Seafood soups are best consumed fresh because their flavors tend to go downhill if they're stored in the refrigerator or freezer for a long period of time. However, it is possible to freeze seafood soup as long as you're mindful of a few key guidelines. Never freeze soups that contain delicate seafood items, such as oysters, mussels and clams which are still in their shells. It's best to either add fresh shellfish in their shells to the soup after it's been thawed or shell the cooked seafood and add the meat to the soup before freezing it. If the soup contains potatoes (such as chowder), it's also advisable to add those when heating the soup.
Instructions
1. Cool the seafood soup to room temperature. Freezing hot or warm seafood soup can cause the seafood to become tough or rubbery.
2. Ladle the seafood soup into freezer-safe containers, leaving about an inch of space between the soup and the top of the container. Make sure to keep the serving sizes small, especially if they will be thawed out for a single person or a couple. Seafood soup should not be thawed, then re-frozen.
3. Pop the lids onto the containers and label them with the type of soup and the date. Wrap the containers in several layers of plastic wrap to keep out freezer burn. Slide the soup into the freezer, making sure it is level.
4. Leave the frozen seafood soup in the freezer for no longer than a month. Seafood does not do well when stored in the freezer for the long-term, and tastes freshest when it's eaten as quickly as possible.
5. Thaw the seafood soup gently over medium heat. For broth-based soups, slide the block of frozen soup into a saucepan and add about ¼ to ½ cup of water. For cream-based soups, heat the block of frozen soup in a double-boiler with no additional cooking liquid. This will preserve the soup's flavor and keep it from scotching. Eat the soup as soon as it is heated through. Do not bring seafood soup to a boil unless you're adding ingredients to it before serving it.
Tags: seafood soup, soup into, block frozen, block frozen soup, frozen soup
