Can you freeze hamburger buns?
Well, to get straight to the point: yes. In fact, it comes in extremely handy to freeze your hamburger buns, and it’s even handier to know how to do it right.
The important thing is to freeze them in a way that will avoid that dreadful possibility of freeze burn so that they’re just as delicious and enjoyable once they’ve been defrosted at a later date.
Just picture this common struggle: you’ve gone to the supermarket and have decided you want to make hamburgers for food at some point. So, you buy some nice burgers, and you buy some hamburger buns.
When you get home, you stick the burgers in the freezer until they’re needed, and you stick the hamburger buns in the cupboard.
What’s the problem? That hamburger buns will only last a few days before going moldy and having to be thrown in the bin, while the burgers are perfectly conserved in your freezer!
The solution is easy and simple, just freeze your hamburger buns along with the burgers, so that you have them both well preserved until you decide to make them at a later date!
How to freeze hamburger buns
The quickest and easiest way to freeze your hamburger buns is to stick them straight in the freezer as soon as you’ve purchased them, storing them to freeze in their original packaging.
It’s the ideal and recommended form of freezing them if you’re planning on defrosting and consuming them within a month or so.
However, if you don’t know when you might want to defrost and consume them, and you know that they might remain frozen for over a month, then you need to take another approach.
The freezing method that we recommend will allow the hamburger buns to retain their high-quality, consistency and flavor, for longer than a month while frozen.
It takes a little more effort than simply throwing them into the freezer as you’ve bought them, but we assure you that it is well worth it in order to enjoy a delicious hamburger at a later date.
Here is the step by step guide:
Step 1:
Make sure your hamburger buns are at room temperature before you freeze them. If they’re warm, even if slightly, the sudden contrast of temperature when put in the freezer, will let off steam.
That steam will then form condensation during the freezing process, which could risk potential freezer burn. It also means that during the defrosting process, condensation would cause the buns to become soggy, and nobody wants that!
Step 2:
Prepare several square pieces of aluminum foil, with which you will wrap each hamburger bun individually. Make sure the pieces are big enough to be wrapped around the bun in its entirety.
Wrap the buns individually, and make sure you’re not leaving any part of them exposed.
Step 3:
Place the wrapped hamburger buns into a resealable freezer bag.
Try and squeeze as much air as possible out of the bad when sealing it closed.
Step 4:
Place the bag into the freezer and let it freeze.
It’s good to label and date your bag so that you know how long the food has been frozen.
How to defrost hamburger buns
Defrosting hamburger buns is really easy and can’t really be done wrong. Due to the nature of bread, there is no risk of any rapid bacterial growth during the thawing process, so it’s a safe and straightforward thing to do.
Still, if you want to achieve the best results so that your buns look freshly purchased instead of defrosted, then you’ll have to carefully follow a few simple steps.
Step 1:
Remove the hamburger buns from the freezer. If you’ve frozen them individually as we specified in our method, then you can choose to defrost as many or as little as you need and leave the rest in their frozen state.
Step 2:
As soon as you’ve removed the buns from the freezer, take them out of the sealable bag and unwrap them.
Step 3:
Place the buns on a paper towel so that it absorbs the excess moisture as they defrost. When you can tell that they are more or less half defrosted, you can flip them over to ensure the bottom of the bun, where the moisture is falling to, doesn’t get too soggy.
If you follow those steps, the hamburger buns will quickly thaw and will result in excellent quality and an enjoyable bun. However, if you want to defrost the bun faster and get it warm in the process, there are other ways in which you can defrost the buns.
After removing the buns from the freezer and unwrapping them, you could place them straight into a toaster, grill, or oven. This will defrost them very fast and will get them warm and crispy for enjoyable consumption.
Some people have a preference for defrosting buns in the microwave. This will also get the job done fast and easy, but it’s not the most recommended option if you want to get the best flavor out of your bun.
But if you do decide to use the microwave to defrost your hamburger buns, then first wrap them up in a paper towel, so that the moisture is absorbed. Let them microwave for 10 seconds and then check. It’s important not to overdo them!
Factors to consider before freezing hamburger buns
When you decide to freeze your hamburger buns, you should take into account that leaving them frozen for too long will damage their flavor and will result in an inevitable soggy and ill-tasting result.
When frozen directly after purchase, in their original packaging, they can last up to a month while retaining their quality.
If frozen with a little more care, and following our step by step guide, the buns can last in perfect condition for three months or so.
If you want the buns to last longer than that, without losing their quality, you might have to resort to vacuum seal bags. However, that is a lot more expensive, and even then, the maximum they could last is an average between 1 and 2 years.
Summary
Hamburger buns are one of the easiest foods to freeze, and they can even be frozen straight after being purchased, in their original packaging.
However, for better results that will preserve the buns’ quality for a longer time, there are a few steps you should follow, including wrapping them up individually.
The secret to maintaining the flavor and quality of the buns when freezing them is in the defrosting process. They can be thawed by simply being left at room temperature for a while, laid on a paper towel that will absorb any excess moisture. But they can also be defrosted by using the toaster, grill, or oven, for a warm and crispy result that is always a delicious option.
Do take into account that although they are perfectly safe for freezing for as long as needed, the longer they remain frozen the less high quality they will retain when finally consumed.