Did you know you can freeze cooked pasta? Learn how easy it is to freeze shells, spaghetti & egg noodles – with or without sauce. Great for feeding the baby or a quick dinner for the family!
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just snap our fingers and dinner made itself?
That won’t ever happen, of course. However, having a few pantry staples like Instant Pot Beans or Homemade Chicken Stock in the freezer is the next best thing.
And did you know you can make dinner even faster and freeze cooked pasta?!
I normally use a kitchen scale (I have this one) to measure exactly how much pasta we need, but when my husband told me he’d eat leftovers, I made a whole box.
Can you guess what happened?
We had A TON of pasta leftover.
So much so, that there was no way we could eat it all without feeling awful. I began thinking of what we could do for the pasta not to go to waste and I thought – what if we freeze the cooked pasta?!
Why would you consider freezing pasta?
Aside from listening to your husband and making too much, there are actually a few reasons to freeze pasta:
- Batch Cooking: You make extra on purpose so you can save time cooking later.
- Leftover Pasta: You accidentally made too much and you don’t want it to go to waste.
- Cook Once, Eat Twice: You have pasta on your meal plan twice, so you’re being smart with your time and cooking now for both meals.
How to Freeze Cooked Pasta
Here’s how to freeze pasta so it’s not mushy later:
- Slightly undercook the pasta. Cook pasta al dente, which is slightly undercooked. If the box says to cook for 9-11 minutes, the timer for cooking the noodles should be set for 8 minutes.
- Rinse your pasta under running cold water. The cold water helps to stop the cooking process, and it’s the same reason we put hard boiled eggs into a water bath.
- Toss the cooked pasta with olive oil. Olive oil will help keep the pasta from sticking together as it freezes, as you store it, and when you use it in your recipe later. Tip: Toss the pasta in the same pot you used to cook it in to reduce dishes!
- Freeze the pasta. Place the pasta on a baking sheet (I have this set) in a single layer. This is important – if the pasta is not in a single layer, it will clump together as it freezes. When freezing long noodles (spaghetti, fettuccine, angel hair, etc.), make “nests” instead of freezing in a single layer by taking a fork and twirling it in the tossed pasta. When you have about a ½ cup of pasta on the fork, carefully move the pasta directly to the cookie sheet. Leave a couple of inches between nests. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least one full hour, or up to 8 hours.
- Move the pasta to a freezer-safe container. This can be a set of glass storage containers (I have these), glass jars (here’s how to freeze glass jars without breaking them) or freezer bags.
I recommend storing the pasta in amounts you would typically use in a recipe, like 4 or 8 ounces. Make sure you get all of the air out of the bag to avoid freezer burn and label your container!
How to Thaw Frozen Pasta
- Place the pasta in a pan of WARM (not hot) water. This will bring the noodles to room temperature.
- Carefully stir the frozen pasta directly into the dish. This will defrost the pasta and cool the dish slightly, so make sure the pasta is heated through again before serving. Also, try not to over stir the noodles!
- Place the frozen pasta directly into a pot of boiling water. This will very, very quickly thaw the noodles and cook them for one minute.
- Pop it in the microwave!
Need some sauce and/or meal ideas using frozen pasta? Here are a few of my favorites:
- Hearty Spaghetti Sauce (and 15-minute Italian meatballs!)
- 15 Minute Alfredo Sauce
- Creamy Cauliflower Sauce
- Weeknight Creamy Mushroom Pasta
- Savory Pasta with Onion, Bacon & Greens
- Creamy Squash Pasta Bake
- Slow Cooker Beef Ragu
- The Best Stove-top Macaroni & Cheese
- Pumpkin Chili Mac
- Lentil Macaroni & Cheese
Can you freeze cooked pasta with meat sauce (or with pesto)?
Yes! You can freeze the pasta together with meat sauce, pesto, or with whatever freezer-friendly sauce you have. You’ll want to reheat this in the oven, in an oven-safe dish.
