How to Freeze Green Onions or Scallions

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By Polly Conner
56
April 4, 2020
April 4, 2020 | Share:
Freezing green onions

Can you freeze green onions?

So, this is one of those posts that many of you will chuckle at and think, “You didn’t know that?”

I am here to tell you that, no, I did not know that you can freeze and save green onions for later use. So for those of you out there, like me, this post is for you.

This year, my backyard garden has given us a CRAZY amount of green onions. They are bigger than I’ve ever seen in a grocery store and I simply didn’t know what to do with them all. I mean, look at these crazy things!

Green onions growing in garden

I was about to throw them in the compost when I ran the question past my dad, the gardener extraordinaire, of what I should do with so many leftover scallions (green onions and scallions are the same thing, FYI). He informed me that you could chop them up and freeze them for later use. Duh.

So that’s what I did today. I yanked out a TON of onions, washed them off, chopped them up, and froze them!

Want to save some leftover onions in the future? Read on, my thrifty friends!

How to Freeze and Store Green Onions

Green onions picked from the garden

First step is to wash your veggies. Use a combination of white vinegar and water to soak or rinse your produce. One study says use 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar. Another said use 10 parts water to 1 part vinegar. I usually use somewhere between those two recommendations.
Mine were out of the garden so I didn’t have to worry about pesticides but I did have to spray some dirt off and make sure I didn’t freeze any bugs along with my onions. 

Next, chop up your onions.  I first chopped off the roots, then cut the bulb off, and froze those in a separate bag. After removing any dead growth, I choppy-chopped away!

Green onions & scallions chopped for the freezer

Lastly, spread out chopped onions on cookie sheet. I laid some parchment paper down (to make for easier removal later) and spread them out as best as I could. I then stuck both sheets of onions in the freezer. I do this so they aren’t all clumped up and frozen together.

After they had been in there for a few hours, I moved them all to a Ziploc bag. (I’ve read that saving them in an empty water bottle is handy too!)

How to Use Green Onions that Have Been Frozen & Thawed

Since freezing onions will cause them to lose their crisp texture, only using them in dishes you will cook. So these would be good for soups, marinades, omelettes, fried rice, etc. Here are some of our delicious recipes that use green onions:

Slow Cooker Honey Bourbon Chicken

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Salmon and Sweet Potato Cakes

Add them to:

Honey Bourbon Chicken and Stir Fry Vegetables on a large white platter

More Resources on Freezer Cooking

We have a wealth of information on freezer cooking that you might find helpful. Make sure you start with all of the freezer meals in our recipe index.

Here are a few more ideas:

5 Best Ways to Package and Store Freezer Meals

3 Safe Ways to Thaw Freezer Meals

30+ Kid Friendly Freezer Meals

freezer meals, freezer containers

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56 replies
  1. Gabrielle says:

    Very Helpful. I only cook a couple of nights per week and so often I’ve bought a bunch of green onions and they are limp and useless in the vegetable drawer of the fridge by the time I want to use them in cooking.
    Next time I’m freezing them.

    Reply
  4. Nancy says:

    Thank you for posting this information. I have a crisper drawer of scallions I picked and cleaned for farmer’s market. Market now cancelled due to the weather – we may get 2-4 inches of snow later today. Too early

    Reply
  5. Marie Eby Johnston says:

    Hi, my partners family of 10 children, always made Green Onion Pie. It’s basically a 2-crust form of Quiche. First you fill your unbaked bottom crust with washed and cut up 1/2 to 1″ pieces of green onion, which I cut with my kitchen scissors, a bunch at a time. Then pour any quiche recipe onto the onions and put the top crust onto this and score and seal the crust. Bake in a 350 degree oven until the top crust is a beautiful medium brown. This pie is delicious and can have cooked bacon in it as well, but not necessary Hope you enjoy this!! <3

    Reply
  7. Sarah says:

    This is great! I came across your post because I was Google searching if I could freeze green onions. Like you, I have an abundance in my backyard and would like to save it all. Mine have flowered and are about two feet high right now HAHA

    Reply
    • Valerie says:

      If they are in the ground, they will continue to grow or put them in about two inches of water in a little bowl or cup and they will also continue to sprout. I put my bulbs in a 6″ vase. I had about 4″ stems left on them and in about two days they were growing out of the vase.

