Freezer Meal Recipes

Pizza Stuffed Chicken

This is an easy kid friendly make ahead meal that the whole family will love. Most kids’ ears perk up at the word “pizza” so this is a great recipe to get those reluctant chicken eaters on board!

I find that my kids also like food that’s stuffed with something. It’s almost like it contains a surprise so that’s another element of this dish that is appealing to the younger crowd.

As far as being appealing to moms, this dish can be made ahead and frozen until the day you want to serve it. While you’re at it, you might as well assemble several so that you have a few in the freezer ready to go. You’ll be glad you did.

The other thing about this pizza stuffed chicken recipe that appeals to moms is how few ingredients it requires. It’s an easy 5 ingredient meal that’s going to quickly become one of your go-tos for busy weeknights.

Let’s get this show on the road and get right to the recipe!

Pizza Stuffed Chicken Recipe:

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
30 pepperoni slices
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup prepared pizza sauce
salt and pepper

Assembly instructions:

Spritz a 9×13 oven safe dish or 9×13 foil tray with non-stick cooking spray.
Slice chicken in half horizontally through the thickness of the breast. Pound to ½ an inch thick. You can make this easier by placing chicken between sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper when pounding.
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. In the middle of the chicken, place four slices of pepperoni and about 1 Tbsp. of shredded mozzarella. Roll the chicken, tucking in the edges, and place in the baking dish or foil tray.
Pour pizza sauce over each chicken breast. Top with remaining mozzarella and pepperoni slices.
Place two layers of aluminum foil over the tray and seal the edges well.
Label and freeze.

Cooking Instructions:

Take the tray out of the oven. Thaw.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Place the tray in the oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (depending on the thickness of the chicken breast) or until a meat thermometer reads 165°.

Serve with a salad and some garlic bread.

Check out these other make ahead kid friendly freezer meals:

Pizza Tater Tot Casserole

Turkey Sloppy Joes

KFC Style Chicken

Pizza Stuffed Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

3 large chicken breasts boneless and skinless
30 pepperoni slices
1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
1 cup prepared pizza sauce
salt and pepper

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

Spritz a 9x13 oven safe dish or 9x13 foil tray with non-stick cooking spray.
Slice chicken in half horizontally through the thickness of the breast. Pound to ½ an inch thick. You can make this easier by placing chicken between sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper when pounding.
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. In the middle of the chicken, place four slices of pepperoni and about 1 Tbsp. of shredded mozzarella. Roll the chicken, tucking in the edges, and place in the baking dish or foil tray.
Pour pizza sauce over each chicken breast. Top with remaining mozzarella and pepperoni slices.
Place two layers of aluminum foil over the tray and seal the edges well.
Label and freeze.

Cooking Instructions:

Take the tray out of the oven. Thaw.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Place the tray in the oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (depending on the thickness of the chicken breasor until a meat thermometer reads 165°.

Country Style Instant Pot Ribs

By Sharla

When you think of making ribs, it usually involves the barbecue grill, lots of foil, bottles of barbecue sauce, hours of prep work and meticulous planning for just the right temperatures and time. The opposite is true with these ribs. The Instant Pot is your magic weapon. These fall off the bone ribs are delicious!

What will save you even more time than the Instant Pot with this recipe is that it can be made ahead and then cooked in the Instant Pot. Have this ready to go in your freezer any time of the year.

Country Style Instant Pot Ribs Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 – 2 racks of pork ribs*
2 Tbsp. coarse ground garlic salt
2 Tbsp. seasoning salt
2 Tbsp. seasoned pepper
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. dry mustard
2 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 small bottle of liquid smoke

For day of cooking:

1 large bottle of Country Bob’s all purpose sauce (if you can’t find Country Bob’s, you can substitute your favourite BBQ sauce)
1 cup honey (local if possible)

Assembly instructions:

Ribs have a membrane on the back side of the rack that needs to be removed. It is on the opposite side of the meaty part of the ribs. It’s a silvery white colour and may look like fat at first glance.

