15 Make-Ahead Recipes to Stock Your Freezer With Right Now (2024)

Pad Thai Chicken Burritos

Freeze: Up to 4 months

Get your Thai and Mexican cravings cured with this portable meal combining both cuisines. Fresh veggies, noodles, and Thai-spiced chicken wrapped in a tortilla make an easy lunch or dinner. Served with our coconut curry sauce, all the flavors really pop.

Orange-Rosemary Shrimp

Freeze: Up to 1 month

This easy seafood dinner is frozen in an orange-rosemary marinade, so the shrimp and veggies are loaded with that zesty flavor right out of your freezer. Once thawed (move it in the fridge the night before you want to enjoy), it only takes eight minutes to get this meal on the table.

Sausage and Peppers Soup

Freeze: Up to 3 months

A low-stress way to end the day is by enjoying this easy soup. It only takes 25 minutes to prep the veggies and sausage. All you have to do you to serve is add the broth, heat it up, and enjoy.

Prosciutto-Stuffed Chicken Bake

Freeze: Up to 3 months

This make-ahead freezer meal has juicy chicken as the main dish and your rice side all in the same pan. When it's dinner time, just bake and serve with a fresh green salad to balance your meal.

Chicken and Green Chile Tamales

Freeze: Up to 1 month

Fill authentic homemade masa harina dough with tender chicken thighs, green salsa, and fresh veggies, then roll in boiled cornhusks. The recipe yields 16 tamales, so you can steam them all at once for a crowd or just grab a couple for an easy dinner for two.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Freeze: Up to 3 months

Stash these homemade snacks in your freezer to have something nutritious at the ready when hunger strikes. Peanut butter, pretzel sticks, rice cereal, chia seeds, and miniature chocolate pieces pack the low-calorie granola bars.

Peach Chutney

Freeze: Up to 6 months

Chutneys are one of India's most popular condiments, and this flavorful mixture of fresh peaches, red wine vinegar, sugar, and spices is one to remember. Smear the fruit-studded spread onto grilled poultry, toasty tartines, or roasted sweet potatoes.

Caramel Apple Butter

Freeze: Up to 10 months

Smooth and silky, this apple butter is made possible by the low and slow cooking of fresh apples with apple cider, sugar, and lemon juice. Serve this with your breakfast toast or oatmeal.

Pillow Rolls

Freeze: Up to 2 months

Make use of your leftover mashed potatoes by adding them to this easy bread recipe. These soft and fluffy rolls (hence pillow in the name) will warm up quickly to go along with tonight's pot roast or spaghetti dinner.

Gluten Free Make-Ahead Sausage, Mushroom, and Polenta Bake

Freeze: Up to 2 months

This gluten-free casserole recipe will make anyone sitting at the table want second helpings, whether they eat gluten or not. It has all the same herb-filled Italian flavors as lasagna, but we've switched out the noodles with filling cornmeal polenta.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Freeze: Up to 1 month

Keep everyone happy with a healthy take on a classic Italian recipe. Brimming with zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, and sweet peppers, this freezer lasagna guarantees a hearty bite of veggies in every forkful.

Test Kitchen Tip: Before adding them to the lasagna, roast the veggies to coax out their sweet flavors.

Freezer Berry Pie Filling

Freeze: Up to 3 months

This fresh freezer pie filling puts canned fruit to shame. A combination of fresh raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries will create a pie ready to fill your dessert cravings any time of the year. Make sure to keep ice cream in the freezer too; you'll want to serve this pie à la mode.

Twixy Shortbread Bars

Freeze: Up to 3 months

It's a good thing these dessert bars are freezer friendly (you might eat them all at once otherwise). Reminiscent of the store-bought favorite, the cookie crust, creamy filling, and chocolate topping make this a perfect recipe for gifting or storing for a rainy day.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Freeze: Up to 1 year

Skip the canning process and freeze this homemade strawberry jam for up to a year. Not a berry fan? Substitute the fruit for apricots, tangerines, oranges, or peaches.

Pressure Cooker Ham and Mixed Bean Soup

Freeze: Up to 2 months

Meal prepping with your pressure cooker is definitely the way to score more weeknight dinner wins at home. The smoky ham deepens the broth's flavor of this soup filled with beans, celery, and carrots. Kale goes in when you're ready to cook and serve on a chilly night.