What To Know Before You Freeze Potato Soup

On cold winter days, nothing has the ability to restore vitality to your body and warm your bones like a hot bowl of homemade soup, and one of the very best varieties for this situation is potato soup (or this baked potato-leek soup, if you're feeling fancy). Straightforward to make, rich and creamy, and just *chef's kiss* when topped with bacon and chives, potato soup is practically a meal on its own. It's unlikely, though, that you'll make just one serving — you'll make a whole pot. But unlike so many others, potato soup has a reputation for freezing poorly.

In order to get your potato soup to retain its quality when frozen, and, more importantly, thawed, it is best to pick a recipe where the potato gets blended into the broth, or one that uses already mashed potatoes. These methods work because chunks of potato can break down during the thaw, causing an unpleasant textural difference in the soup. If the potato is blended in, it's already broken down, and you can expect less textural change.

Potato soup recipes often include a dairy element, like milk or cream, whose texture also changes when it freezes and thaws, potentially disrupting the creaminess of the broth. To prevent this, you might leave the dairy out of the big pot, and instead stir it into individual bowls before serving.

When actually freezing the soup, always wait until it's entirely cooled down. You can aid this process by dividing it into smaller portions; try using these one-cup silicone freezer molds by Ztomine, or these pint-sized plastic soup containers by Stack Man Store. Letting it cool completely helps prevent bacterial growth both in the soup itself, as well as in any food around the soup in the freezer. You should also freeze your soup in airtight containers. So, if you do end up using a silicone mold that doesn't have a locking lid, freeze the soup until solid, then remove it from the mold and place it in a freezer bag.

Your potato soup should keep for up to six months in the freezer (technically, it will keep indefinitely, but after six months it may begin to degrade and no longer be as palatable as it once was), so be sure to eat it up before that point. If you've stored it in a microwave-safe container, you can just pop it in the microwave and heat it up on the defrost setting until it's back to a soupy state.

If you're in no rush to eat, you can also defrost it overnight in your fridge (you'll just want to add something between the bag and the fridge shelf, like a tray) and then reheat it in the microwave or on the stove. And if you froze it into a shape that will fit into a pot, and you don't want to wait for it to thaw overnight, you can also reheat it directly on the stove (yes, from frozen!).