Freezer Meal Recipes

Baked Italian Chicken (Freezer Meal)

Who doesn’t love a freezer meal that includes the protein AND the veggies?! This baked Italian chicken recipe has all that and more. It is especially delicious served over pasta. Sometimes when you bake chicken in the oven, it can dry out, but this recipe has a sauce, so the chicken stays nice and juicy.

This dish can also be cooked in the Crock-Pot® (which I know then technically is no longer called “Baked” Italian Chicken, but it still tastes just as good. And the slow cooker option is nice for a day when you need to be out of the house and come back to dinner waiting.

What I like best about this meal is that it includes some fresh-tasting vegetables as well as the chicken so I know my kids are getting a balanced meal and yet it’s so easy to throw together. Plus, when you serve it over pasta, it gets that homemade comfort food aspect down as well.

Baked Italian Chicken Recipe:

8-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup zucchini with peel, cubed
1/2 cup onion, diced
24 oz. jar pasta sauce

Assembly instructions:

Cut the zucchini and onion and slice the mushrooms.
Place the chicken thighs in a large resealable freezer bag.
Add the seasoning, vegetables, brown sugar, and pasta sauce.
Remove all the air you can from the bag, seal it, and freeze.

Oven Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Put the contents of the bag in a casserole dish.
Bake in the oven at 375° for 50 minutes.

Crock Pot Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Put the bag contents into the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Serve over pasta and sprinkle with shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese. If you are on a gluten-free diet, you can instead serve this over rice. You can also serve this with a side salad if you want more greens.

Variations on this recipe:

Substitute 3-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts for the chicken thighs.
Add some crushed chili flakes either before cooking or when serving if you like to spice things up a bit.
You can substitute a can of sliced mushrooms for the fresh mushrooms, but I really suggest you use fresh. It’s hardly any extra work to slice them up and it tastes so much fresher.
Use whichever red pasta sauce is your favorite. By experimenting and trying different types of pasta sauce, you can change up the flavors of this meal.

Other chicken freezer meals:

Baked Italian Chicken

Prep Time

7 mins

Cook Time

50 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: baked chicken, chicken

Servings: 4

Calories: 428 kcal

Ingredients

8-12 chicken thighs boneless and skinless
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup zucchini cubed with peel
1/2 cup onion diced
24 oz. jar pasta sauce

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

Cut the zucchini and onion and slice the mushrooms.
Place the chicken thighs in a large resealable freezer bag.
Add the seasoning, vegetables, brown sugar, and pasta sauce.
Remove all the air you can from the bag, seal it, and freeze.

Oven Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Put the contents of the bag in a casserole dish.
Bake in the oven at 375° for 50 minutes.

Crock Pot Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Put the bag contents into the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Recipe Notes

Serve over pasta and sprinkle with shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese.

Easy Cabbage Soup (freezer meal)

By Sharla

Perfect for cold days, this make ahead cabbage soup is easy to make and has nice light flavours. You can freeze this cabbage soup before cooking it or after. Or of course, if you can’t wait to try it, you can cook it and eat it right away!

If you like, you can double the recipe to use up your whole head of cabbage and ensure that none goes to waste. Then, simply freeze in family sized portions or even single servings. Cabbage touts many health properties including being high in vitamin C, vitamin K, and improving digestion. Adding this easy soup to your diet is a simple way to eat healthier. It’s also budget conscious as this costs very little to make.

To make this soup vegetarian or even vegan, just use vegetable broth. The recipe is also dairy free and gluten free, so it’s appropriate for many types of diets.

For this recipe, you can use savoy, Napa, or green cabbage.

Can you freeze cabbage?

This seems to be a common question. I can see where the confusion comes in as lettuce does not freeze well at all and cabbage and lettuce look similar. Cabbage, however freezes beautifully. We use it in recipes such as our Cabbage Roll Casserole and this Cabbage Soup.

If you want to freeze cabbage that isn’t in a recipe, cut the cabbage into wedges and pat dry. Place it in freezer bags, being sure to take out all the air you can before sealing. Freeze for up to 18 months.

Cabbage Soup Recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 head cabbage chopped in about 1 1/2″ chunks*
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
14 1/2 oz. can stewed tomatoes

Assembly instructions:

Chop the vegetables.
Place the vegetables and other ingredients into a large resealable freezer bag or silicone bag.
Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Thaw.
Place bag contents in a large stovetop pot. Heat over medium until it comes to a low boil.
Turn down to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

*note: if you want to use up the whole head of cabbage, simply double the recipe and separate into two large freezer bags or into single serving containers

That’s it! It’s simple to make homemade cabbage soup ahead so that you can pull it out to cook on those cold dreary days that scream for soup.

What to serve with this soup:

Serve this soup on its own, with crackers, or with dinner rolls.

