your noodles if you decided to blend the two.

You can thaw frozen pasta at room temperature or in the refrigerator. You can also submerge it in a water bath for faster results. We do not recommend defrosting frozen pasta in the microwave. You can overcook it and also risk drying it out, which will give you crunchy pieces.

Nope! You can take frozen pasta directly from the freezer and reheat it without defrosting beforehand. The best way to do this is by bowling some water, the same as if you were going to cook dry pasta from a box and then add in your frozen pasta cooking for 3-5 minutes.

Eh, you can, but you most likely do not want to. Once you’ve reheated the pasta, it will no longer be in the al dente state that it was once in when you pulled it from the freezer the first time. While freezing it for a second time won’t hurt anything, the pasta texture may be too mushy to enjoy a third time. It’s best only to reheat the amount of pasta you think you will eat in one sitting.

Yes, but you really want to watch it if you decide to use the microwave to reheat frozen pasta. You will want to add a tablespoon of water to keep the pasta from drying out, and instead of microwaving for a long duration of time, use intervals of 30-45 seconds. Make sure to stir the pasta between intervals to keep the noodles from becoming hard and dried out.

The best way to reheat frozen pasta is going to be the stovetop. Treat it the same as you would when cooking fresh or dried pasta. If you’re reheating thawed pasta, you will only need to boil for 1-2 minutes. If your pasta is frozen, boil for 3-5 minutes.

Yep! Just let your spaghetti and meatballs cool, and then follow the steps above for freezing.

We wouldn’t. Cream sauces tend to break once frozen and don’t lend themselves to reheating well. If you really want to, you can, but there is a risk that it won’t reheat well, and then you’ll be out of a lunch or dinner.

You sure can! When looking for freezer meals, baked pasta casseroles and easy slow cooker dump meals are high on the list! You can even get aluminum baking tins with lids so you can go from oven to freezer with no clean-up. You do want to watch out for freezer burn, though, so make sure you take it one step further and wrap the baking dish with aluminum foil.

Cooked spaghetti is a little hard to freeze because of its length. It tends to stick together and may cause issues with reheating. That being said, you can freeze spaghetti in individual portions or all together. There’s no need to follow the parchment paper step if you aren’t going to freeze individual portions. Go ahead and just toss the spaghetti in a reusable zipper bag and freeze.

Yes! To freeze spaghetti bolognese (spaghetti with meat sauce), follow the instructions above to freeze pasta with sauce. If you have your pasta and sauce separate, you can still freeze them in two different reusable storage bags.

Sure can. You can freeze cooked macaroni noodles the same way we froze the bow tie.

Yep! Just lay them out on parchment paper and make sure they do not touch. When freezing lasagna noodles, you want to keep them apart and avoid sticking. After you freeze them on the baking sheet, use parchment paper to keep the noodles separated inside of your freezer storage bag to prevent further sticking.