Some kitchen tricks are so simple you wonder why you didn’t try them sooner. Freezing garlic and ginger into cubes is one of those hacks. 🧊
Instead of tossing leftover chopped garlic or grated ginger, freeze them in ice cube trays. Then, you have healthy, aromatic elements ready to amp up a dish at your fingertips.
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These cubes are ideal for jump-starting soups, stir-fries, stews, sauces, even dressings and marinades in seconds. They also reduce food waste and keep pungent, foul-smelling scraps out of the trash.
🧄Why Freeze Garlic & Ginger?🫚
Fresh garlic and ginger are delicious, but prepping them every time you cook takes effort. Trader Joe’s and Target even sell frozen versions, which is what inspired me to make my own! Making your own saves time and money!
I don't recommend freezing garlic cloves and ginger root whole, although you will find pieces of whole, peeled ginger root in my freezer because it grates more easily when it's frozen.
This is about overage. I often chop/mince too much garlic or prep more ginger than needed and hate to dispose of the extra.
So, I put my extras in an ice cube tray (affiliate link) and cover with oil before freezing. Then, I have, at the ready, the start of a soup, stir-fry, stew, or casserole.
How to make cubes
There are a couple of methods I like.
First, anytime you have leftover chopped garlic or grated ginger, scoop it up and put it into an ice cube tray. Carefully cover and freeze.
Label a quart-size freezer bag: Garlic or Ginger. Toss your frozen cubes into it.
Or, if you are chopping garlic or grating ginger for a dish, simply chop up the whole bulb or grate (affiliate link) the entire root.
Chopping all the cloves may add a few minutes to your prep, but you'll simplify life for your future self!
Use a small spoon (affiliate link) to transfer the garlic or ginger to the wells of an ice cube tray.
Pour some oil over the goods. Olive oil is nice with garlic, and peanut oil is perfect with ginger, especially when making Asian recipes.
Sunflower and canola oils are other heart-healthy neutral choices that are good.
Cover your ice cube tray with plastic wrap.
Then, seal with a layer of foil. Place your trays in a level spot in the freezer.
After two hours, or on the following day, pop the cubes out onto a piece of wax paper. Pick up the wax paper and make a cone out of it.
Slide the cubes out of the cone into a quart-size freezer bag.
The cubes will stay fresh in the freezer for at least three months. But, it's very unlikely they will last that long once you discover easy deliciousness in these little flavor bombs!
✨Tip: It's helpful if your ice cube tray has a lid.
How to Use Garlic & Ginger Cubes
- Toss garlic cubes into beans, soups, stews, or marinades
- Add ginger cubes to stir-fries, marinades, or Asian sauces
- Stir them into pilafs, pasta sauces, fried rice, or veggie roasts
- Recent favorite: roasted cherry tomatoes with garlic cubes, tossed with pearl couscous and flat-leaf parsley 🍅
Large batch prep
If you want enough to last you for a long time, use your food processor or blender to puree four to five cups of raw cloves or pieces of ginger root with about a third to a half a cup of oil.
✨Tip: You can buy a large container of peeled garlic cloves at the grocery store to save time and effort (not money🤑).
Pack the paste into an ice cube tray or a plastic freezer bag. Label and date the bag.
You can lightly score a frozen bag of garlic or ginger into a grid and then they break off a scored square when ready to cook. (I think the ice cube tray is easier!)
FAQ ⁉️
🚰 Water works fine if you're making ice cubes and is perfect for dropping into soups.
Two reasons: Smell and toxicity. ☠️
👃🏼Chopped or minced garlic has powerful odors. The rest of the food in your refrigerator does not need to smell and taste like garlic. Also, it does turn poisonous after curing for a few days.
You could probably store grated or chopped ginger in the fridge with fewer issues, but it will keep longer in the freezer.
📆For best flavor, try and use within three months. This is no problem if you are simply making cubes out of your extras.
If you decide you want to store them in bulk, they will be fine for up to six months, although best taste is probably still within three months.
Yes! The classic herbs like rosemary, parsley, and thyme are good choices. Avoid basil, however, as it will turn very brown when frozen.
You could also throw in black or red pepper or any other dry spice that you frequently enjoy in your food.
Health benefits of G squared
Garlic and ginger are a dynamic and healthy culinary duo that fight inflammation!
This Vegetable Broth with Garlic and Ginger makes the most of both flavors and is marvelous in plant-based soups and rice dishes!
🧄Garlic is packed with allicins, organosulfur compounds that keep blood from clotting, and thus, are good for your heart. It also increases nitric oxide production (good for circulation), and may lower blood pressure.
The allicins in garlic are anti-inflammatory, lowering LDL and total cholesterol if you eat garlic daily, and may work preventively against many types of cancer, including colon, breast, and prostate.
It's also an excellent prebiotic that feeds the good bacteria in your gut.
🫚Ginger is renowned for its gut-soothing properties. Many a pregnant woman has found some relief from morning sickness with a ginger chew or ginger tea. 🤢
It may aid digestion by increasing the speed of processing in the digestive tract.
Because of its anti-inflammatory effects, the root has been used as medicine in many ancient traditions and may benefit arthritis, immunity, and brain health.
Phenolic compounds like gingerols (fresh ginger) and shogaols (dried ginger) may also protect against cancer.
Warning: Too much ginger and garlic may cause heartburn and other uncomfortable GI symptoms.
One way to enjoy the digestive comforts of ginger is to enjoy it as a tea. This recipe for Ginger Milk Tea starts with the fresh root. It uses a stevia-blend sweetener, but feel free to swap in some honey as a replacement.
One of the real bonuses of this ginger tea is energy! Do not drink it after dinner!!!
Garlic and Ginger Flavor Cubes/Bombs
Equipment
- Microplane grater
- 2 Ice cube trays small
- Small spoon
- 2 Freezer bags, quart-size plastic or silicone zip bags
Ingredients
- 1 bulb garlic, chopped or minced
- 1 root ginger, large, about 4 to 5 inches
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil
- 4 Tablespoons peanut oil, or sunflower seed oil
Instructions
- Wash hands thoroughly, lathering with soap and rinsing with running water before chopping and grating.
- Separate all the cloves from the bulb and remove the skin by lightly smashing each clove with the flat side of your knife.
- Remove any dark green sprouts, and finely mince or chop all the cloves. If you would rather not do this by hand, use a small food processor to chop the cloves.
- Transfer the garlic into the wells of an ice cube tray using a small spoon. Each well should hold almost a teaspoon of garlic.
- Pour olive oil over the garlic until the wells in the ice cube tray are nearly full.
- Cover the tray with plastic wrap and then foil. Write the date on top of the foil and carefully place the tray in a level spot in the freezer, being careful not to spill. (Use a lid on the ice cube tray if you have one!)
- Grate the ginger, and repeat this process with your second ice cube tray, using a small clean spoon to transfer the grated ginger into the wells of the tray.
- Instead of olive oil, pour peanut or sunflower oil over the ginger until it is fully submerged, but the wells are not overly full.
- Cover with foil and plastic; put the date on the foil and freeze.
- After two hours or longer, pop the cubes out onto a sheet of waxed paper. Pick up the waxed paper and slide the cubes into a quart-size freezer bag.
- Put the date on the freezer bag, and use the cubes as needed when you are preparing soups, stews, stir-fries, and even marinades and dressings.
Video
Nutrition
Copyright © 2025 Jani Leuschel
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