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Storing and Freezing Green Onion

A little white bowl of cut green onion

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I love green onion and chives (chives are the skinny version of green onion). You get that fantastic green onion flavor without the beastly onion breath. Most people who grow green onion have more than they can eat at some point in the season.

Here’s a quick and easy way to preserve them. We enjoy our frozen, organic green onion all year long. Frozen green onion is ideal for use in soups or hot dishes and you don’t have to thaw before using.

Green onion growing in a garden

How To Store and Freeze Green Onion:

1. Wash your green onions or chives in cold water.

Green onion in a sink being rinsed

2. Place onions on the counter and pat them dry with a paper towel to prevent freezer burn.

Green onion stacked up on a cutting board

3. Using a sharp knife, finely dice all the green onions/chives and place them in tupperware with the lid or freezer bag. Fill to the top, but don’t pack them down. Pop ’em in the freezer and you’re done. In our family, we recycle plastic tubs from sour cream or cottage cheese :D.

A stack of green onion being diced on a cutting board with a knife A container full of diced green onion
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Note: When using green onion, scrape what you need from the top and refreeze remaining onion right away.

 

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Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved and tested recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.

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  • Tatiana
    April 9, 2018

    Wow! This is awesome! I freeze my dill but didn’t know it works with green onion too. Thank you so much Natasha:) God bless you!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      April 10, 2018

      My pleasure Tatiana! I’m glad you found this post helpful, thanks for sharing!

      Reply

      • Theresa Malloy
        August 23, 2019

        I freeze the chopped green onions & chives on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, transfer to zip lock bag or container. They won’t stick together, easier to use.

        Reply

        • Natashas Kitchen
          August 23, 2019

          That’s genius! Thank you for that great feedback.

          Reply

  • Stacy Burgoon
    May 31, 2014

    I am pretty new to freezing foods, have been looking at different videos and such and a lot of them tell you to blanch your items before freezing, but on green onion tops I haven’t seen this. Everyone has just washed, cut, pat dried and straight out put in freezer. Do you not have to blanch this item?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 31, 2014

      No, if you blanch green onions, you’d probably turn them to mush. It’s best not to blanch green onions.

      Reply

  • Nicole
    June 8, 2013

    I’m going to freeze all my onion tops like this and save for mostly stocks.

    How do you freeze the dill? I have dill heads – so many – some with yellow flowers, some with green seeds, and some with brown seeds. Do I just clip off the head and feeze them whole like that? Most of the dill leaves are yellowing and past their prime. We did use them in butter for potatoes and dips.

    Thank You!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      June 9, 2013

      We normally freeze dill when it’s green and ripe. Just wash and dry the fresh green dill, next finely chop it, place it in the container from sour cream or freezer sealable bags :). We use it in the soups or over potatoes and other dishes.

      Reply

  • Galina
    March 30, 2013

    Great tip. I do the same with my garden herbs such as parsley, dill, green onions, chives. I also do same thing with carrots (grated, easy to use for soups) and peppers (chopped).

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 30, 2013

      I’ve never done that with parsley, but I should!! Then I could enjoy home grown parsley all year long. 🙂

      Reply

  • Olga's Flavor Factory
    September 10, 2012

    We did this all the time with my Mom’s garden plentifulness.I love how easy it is to use – it’s already chopped, plus tastes just as fresh as though it were just picked from the garden.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 11, 2012

      I agree!! It keeps its freshness and it’s so handy to have it in the freezer. Organic green onion; yum! 🙂

      Reply

  • olviya
    September 9, 2012

    Such a cool tip! Thanks Natasha.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 9, 2012

      You’re welcome. 🙂

      Reply

      • Linda
        September 30, 2023

        Didn’t know about the chives or green onions. Thank you for that tip. I freeze basil as well, just wash, pat dry in paper towels, chop & into freezer bags. Does not go brown, or at least I haven’t experienced that.

        Reply

  • Vika
    September 6, 2012

    You can also freeze basil. Coarsely chop basil leaves and in a food processor add olive oil (about 1 tablespoon) and pulse lightly until all the leaves are coated. Then spoon into ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen you can transfer into ziploc bags. 1 square equals about 2 tablespoons fresh basil. You learn a lot on pinterest;))).

    My mom also freezes cilantro and has no problem with it.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 6, 2012

      That’s so great! I’ve been wondering what to do with all my basil. Thank you!!

      Reply

      • Nella
        September 6, 2012

        Vika how do you freeze cilantro? do you add oil too or just by itself….Thanks.

        Reply

        • Vika
          September 8, 2012

          Just freeze it by itself.

          Reply

  • Hope (1)
    September 5, 2012

    I hope (lol) you know that there are two Hopes here… (: I was the original Hope, but hello to the other Hope. Welcome to the site (; Thanks for the great idea, Natasha. We always used freezer Ziploc bags, but I think it’d be easier to just toss them into a Darigold container (;

    Reply

  • vikulya
    September 5, 2012

    What an awesome idea. I could.never think you can freeze chives. Thught it would change its color to brown 🙂
    Thanks, Natasha!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 5, 2012

      They are as green as the day you froze them 6 month ago:)

      Reply

  • Sarah Z.
    September 5, 2012

    Hi Natasha,

    What do you use the frozen green onions for? Can it be used in salads or just cooking/ frying?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 5, 2012

      I use frozen green onions in soups primarily, used in Olivie as well. Onion will get soggy when using in salads.

      Reply

  • Hope
    September 5, 2012

    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Reply

  • Hope
    September 5, 2012

    so its like freezing dill and parsley. right? well my mom freezes dill.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 5, 2012

      Yes, just like that. Just try to get them as dry as possible after washing them to avoid freezer burn.

      Reply

  • angelina
    September 5, 2012

    little things in life like this tip makes a difference in the kitchen. thanks!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 5, 2012

      You are welcome Angelina. I like to get the most out of the garden, if I can’t use them right now, than save them for later 🙂

      Reply

  • Alyona
    September 5, 2012

    Great idea! Is it easy to take out what you need when it’s frozen? Also, is it safe to freeze in sour cream/cottage cheese containers?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 5, 2012

      We been freezing them like that for couple years and never had any trouble. You can also put them in the freezer safe zip lock bag, suck all the air out using a straw.

      Reply

  • Zina
    September 5, 2012

    Dill and parsley work great by freezing too!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 5, 2012

      Thanks for the tip Zina. We freeze dill but I might freeze parsley this year as well, since we have some in the garden.

      Reply

  • Lauren
    September 5, 2012

    OOO.. Need to start doing this for dill, we always end up having an abundance of dill 🙂

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 5, 2012

      We still have planty of frozen dill from last year that still works great but I was out of frozen green onions.

      Reply

  • Lea's Cooking
    September 4, 2012

    Great idea Natasha:) I should do that.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 4, 2012

      We do same thing for dill and bell peppers 🙂

      Reply

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