From roast chicken to pot roast, grilled meats to Thanksgiving turkey, no special meal is complete without a savory sauce like gravy! But if you made more sauce than you can handle, can you freeze sauce? Gravy is usually made from flour, fat, milk, cream and chicken broth.
These ingredients usually keep well in the fridge, but when combined in a sauce, they go bad quickly. This makes the sauce an extremely perishable sauce. In fact, sauce that has been left at room temperature for two hours is no longer safe to consume and should be discarded.
If you’ve made a lot of sauce, you need to store it properly. Otherwise you’ll be dealing with a lot of wasted gravy, and no one wants that!
The homemade sauce will keep in the fridge for about 2 days. That’s a pretty short lifespan. Freezing cream-based gravy extends its shelf life to about a week or so. Sauce made from flour, on the other hand, can be stored in the freezer for up to 4 months.
The fact is that if the sauce is stored for too long, it will start to decompose. This is true whether the sauce is kept in the freezer or in the fridge. If you are freezing the sauce, we recommend packaging it in a single serving. This way you don’t have to take the entire batch out of the freezer for a small portion of the sauce.
Preparing the sauce is important if you are freezing the sauce. This is a dipping sauce that’s so natural; most of your loved ones will either dunk their food straight into a bowl of sauce or pour the sauce over their food. The sauce is best served in serving platters. Don’t let anyone touch the leftovers without using a serving spoon or ladle. This prevents contamination or bacterial growth.
Whether you’re freezing homemade sauce or store-bought sauce, you should always cook the sauce for 3 minutes before freezing. This will kill the bacteria that could otherwise shorten the life of the sauce during storage. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to freeze gravy:
How to freeze Gravy?
Assuming the sauce was cooked before freezing, allow the sauce to cool completely before packaging for storage. Get several freezer bags or airtight plastic containers. If you want to freeze micro portions of the sauce, you can use ice cube trays.
Pour the cooled sauce into the freezer bag or airtight container, leaving an inch or two for the sauce to expand. Close the container tightly. If using freezer bags, squeeze as much air as possible before resealing. Mark each container with the label and the storage date, then stick it in the freezer.
How to defrost and reheat Gravy?
Thawing and reheating gravy is straightforward, but should be done with care. Because the sauce is sensitive to temperature changes, you should never thaw frozen sauce at room temperature. Leaving the sauce for too long increases the risk of bacterial growth. To thaw the sauce, simply transfer some of the frozen sauce from the freezer to the fridge. Let the sauce thaw overnight.
Once the sauce has thawed, there will be separation between the ingredients. This is normal, especially with cream or milk based sauces. Give the sauce a good stir and it’s ready to reheat.
Read Also: Can you freeze yellow squash?
To reheat the thawed sauce, add the sauce to a pan and let it simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes. If the sauce is on the watery side, you can add a thickening ingredient like cornstarch (dissolved in water) while cooking. Once the sauce is smooth and thick, it’s ready to serve!
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Gravy is such a versatile sauce. There are so many ways to eat leftover sauce. Now that you know how to freeze gravy, don’t worry about the leftovers!