Can you freeze spaghetti?
Yes! When freezing long noodles like spaghetti, be sure to make “nests” instead of freezing in a single layer. Just use a fork to twirl the tossed pasta in about 1/2 cup size nests, then carefully move the pasta nest directly to the cookie sheet. Leave a couple of inches between nests. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least one full hour, or up to 8 hours.
What about whole dishes – can you freeze pasta casserole or freeze pasta meals?
Yes! You could freeze jalapeno popper chicken or creamy squash pasta bake without any issue. Just reheat in the oven and you’re good to go!
What else can you freeze, besides pasta?
The freezer is my go-to preservation method for SO MANY different foods:
Freezing foods, including leftovers, is one way we’re able to afford real food on a budget.
Best ways to freeze spaghetti with meat and sauce for a crowd? A wedding. About 200 people. Spaghetti and alfredo? I want to prepare and freeze about a week in advance. Whats the best ways to reheat?
Thank you for this tip! We are bracing for a hurricane and I’m thinking having some pasta in the freezer would be a good idea. I can make a pasta salad out of it if we lose power!
Hi! Will this work with gluten-free pasta as well? I’m thinking this trick is going to come in extremely handy for me! Thanks!
Hi Margaret,
Yes, gf pasta will work fine. 🙂
Hello. I want to cook my large shells then cool them then stuff them with cheese and put on a pan single layer and freeze. This this ok to do?
Hi Maureen!
Yes, this is fine. My only suggestion might be to leave your sauce on the side until after reheating, just so the shells don’t get soggy during thawing. Hope they’re great!
Thank you for your help! I’m involved with a community project to make frozen family meals for the local health care workers. The freezing part is challenging me! I’m glad to know I can freeze the pasta to go with my Chicken Chasseur dish – this week’s planned supper.
So glad we could help, Margie!
A friend of mine said To safely cook pasta and rice that you have to freeze it while it is hot. I had never heard of that. But what do you think of it.
Anna, if you follow this recipe it should turn out well.
I cooked mine all the way until done. THEN I searched for how to freeze pasta. Do you think it will still freeze ok? Thank you!
Hi Diane,
It will freeze alright! Just don’t cook them for too long when you use it so the noodles don’t dissolve! It happened to me once with gluten-free noodles. I should have waited to add them in the last 5 minutes! Best of luck! 🙂
In the section on freezing cooked pasta, you mention using olive oil. How much should be used?
I do realize it depends on how much pasta I am cooking but just need a rough estimate….(cooking ~9 oz of pasta,…)
1/4 tbsp. tossed with the pasta well will usually keeps pasta from sticking together, Dan.
So freezing pasta saves only 10 min over cooking fresh unless you defrost first 🤔
10 minute is 10 minutes! Some nights we’re lucky to have that before we have to leave again!!
I’m making freezer meals for my elderly neighbour for a week at a time. I was going to put the sauce and cooked pasta in a container together. Would I be better off mixing the sauce and pasta together rather than keep them separate? She will be pulling the single container from the freezer to thaw the night before and then microwaving? Thanks
Verity, freeze the sauce and pasta separate then put them in freezer and microwave safe containers by the serving.
You are so correct! AND If you freeze several meals of cooked pasta, that could easily be 30 minutes or more of time saved. PLUS the clean up!
The biggest issue I have with freezing pasta per your directions is the OIL.
If you add EVOO (or ANY) kind of oil during OR after the cooking process, any sauce you add later WILL NOT STICK. This is the reason you SALT pasta, not ADD oil.
Thanks for sharing, Rebecca!
10 minutes PLUS the time it takes for the water to boil!
Would I use the same cooking method to freeze pasta for a cold pasta salad, or would I cook it a little longer? I’m only going to freeze the noodles, not anything else. thank you!
Hi Billie! Yes, the same cooking method – just a hair under-done.
Thank you! I had never considered freezing pasta on a cookie sheet – it makes sense!