You might also like these freezer soup recipes:

Cabbage Soup

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

35 mins

Course: Soup

Keyword: cabbage, cabbage soup, soup

Servings: 8

Ingredients

1/2 onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
8 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 head cabbage chopped in 1 1/2" chunks
4 medium carrots peeled and sliced
2 stalks celery thinly sliced
14 1/2 oz. can stewed tomatoes

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

Chop the vegetables.
Place the vegetables and other ingredients into a large resealable freezer bag or silicone bag.
Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Thaw.
Place bag contents in a large stovetop pot. Heat over medium until it comes to a low boil.
Turn down to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Baked Tortellini Alfredo (Freezer Meal)

By Sharla

This recipe for Baked Tortellini Alfredo will change the way you think about freezer cooking! If you’re pasta fans, this is about to become one of your family’s new favourites. The first time we attempted a baked tortellini freezer meal, we didn’t get the flavours right and it was a bit of a miss, but we were not deterred. We could see right away the potential to create a delicious meal that was quick and easy to make.

Enter our experiment phase. We tried many variations of our original tortellini bake and finally found the winner.

This Baked Tortellini Alfredo can be made ahead as a freezer meal and doesn’t require you to pre-cook the noodles. (read that again if you missed the significance – no boiling water, cooking noodles, draining noodles, extra pot and strainer to clean!)

There are also many variations you can make to this recipe so you’re able to choose the flavours you know your family will like best. Depending on what you decide to mix in, this can also be a vegetarian freezer meal.

Baked Tortellini Alfredo Recipe:

1 lb. cheese tortellini (we like the tri-colour rainbow one)
2 jars Alfredo sauce (I use Classico because I like their jars as mason jars afterwards!)
1/2 – 1 cup of your chosen mix-ins* (in these pictures, I used sliced mushrooms and frozen peas)
1 cup shredded mozza cheese
1/4 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese

*Examples of mix-ins:

cooked cubed chicken and 2 Tbsp. of pesto
sliced mushrooms and frozen peas
crumbled bacon and sundried tomatoes
sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts
browned Italian sausage

The nice thing about this recipe is that you don’t have to boil the pasta. It cooks right in the dish.

Assembly instructions:

Add everything except the Parmesan to a 9×13 baking dish or casserole dish. Stir. If you prefer to save space in your freezer, you can add it to a large resealable freezer bag and squish to combine.
Top with the Parmesan.
Cover with two layers of aluminum foil, one that is directly on top of the pasta so there isn’t as much air in the container.
Freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Remove from freezer.
Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes or one hour if still frozen. If frozen, remove foil for the last 10 minutes of bake time.

You can see me make this and two other tortellini freezer meals on video here.

Other pasta freezer meals you may like:

Baked Tortellini Alfredo

Prep Time

4 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: pasta, tortellini

Ingredients

1 lb. cheese tortellini
2 jars Alfredo sauce
1/2 - 1 cup your choice of mix-ins*
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

Add everything except the Parmesan to a 9x13 baking dish or casserole dish. Stir. If you prefer to save space in your freezer, you can add it to a large resealable freezer bag and squish to combine.
Top with the Parmesan.
Cover with two layers of aluminum foil, one that is directly on top of the pasta so there isn't as much air in the container.
Freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Remove from freezer.
Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes or one hour if still frozen. If frozen, remove foil for the last 10 minutes of bake time.

Recipe Notes

*examples of mix-in options: cooked cubed chicken and 2 Tbsp. of pesto, sliced mushrooms and frozen peas, crumbled bacon and sundried tomatoes, sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts

Mongolian Beef Skillet Freezer Meal

By Sharla

If you’re a fan of Mongolian beef, you’re going to love how easy it is to make from scratch. This Mongolian Beef freezer meal recipe is as delicious as it is simple.This easy make ahead Mongolian beef is so fast to assemble and almost just as fast to cook up. There’s no need to order from an Asian restaurant when you can just pull this out of the freezer and have it at home!

We love asian flavours so they often make their way into our freezer meals such as in our Easy Kung Pao Chicken, Asian Rice Bowl, and Ginger Soy Salmon, and Asian Meatballs.

Time saving tips:

I use the squeeze tubes of ginger because it still has that fresh taste but saves me having to grate the ginger myself.
Purchase the beef strips pre-sliced.
If you slice the steak yourself, putting it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes right before slicing makes it easier to cut.

Can you freeze Mongolian Beef?

Yes! You can absolutely freeze Mongolian beef. In fact, this recipe is designed for just that, although you can also eat this straight away if you prefer. You can double or triple the recipe to freeze several dinners at a time. Then, just pull out a bag on the day you have a craving for Asian take-out and instead, quickly cook up your own!

