Can You Freeze Cilantro? Bags, Ice Cubes and Oil

Bought a big bunch of cilantro for one recipe? Freeze the rest. Cilantro is one of the herbs whose flavor holds up best frozen, and it loses flavor when it’s heated or dried.¹ Frozen herbs are limp once thawed, so drop a cube into soup, beans, rice or a curry near the end, using the same amount you’d use fresh. If you freeze it in oil, know the botulism rule that comes with it.

At a glance

Question	Short answer
Does cilantro freeze?	Yes; NDSU, UMass and SDSU Extension all cover it.
Freeze or dry?	Freeze. Drying and heat reduce its flavor.
Methods	Loose in a freezer bag, chopped in water cubes, or chopped in oil.
How long?	SDSU: frozen herbs are good for up to six months.²
Thaw first?	No. Add it frozen to hot dishes.
Fresh, in the fridge	About a week once cut (Wisconsin Master Gardener Program).³

Why freeze cilantro rather than dry it

Cilantro is one of those tender herbs that just doesn’t dry well. Its flavor drops when it’s heated or dried. UMass Extension groups it with parsley, chervil, chives and tarragon as herbs that keep their flavor best frozen. If you still want to dry some, see how to dry cilantro and dried cilantro vs fresh.

For the short term, the Wisconsin Master Gardener Program says cut leaves keep in the fridge for about a week,³ and NDSU suggests wrapping them loosely in a slightly damp paper towel and then a plastic bag. More on that in how to store cilantro.

Three ways to freeze cilantro

Prep. NDSU says to rinse the herb under running water and pat it dry with paper towels. UMass is gentler: wash only if you have to, since water can rinse away valuable oils. Either way, get the leaves dry before they go in the freezer.

1. Loose in a bag. NDSU’s simplest method: put the cilantro in an airtight freezer bag and freeze it. UMass goes the other way, with small zip-lock bags and a little air left in as a cushion. Neither explains why, or tested which keeps cilantro better.

2. Chopped, in water cubes. NDSU chops the herb, packs it into an ice cube tray, covers it with water and freezes it, then moves the cubes to a labeled freezer bag. SDSU half-fills the tray with water and adds about a tablespoon of herbs per section.²

3. Chopped, in oil. SDSU’s oil method mixes two cups of herbs with 1/3 cup of oil before freezing.² You’ll often see advice to put cilantro, water and oil in the same cube. The extension guides we read use water or oil, not both.

You can also spread the leaves on a tray to freeze them separately before bagging. SDSU says that takes about one to two hours, until they’re solid.²

Safety: cilantro in oil

Herbs in oil carry a botulism risk. A 2011 review in Food Protection Trends says vegetables and herbs in oil provide the conditions botulinum toxin needs, and that freezing them is the safest recommendation. If you refrigerate an herb-in-oil mix instead, use it within 4 days.⁴ SDSU says never to keep herbs in oil at room temperature, and to freeze them right away.²

How long frozen cilantro keeps

Source	Scope	Figure
SDSU Extension²	Frozen herbs in general, airtight	Up to six months
UMass Extension⁵	Frozen herbs	“Months later,” no figure
NDSU Extension¹	Frozen cilantro	No figure given

We didn’t find a freezer figure for cilantro specifically. The six months is SDSU’s general guidance for herbs. On safety, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service says food kept constantly at 0°F will always be safe, and only quality suffers with long freezer storage.⁶

Using frozen cilantro

Add it frozen. Penn State’s advice for frozen herbs is not to thaw them before they go into cooked dishes. The easy move is dropping a cube into soup, beans, rice or a curry near the end of cooking.
Same amount as fresh. Penn State says you can use frozen herbs in the same proportion as fresh.⁷
Not for raw dishes. Frozen herbs tend to be limp when thawed, and SDSU recommends using them in cooked dishes. You may read that thawed cilantro works as well as fresh in guacamole. We found no source for that, and the limp texture argues against using it anywhere cilantro is eaten raw.
Refreezing. FSIS says food thawed in the fridge is safe to refreeze, though it may lose quality.⁶ Freeze in small portions and you’ll rarely need to.

Not yet measured

How long frozen cilantro keeps its aroma. Every freezer figure we found is for herbs in general.
Whether water, oil or a dry bag keeps cilantro’s flavor best.
How fast cut cilantro loses aroma between harvest and the store. You’ll hear that store-bought cilantro has already lost much of its flavor, but we found no measurement.

Field to Fork: Cilantro, NDSU Extension. ag.ndsu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩²
Preserving Herbs, South Dakota State University Extension. extension.sdstate.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Susan Mahr, Cilantro, Wisconsin Master Gardener Program. mastergardener.extension.wisc.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩²
Nummer, Schaffner, Fraser and Andress, Current Food Safety Issues of Home-prepared Vegetables and Herbs Stored in Oil, Food Protection Trends, 2011. foodprotection.org · Peer-reviewed ↩
Jodie Gilson, Herb Preservation, UMass Amherst Extension. umass.edu · Reference work ↩
Freezing and Food Safety, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. fsis.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²
Freezing Herbs, Penn State Extension. extension.psu.edu · Reference work ↩

Can You Freeze Cilantro? Bags, Cubes and What Changes When It Thaws