How to Get Rid of Freezer Burn Taste

Everyone who owns a freezer has realized, at some point in their life, that they forgot something or miswrapped their food and the result is freezer burn.

It’s incredibly frustrating to find a beautiful piece of meat or a large collection of perfectly chopped vegetables that have been attacked by the very air in your freezer.

How can you get rid of that freezer burn taste? Although you can’t make freezer-burned foods taste completely fresh, you can improve their flavor by removing the freezer-burned portions; using them in savory dishes with herbs, sauces, broths or sugar; mashing them or, in some cases, dehydrating them.

The unfortunate reality is that you can’t totally “fix” freezer burnt food. But, realistically, there are plenty of ways to hide the taste.

If you combine freezer burn foods with the right ingredients or prepare the right meals with them, there’s a good chance you won’t notice the effects of freezer burn anymore. You don’t have to let perfectly safe food go to waste.

In this article, we’ll discuss the best ways to deal with the different types of freezer burnt foods so that you can make the most of such a miserable situation.

What is freezer burn?

Freezer burn occurs when your food is exposed to air in the freezer, and the combination of dehydration and oxidation creates brown or gray spots on your food.

It doesn’t make your food unsafe, but it does affect the taste. You’ll enjoy your previously frozen food much more if you remove the freezer burn before eating it.

It’s important to understand that freezer burn is not the same as ice buildup on food. Ice on food is caused by moisture freezing to the surface of the food.

This can damage the structure of your food, affect its moisture content, and change its flavor. Ice often forms on freezer-burned foods, but not all foods that have an ice buildup are freezer-burned.

This article is specifically talking about freezer burn, not ice dams.

What does frostbite look like?

Freezer burn is a change in the color of food, usually only in a specific area. Depending on the food that has been freezer burned, the color may be slightly different.

For example, on a steak, freezer burn will look like a brown spot in the middle of healthy red meat, while freezer burn chicken breasts can be mostly tan in color with lighter spots.

Fruit and vegetables may also have freezer burn, and again, you’ll need to look for discoloration. Often the freezer burnt part is lighter than the good quality pieces of your food.

What does freezer burn taste like?

The most common way to describe the taste of freezer burn is simply “not good.” It’s an unpleasant taste.

Moisture has been removed from your food, leaving it dry and tasteless, albeit with a strange aftertaste that lingers. It can affect the taste of the rest of your food.

Since freezer burn is the result of exposure to air, it can sometimes make your food taste like other foods that were frozen near it, if those foods have strong flavors or aromas.

Bananas, for example, will share their flavor with anything possible. If you get freezer burn on food that has been around frozen bananas, it will likely have a vaguely banana-like, dry, and weird aftertaste.

Does freezer burn ruin food?

Freezer burn certainly affects food, but the “ruin” may depend on your tolerance levels to the flavor of the food.

The freezer burn can be removed and spruced up the flavor a bit. Again, it doesn’t make your food unsafe; it only changes the flavor and texture.

If your definition of “ruin” has to do with safety, then no, freezer burn won’t ruin your food. But if your definition has more to do with flavor perfection, then yes, you may feel like it’s been ruined.

What to do with freezer burnt meat?

The easiest way to treat freezer burnt meat is to simply cut off the very discolored bits. This likely means you’re left with odd shapes of meat or random pieces of meat.

Here are some ideas on how to use the unburned portions:

• Stew
• Soup
• stir fry
• pasta sauce
• Mince

There are plenty of other ways to ensure meat is properly enjoyed, but we hope this gives you a good starting point.

Another way to use freezer burnt meat is to turn it into a broth.

To do this, you just have to simmer the meat with your favorite herbs and seasonings. When you are satisfied with the flavor, strain the broth without the meat or other ingredients. (You can also reuse the meat in your next soup.)

If your turkey, steak, pork, beef, or other freezer-burned meat is only slightly discolored, marinating the meat or dipping it in a sauce may be enough to hide the damaged parts.

Freezer burnt fish

Like meat, the best way to treat freezer burnt fish is to cut off any dry, discolored parts.

If you’re lucky, you might be able to save a few chunks big enough to cook or fry as you originally intended. Otherwise, shredding the fish is probably the easiest way to help it blend into your recipe.

If your fish is starting to discolor and the freezer burn is mild, you can mask the dryness and change in flavor by using a rich sauce.

This doesn’t work as well with meat or poultry, but fish absorbs the flavor of sauces quite well. If you use strong flavors, it will probably do a good job.

Some good options might be curry, citrus, or a thick tomato-based sauce, such as for a seafood gumbo.

How to Get Rid of Freezer Burn Taste From Vegetables

Freezer burnt vegetables don’t taste as bad as freezer burnt meat or fish, so that’s the good news. However, since they are usually smaller, it can sometimes be harder to tell until you taste the vegetable.

For example, you’ll easily see the freezer-burned sections of a large steak, because only the sections will burn.

Instead, sliced green beans or carrots may be totally freezer burned. So you don’t immediately notice the color change because there’s nothing to directly compare it to.

If you know your vegetables are freezer burned, or at least some of them are, try removing the bits that don’t appear to be the right color.

Beyond elimination, masking or diluting flavor and dryness is your best solution.

Pureing vegetables into a sauce or smoothie, or adding small, bite-sized pieces to a soup or stew are good options.

Adding fresh flavors can also help. So this is a great time to experiment with fresh herbs and lots of onion and garlic.

Get rid of freezer burn taste in fruit

Fruit is one of the easiest foods to rescue from freezer burn, unless it’s been sitting in your freezer for years and can’t be fixed.

The most effective option is to rinse until all ice crystals are removed, cut the fruit into slices or bite-size pieces, and dehydrate.

Somehow, dehydrating will remove the taste of freezer burn. This also works for vegetables, although fruits are usually enjoyed drier.

In addition to dehydrating, you can also puree the fruit to use in smoothies, or add sugar and other flavors to create a sauce or syrup. Sugar will penetrate almost any off-taste, including freezer burn.

Freezer burnt bread

Freezer burn on bread doesn’t always show up as discoloration, but you will notice hard, dry sections on the bread.

Unfortunately, the unpleasant aftertaste that freezer burn leaves in your mouth is very noticeable on bread. So if you try to eat a slice or even make a toast, you may regret it.

The best way to rescue freezer burnt bread is to soak or dry it out further.

By dunk, we mean a sugary egg-and-milk batter that turns boring bread into decadent French toast . You can also try making bread pudding or using the bread in another type of dessert.

The other option is to season your freezer burnt slices of bread and turn them into croutons or breadcrumbs.

How to fix freezer burnt ice cream

When ice cream gets freezer burned, it’s usually right on the surface of the container.

The best solution is to simply remove the potions from your ice cream where the ice crystals have developed. This should also get rid of the freezer burn flavor.

Table of how to get rid of freezer burn

How to prevent freezer burn?

The best way to prevent freezer burn is to make sure your food is completely protected from exposure to air.

Using a sealed freezer bag is quite reliable. You just have to make sure that you remove as much air as possible and that the seal is not accidentally broken in the freezer.

If you want to better protect yourself against freezer burn, you may want to invest in a vacuum sealer.

This will suck every last bit of air out of your food before mechanically sealing the plastic directly around your food. This can extend the quality of your food for up to 3 years in your freezer, without worrying about freezer burn.