      Reply
  10. jon anderson, Meng, MD says:

    Just what might be an interesting comment from a scientist:
    In my history of cell biology I and many other lab workers used this method of freezing biological specimens .. BUT our goal is NOT to kill the cells or tissues we’re freezing!
    So, these are the basic concepts:
    1) Freeze VERY VERY SLOWLY .. i mean , put in a normal freezer but specimen inside a thick-walled styrofoam container!! This tremendously slows the freezing process! .. Then after several days, transfer to a liquid nitrogen freezer, still in the styrofoam box ..
    Now, that 2nd step is just irrelevent here, but the 3rd step MIGHT be relevant! …
    3) When needed, THAW VERY QUICKLY!!!
    Seems counter-intuitive, , but when done with human ‘HELA’ cells, for example, the cells are still ALIVE!!! and can be further treated/cloned/ etcetc
    So, it’s pretty obvious that this sequence of events can not possibly alter the ‘nature ‘ of the specimens (green onions??) enough to kill them!!!
    Without going to the trouble of the liquid nitrogen step, it seems to me that mere VERY SLOW freezing might be the key to a result of very fresh scallions!!!
    Please, if anyone wishes to do this ‘experiment’, kindly msg me with your results, at:
    [email protected] !!!
    Maybe a Nobel prize is lurking somewhere!!!?

    Reply
  11. R.T. says:

    This is great! I just started working with Asian ingredients and wondered about access to green onions this winter for some of the recipes…..No problem know…Have my first batch in the freezer now! Thanks

    Reply
  12. Linda A. Waterhouse says:

    I am a month away from 70. I’ve done a lot of cooking & canning. Thank you for this step-by-step, easy to understand communication about freezing onions! I always tell my friends when asking directions, a craft or a recipe, ” talk to me like a 4-yr old!” Glad you explained in easy-to-understand steps! THANKS!
    I am headed to the garden!!! ?

    Reply
  13. Martha says:

    Thank you so much!! I’ve grown a pretty nice crop this year and all your information has been so helpful! You’re wonderful for taking the time to do all this!

    Reply
  14. Debra Odell says:

    Thank you I put big onions in my pantry and have taken regular onions dice and put in baggies, but the onions are frozen together when you put under water to unfreeze they are water logged I’ll use the cookie sheet method from now on. I did not know I could use the tops of green onions let the bulb continue to grow. We love the green parts in salads but green onions we wanted away to save as we eat lots of soups and hash brown potato soup is one we eat once a week. You use all of the green onions for it with green part as garnish. So thank you my daughter will be so excited to know how to save and what we don’t eat fast enough will not go back. Thank you again.

    Reply
  15. scharon spencer says:

    So if I don’t freeze them how long in the re fridge can I keep them I been putting them in a bowl of water cool

    Reply
  18. Carolyn says:

    I freeze regular onions all the time, and are wonderful for quick use in preparing a dish and only need a small amount. I just didn’t know if you could freeze green onions. Never use all of the ones I buy at one time. Thanks.

    Reply
  19. betsy says:

    what about full grown homegrown onions? can they be frozen like green onions or do they have to be cured as if for cold storage?

    Reply
  21. Saskija says:

    YIPPY!!Thanks so much for this info because I could have saved MANY a dying grocery store bought green onion bunch in my fridge! Winter will be here soon enough and I will have plenty of green onions now!!

    Reply
  22. Brigitte says:

    Thank you!! So well explained and so helpful. I look forward to using them for soups and fried rice in the winter.

    Reply
  23. DELLA HURLEY says:

    I have a lot of green onions and figured I’d try to google and see if I can freeze them as do not want to waste them as I love onions.

    yes, thanks to your father and you writing your blog I will be chopping away.

    thanks so much

    Reply
  25. Lee says:

    You can do this with chives, parsley and cilantro too. I put 1/4 cup portions in zip lock bags and then roll them up tight and store them in a tall mason jar in the freezer.

    Reply
  26. Lucas says:

    You know you could have just trimmed them instead of yanking them. They would still be alive producing more leaves for you.

    Reply
  28. Linda says:

    Thanks a million for this post. I got here through google. I way overshot on green onions for our mac and cheese bar so I am pleased to find out I can reuse them in a quiche or soup. Thanks again!

    Reply
  31. Michelle says:

    THANK YOU! I wasn’t sure how to do it. Actually, I’m only saving the green tops, as I have a small kitchen scrap garden, and the green onions are re-growing hog wild. So I’ll harvest the tops from them and let them keep on growing.

    Reply
    • jon anderson, Meng, MD says:

      thanks , i’ll try your suggestions..
      What amazed me among ‘foodie’ sites on the net was a ‘green onion’ used by a guy famous for his sushi skills … The onion bulb wal like 4+ INCHES in diameter!! .. Maybe that’s ‘usual’ in ‘sushi country’ but ive never seen such a specimen ..
      Any idea for a source for such ‘monster green onions’ ???
      [email protected]

      Reply