Take a sharp knife, and start at one corner on the back side of the ribs. Run the knife under the membrane to loosen it. Pull it back just a little bit and use a paper towel to get hold of the loosened membrane and pull it off. You may have to do this in 2 or 3 segments as some racks will have a membrane that comes off easily and others will take a little more work.
Once the membrane is removed, place the ribs in a flat bottomed dish (like an 11 x 14 pan) and sprinkle with liquid smoke. Let the ribs sit for 30 minutes and absorb the liquid smoke.
After 30 minutes, lift the ribs up to allow any liquid remaining to run off into the dish.
In a large resealable bag, place the garlic salt, seasoning salt, seasoned pepper, chili powder, dry mustard, paprika, and onion powder. Close the bag and shake vigorously to blend all the dry ingredients. Add the ribs into the bag. Press the seasonings into the ribs.
Remove the excess air from the bag, seal, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Take the bag out of the freezer to thaw.
Place the Trivet in the Instant pot and add 1 cup of water, and 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce.
Place the ribs on the trivet circled around or leaning against the inside liner of the Instant pot.
Put the lid on the Instant Pot and turn it until it beeps and locks. Make sure the pressure valve is set to ‘SEALING’ and press the Manual button. Set the time to 30 minutes.
Allow the Instant Pot to automatically build and release the pressure. Once the Instant Pot has released all the pressure (about an hour), make sure the pressure valve button is down and gently, and with a pot turn the valve to VENTING with a pot holder to make sure that all the pressure has been released.
Remove the lid and place the ribs in an oven safe dish.
In a separate dish, pour half the bottle of Country Bob’s sauce, add the cup of honey, and stir well. Pour the honey BBQ sauce over the ribs.
Place the ribs in the oven at 350° for 30 minutes. This will crisp the ribs and all the BBQ sauce to melt into the ribs. Yum! It will get a little gooey in the oven, which blends the dry rub and BBQ flavours together. Once ribs have browned a little and the sauce is gooey, remove them from the oven and serve immediately.

*Note: You may want to double the dry rub recipe for 2 full racks of ribs. The dry rub mix given will make enough for about 2 – 3 pounds of ribs, which is approximately 1 rack.

Check out some of our other make ahead Instant Pot recipes:

Instant Pot White Chicken Chili Instant Pot Turkey Sloppy Joes

Instant Pot Red Curry Shrimp

Country Style Instant Pot Ribs Recipe

Ingredients

1 - 2 racks of pork ribs*
2 Tbsp. coarse ground garlic salt
2 Tbsp. seasoning salt
2 Tbsp. seasoned pepper
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. dry mustard
2 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 small bottle of liquid smoke

For day of cooking:

1 large bottle of Country Bob's all purpose sauce if you can't find Country Bob's, you can substitute your favourite BBQ sauce
1 cup honey organic or local if possible

Instructions

Assembly Instructions:

Take a sharp knife, and start at one corner on the back side of the ribs. Run the knife under the membrane to loosen it. Pull it back just a little bit and use a paper towel to get hold of the loosened membrane and pull it off. You may have to do this in 2 or 3 segments as some racks will have a membrane that comes off easily and others will take a little more work.
Once the membrane is removed, place the ribs in a flat bottomed dish (like an 11 x 14 paand sprinkle with liquid smoke. Let the ribs sit for 30 minutes and absorb the liquid smoke.
After 30 minutes, lift the ribs up to allow any liquid remaining to run off into the dish.
In a large resealable bag, place the garlic salt, seasoning salt, seasoned pepper, chili powder, dry mustard, paprika, and onion powder. Close the bag and shake vigorously to blend all the dry ingredients. Add the ribs into the bag. Press the seasonings into the ribs.
Remove the excess air from the bag, seal, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Take the bag out of the freezer to thaw.
Place the Trivet in the Instant pot and add 1 cup of water, and 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce.
Place the ribs on the trivet circled around or leaning against the inside liner of the Instant pot.
Put the lid on the Instant Pot and turn it until it beeps and locks. Make sure the pressure valve is set to 'SEALING' and press the Manual button. Set the time to 30 minutes.
Allow the Instant Pot to automatically build and release the pressure. Once the Instant Pot has released all the pressure (about an hour), make sure the pressure valve button is down and gently, and with a pot turn the valve to VENTING with a pot holder to make sure that all the pressure has been released.
Remove the lid and place the ribs in an oven safe dish.
In a separate dish, pour half the bottle of Country Bob's sauce, add the cup of honey, and stir well. Pour the honey BBQ sauce over the ribs.
Place the ribs in the oven at 350° for 30 minutes. This will crisp the ribs and all the BBQ sauce to melt into the ribs. Once the ribs have browned a little and the sauce is gooey, remove from oven and serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

*Note: You may want to double the dry rub recipe for 2 full racks of ribs. The dry rub recipe given will make enough for about 2 - 3 pounds of ribs, which is approximately 1 rack.

Freezer Chicken Pot Pie Filling

By Sharla

Chicken pot pie is one of my all time favourite comfort foods. For four years, I’ve been attempting to create a freezer chicken pot pie recipe. Every single attempt was a flop. Either the topping became too mushy or the sauce didn’t have the right texture once it was thawed and cooked. Then I decided to switch tactics.