Mongolian Beef Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. package beef strips*
1/2 tsp. ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup carrots, cut into tiny matchsticks
2 green onions, sliced

For day of cooking:

1/3 cup cornstarch

Assembly instructions:

Peel the carrots and cut into matchsticks.
Slice the green onions.
Add the beef strips to a large resealable freezer bag.
Toss in the ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, carrots, and green onions to the bag.
Squish to combine.
Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Skillet cooking instructions:

Thaw.
Heat in skillet.
Whisk 1/3 cup cornstarch into the sauce as it cooks.
Cook until beef is cooked. This will be quick, 3-5 minutes.
Serve over rice. Sprinkle with some sliced green onions if you like.

*If you can’t find the beef cut into strips already, you can ask the butcher at your grocer to slice some flank steak for you or you can slice it yourself against the grain. You can substitute sirloin steak for flank steak if you prefer.

What to serve with Mongolian beef:

Rice is a natural choice to serve under or beside the Mongolian beef to soak up some of that delicious sauce. White rice, jasmine rice, sticky rice, or any rice will do. You can also add a side veggie.

Here are some suggestions for great side dishes for this meal:

Mongolian Beef

Prep Time

8 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

Course: Main Course

Keyword: beef, mongolian beef

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb. package beef strips*
1/2 tsp. ginger
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar packed
1/4 cup carrots cut into matchsticks
2 green onions sliced

For day of cooking:

1/3 cup cornstarch

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

Peel the carrots and cut into small matchsticks.
Slice the green onions.
Add the beef strips to a large resealable freezer bag.
Toss in the ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, carrots, and green onions to the bag.
Squish to combine.
Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Skillet cooking instructions:

Thaw.
Heat in skillet over medium.
Whisk 1/3 cup cornstarch into the sauce as it cooks.
Cook until beef is cooked. (about 5 minutes)
Serve over rice. Sprinkle with some sliced green onions

Recipe Notes

*If you can't find the beef cut into strips already, you can ask the butcher at your grocer to slice some flank steak for you or you can slice it yourself against the grain. You can substitute sirloin steak for flank steak if you prefer.

Check out these other Asian inspired freezer meals:

Easiest Kung Pao Chicken Asian Rice Bowl

Asian Beef Noodle Soup for the Instant Pot

Vegan Chili (Freezer Meal)

By Sharla

Whether your diet is entirely plant based or you are just looking for an occasional meatless dish, you’ll appreciate this vegan chili recipe. It can be made ahead as a freezer meal.

This recipe combines three different beans, giving it lots of protein. It has a bit of a kick with the jalapeños and southwestern seasoning.

The medley of beans make this vegetarian chili a hearty and filling meal.

Vegan Chili Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup black beans
1 cup kidney beans
1 cup pinto beans
1 onion, diced
2 jalapeños, diced (deseed if you don’t like spicy food)
4 cloves garlic, smashed and sliced
2-3 Tbsp. southwestern seasoning
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
3-4 cups vegetable broth or water
32 oz. can diced tomatoes

Note: if desired, you can soak the beans overnight before assembling this recipe.

Assembly Instructions:

Rinse the beans and combine them in a large stockpot. Cover with water and bring to a boil on the stovetop over high heat.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer the beans for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until beans are tender.
Drain and rinse the beans.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Place cooled cooked beans in a large resealable freezer bag. Add diced onion, diced jalapeños, garlic, seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, vegetable broth or water, and diced tomatoes.
Squish the bag to combine. Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Cooking Instructions:

Thaw.
Place in a large stovetop pot. Heat on medium-high and bring to a boil.
Reduce to medium-low and cover, simmering for 1 hour until all liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.

You might be interested in some of our other vegetarian freezer meals:

Vegan Chili

Ingredients

1 cup black beans
1 cup kidney beans
1 cup pinto beans
1 onion diced
2 jalapeños diced (deseed if you don't like spicy food)
4 cloves garlic smashed and sliced
2-3 Tbsp. southwestern seasoning
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
3-4 cups vegetable broth or water
32 oz. can diced tomatoes

Instructions

Assembly Instructions:

Rinse the beans and combine in a large stockpot. Cover with water and bring to a boil on the stovetop over high heat.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer the beans for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until beans are tender.
Drain and rinse the beans.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Place cooled cooked beans in a large resealable freezer bag. Add diced onion, diced jalapeños, garlic, seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, vegetable broth or water, and diced tomatoes.
Squish the bag to combine. Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Cooking Instructions:

Thaw.
Place in a large stovetop pot. Heat on medium-high and bring to a boil.
Reduce to medium-low and cover, simmering for 1 hour until all liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.

Recipe Notes

Note: if desired, you can soak the beans overnight before assembling this recipe.