Can You Freeze Feta Cheese?

Yes, you can. Here are tips for freezing and defrosting feta cheese.

Feta cheese is a delicious addition to lots of dishes, and it’s tasty on its own; however, it is not an ingredient that many cooks normally keep on hand. Luckily, experts say that feta cheese can be safely frozen without losing much flavor or texture.

Here’s how (using your new American fridge freezer, for example):

Begin by removing the block of cheese from the brine it is usually packed in. Blot it dry with paper toweling. You can freeze the entire block of cheese as-is, or you may wish to cut it into smaller portions.

To prepare the cheese for freezing, tightly wrap it in two or three layers of plastic to keep in the aroma and prevent freezer burn. Place the wrapped cheese inside a heavy duty freezer bag. Seal it tightly and remember to date and label the bag. Feta cheese will retain its aroma, flavor and texture for as long as three months when frozen correctly.

You can also freeze pre-packaged, feta cheese crumbles.

If you purchase your feta cheese crumbled and commercially packaged, you can freeze it at any time before the “best by” date. Here’s how:

• Don’t open the package. You’ll want to freeze it, sealed as soon as you get it home from the store.
• You don’t have to add extra packaging. The packaging provided should keep your crumbles fresh for a couple of months.
• If you plan to keep your crumbles for longer than two months, place the package inside a heavy duty freezer bag.
• It’s best to use frozen crumbles within two or three months, but they will remain safe to eat indefinitely if kept at temperatures below zero.

Crumbles may lose a little texture and flavor when frozen, so you may not want to use them on salads; however, they should be perfectly fine for use in casseroles, soups and sauces.

Is It Alright To Freeze Feta Cheese That Has Been Cooked?

You can safely freeze any dish containing feta cheese (unless it contains other ingredients that are not safe to freeze). Follow the same freezing instructions for cooked feta dishes as for raw feta. Double or triple wrap the dish tightly with plastic wrap and place it inside a freezer bag. Be sure to press out as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn. Label and date the freezer bag.

Can Feta Cheese Dip Be Frozen?

Freezing feta dip is very easy. Just put the dip into a freezer safe container and lay a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the dip to prevent air exposure. Seal the container, label it and freeze it.

Defrost In The Fridge

To defrost raw or cooked feta or feta cheese dip, place the entire, frozen package in your refrigerator for several hours (overnight) until it is thoroughly thawed. Once it’s thawed, you can use or prepare it as you wish.

Don’t Use Mouldy Feta Cheese

Although hard cheese can be used even if there’s a bit of mould on it, this is not the case with feta. With a hard cheese, you can just cut off the mouldy part and fairly safely use the rest. With soft cheeses, such as feta, a little mould on the outside means that mold has penetrated the inside of the cheese. If your feta cheese tastes, smells or looks strange at all, you should discard it.