The last time we made freezer meals, I took some of our leftover ingredients and made a chicken pot pie filling. I ensured that I wouldn’t have mushy topping or gross textured sauce by leaving those out. For the make ahead portion of this, I only included the filling.

It still saved a ton of time because all the chopping was done, the chicken was cooked, and the seasonings were there. On the day I served it, all I had to do was add a few ingredients to form the sauce, top with pre-made biscuits, and bake.

The best part is that it maintained its incredible flavour. It has the perfect crispness and the sauce was just right.If you’re a fan of good chicken pot pie, you’re going to love how much easier this is. It allows you to make it anytime by pulling the filling out of your freezer anytime the craving hits!

I recommend that you make several bags of freezer chicken pot pie filling at once. This saves even more time.

Make Ahead Chicken Pot Pie Filling:

3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, cooked and cubed
10 mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper, chopped
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground sage
1/4 tsp. marjoram
1/4 tsp. thyme

On the day of cooking:

2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
340 g package Pillsbury Country Biscuits

Assembly instructions:

Cook and cube chicken. Allow to cool.
Chop onion and red pepper and slice the mushrooms.
Add the chicken, onions, red peppers, mushrooms, and peas to a large resealable plastic bag. Add in the seasonings and give it a quick shake. Remove the excess air from the bag and seal before freezing.

Cooking instructions:

Take the filling out of the freezer to thaw. Dump the bag contents into a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add the butter and flour and stir. When well mixed in, slowly pour in the milk.
Heat for another 3-5 minutes until sauce has thickened slightly.
Transfer the chicken pot pie filling to an oven safe casserole dish.
Top with the country biscuits.*
Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes and the biscuits are golden brown.

*I like to split the biscuits in half lengthwise so they are thinner and less doughy. I like more of a crispy texture, but if you prefer more of a dumpling texture, leave the biscuits whole when placing them on top.

Other freezer meals that may interest you:

Chicken Pasta Bake Tater Tot Pizza Casserole

Chicken and Vegetable Casserole with Crispy Onion Topping

Chicken Pot Pie

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

18 mins

Course: Main Course

Keyword: chicken, chicken pot pie

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts boneless and skinless, cooked and cubed
10 mushrooms sliced
1 red pepper chopped
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 onion chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground sage
1/4 tsp. marjoram
1/4 tsp. thyme

On the day of cooking:

2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
340 g package Pillsbury Country Biscuits

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

Cook and cube chicken. Allow to cool.
Chop onion and red pepper and slice the mushrooms.
Add the chicken, onions, red peppers, mushrooms, and peas to a large resealable plastic bag. Add in the seasonings and give it a quick shake. Remove excess air from the bag, seal and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Take the filling out of the freezer to thaw. Dump the bag contents into a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add the butter and flour and stir. When well mixed in, slowly pour in the milk.
Heat for another 3-5 minutes until sauce has thickened slightly.
Transfer the chicken pot pie filling to a casserole dish.
Top with the country biscuits.
Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes and the biscuits are golden brown.

Blue Cheese Hamburgers

By Sharla

Having these delicious blue cheese hamburgers in the freezer is going to make summer way more fun! The flavour in these is next level.

Homemade burger patties are always best. Your guests are going to be impressed at your culinary skills. They don’t need to know how easy they were to make. This recipe will make between 8 and 12 blue cheese hamburger patties depending on how large you make them. It doubles (or triples or quadruples) well. My philosophy is that if you’re going to get your hands gunky anyway, you might as well make a whole bunch at one time and have enough to last you all summer long.

Blue Cheese Hamburgers Recipe:

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp. olive oil
2 lbs. lean ground beef
6 oz. crumbled blue cheese
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup sweet onion, finely chopped
parsley

Assembly instructions:

In a large bowl, mix everything together. It’s best if you do this with your hands so that you can separate the hamburger and combine things well.
Form the mixture into patties.
Freeze in large resealable freezer bags.*

*If you freeze them stacked on top of each other, the patties will stick together. You can either put a piece of parchment or wax paper in between each patty or you can flash freeze the burgers in a single layer on a cookie sheet before adding them to a freezer bag.

Cooking instructions:

On the day of cooking, grill the frozen patties on the BBQ until the meat is no longer pink. Serve on buns or lettuce leaves.

What toppings should I use?

The sky is the limit when choosing burger toppings, but here are some of my recommendations:

blue cheese (yes, really!)
cheese
lettuce
tomato
avocado
guacamole
white or purple onion
caramelized onion
sautéed mushrooms
jalapeños
crispy fried onions or jalapeños
potato chips
pickles
BBQ sauce
mayonnaise
ketchup
mustard
relish
sriracha mayo
hot sauce
Ranch dressing
Caesar dressing
tzatziki
steak sauce
bacon
coleslaw
fried egg
grilled pineapple (soak first in fireball cinnamon whiskey for a super interesting flavour)
pico de gallo
salsa
mango salsa
apple slices

Check out some of our other delicious make ahead meals:

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken on Buns BBQ Pulled Pork Instant Pot Turkey Sloppy Joes

Blue Cheese Hamburgers

Ingredients

4 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 tsp. olive oil
2 lbs. lean ground beef
6 oz. blue cheese
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup sweet onion finely chopped
parsley

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

In a large bowl, mix everything together. It's best if you do this with your hands so that you can separate the hamburger and combine things well.
Form the mixture into patties.
Freeze in large resealable freezer bags.*

Cooking instructions:

On the day of cooking, grill the frozen patties on the BBQ until the meat is no longer pink.

Recipe Notes

Freezer Friendly Instant Pot Borscht Recipe

By Sharla

My mom grew up in Vegreville. It’s a small town in Alberta, Canada that has a rich Ukrainian culture. Although my mom’s heritage is not Ukrainian, she grew up familiar with the food and culture. She then brought those into our home. I was familiar with all kinds of traditional Ukrainian food, including this Borscht recipe.Borscht is a classic beet soup. I’ve adapted the original recipe to make it faster to make thanks to the Instant Pot and freezer friendly. Now, I can make this ahead of time and have it ready anytime.

Beets give this soup its vibrant red colour. It has a unique look and an even more unique flavour. My favourite way to eat it is topped with a dollop of sour cream and fresh dill.

Freezer Friendly Instant Pot Borscht Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, minced
8 medium-sized beets, peeled and chopped
5 cloves garlic, smashed
6 cups water or broth
salt and pepper, to taste

For cooking day:

2 Tbsp. lemon juice
optional: sour cream
optional: fresh dill

Directions:

Instant Pot and Assembly Instructions:

Prepare all vegetables and ingredients before starting the recipe.
Set the Instant Pot to sauté and add the oil.
Once the oil is hot, add the onion and beets. Stir occasionally, until onions are translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the garlic and stir for one minute.
Turn off the sauté setting and add in broth or water and salt and pepper seasoning.
Secure the lid of the Instant Pot and cook on the soup setting for 20 minutes.
Natural release then either use an immersion blender to purée the soup or wait until it has cooled and use a blender.
When the soup has somewhat cooled, ladle it into a large resealable freezer bag or two medium resealable freezer bags.
Seal, remove excess air, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Remove the bag from the freezer to thaw.
Reheat in the microwave or in a pot on the stovetop.
Taste and adjust seasoning – adding in lemon and topping with sour cream and dill, if desired before serving.

Adaptations to this beet soup recipe:

Borscht can be served hot or cold (as a gazpacho).
You can replace some of the beets with parsnips or carrots. This produces a milder flavour.
For adults only: you can add a shot of iced vodka to the soup when serving.

Many recipes for Ukrainian borscht call for grating the beets, which is obviously time consuming and leaves you with very stained hands! You will be amazed at how much time you’ll save using the Instant Pot for this soup.

This isn’t the first traditional Ukrainian dish that I’ve adapted for freezer cooking. You can also check out our Cabbage Roll Casserole Freezer Meal.

Freezer Friendly Borscht Recipe

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion minced
8 medium sized beets peeled and chopped
5 cloves garlic smashed
6 cups water or broth
salt and pepper to taste

For cooking day:

2 Tbsp. lemon juice
optional: sour cream
optional: fresh dill

Instructions

Instant Pot and Assembly Instructions:

Prepare all vegetables and ingredients before starting the recipe.
Set the Instant Pot to sauté and add the oil.
Once the oil is hot, add the onion and beets. Stir occasionally, until onions are translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the garlic and stir for one minute.
Turn off the sauté setting and add in broth or water and salt and pepper seasoning.
Secure the lid of the Instant Pot and cook on the soup setting for 20 minutes.
Natural release then either use an immersion blender to purée the soup or wait until it has cooled and use a blender.
When the soup has somewhat cooled, ladle it into a large resealable freezer bag or two medium resealable freezer bags.
Seal, remove excess air, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Remove the bag(s) from the freezer to thaw.
Reheat in the microwave or in a pot on the stovetop.
Taste and adjust seasoning - adding in lemon and topping with sour cream and dill, if desired before serving.

Recipe Notes

Borscht can be served hot or cold (as a gazpacho).

Check out some of our other freezer friendly Instant Pot soups:

Instant Pot Tomato Soup

Keto Bone Broth in the Instant Pot