by | September 06, 2023 | 3 comment(s)

Updated! Our Top 18 Freezer-Friendly Dishes We Make for Yom Tov

They’re the Yom Tov dishes we make the most often. And they all can be made and frozen right now.

Now that the kids are off, we are ready to make our Yom Tov menus. And while there’s plenty of work to catch up on, at least there’s a good shot that we can actually get some things into the freezer in the next couple weeks. 

If you’ve already gotten a head start, we hope you’ve started to make use of our user-friendly recipe index. It’s now so easy to narrow down and find just the recipe that you’re looking for. You can even search only items that are freezer-friendly. Or, you can search all the meats. Or, search for a new gorgeous salad. Or all of our fish. (If you want to pick two categories at once and search for all salads with meat, you can do that too!)

But if you’re just starting to think of a menu like we are, then these classics are the place to start. They are the dishes that we make THE most often for Yom Tov, the ones that we are constantly going back to the BCP App to look up, and the ones that are most definitely going to be the first to take up real estate in our freezers. They’re all can’t lose, always-amazing classics that you can make right now and cross off the list.

5 Grain Challah

And this challah too! This is the best wholesome challah out there. We actually reach for it over the white challah. Update: You don’t need to use the 5 grain flour. We haven’t seen it available lately. Most whole wheat/whole grain flours work just fine.

click here for recipe

Garlic Confit

Make in bulk and freeze! Yes, you can cross this off now! Use as a dip for a Shabbos meal or use as a base for this oven rice (you can skip the tomatoes if you want to make it more family-friendly) for an easy 2-minute prep side dish.

find recipe here

Frozen Raspberry Crumb Bar Ice Cream Cups

A great dessert that takes a few minutes to assemble and then just serve straight from the freezer. No freezer room? Or tight on time? Freeze the crumbs in a bag. Crush the cookies and freeze. Then just assemble before serving.

click here for recipe

Coulis

For dessert, she will have plenty of fruit coulis in the freezer.

click here for recipe

Fruit Galette

Leah makes a bunch of these to put away for Succos, and she’ll add in a couple of the apple version too for Rosh Hashanah.

click here for recipe

S'Mores Ice Cream

Easy and so good. Wrap it up tightly and stick it in your freezer and your dessert is ready to please both kids and adults.

find recipe here

Maple Salmon

Fish might be the one thing you can’t make ahead, but freezing the sauce for this maple salmon makes it effortless. Thaw, dump, bake.

click here for recipe

Fancy Rice

She’s also stocking up the freezer with fancy rice (do you another side dish that freezes this well?)

click here for recipe

Stuffed Cabbage

Oh, wait. Renee still has more things on her “get into the freezer” list. Like stuffed cabbage. Essential.

click here for recipe

Pulled Beef Gnocchi

Renee is going to make and freeze the beef topping for this gnocchi, then simply boil the gnocchi fresh.

click here for recipeclick here for recipe

Flanken Roast with Shallot Sauce

This freezes as is. Fully bake, covering tightly. Freeze.  You can either thaw and rewarm or just warm directly from freezer.

Flanken Roast Over Potatoes

This freezes beautifully, even though it has potatoes! Remove from freezer in the morning (i.e. of an erev Yom Tov) or night before (if it’s for a day meal) to let thaw. If you’ve done this, you can simply pop it into the oven (whatever the temp) about an hour before serving.

find recipe here

Hickory Brown Sugar Coffee French Roast

Esti is going to get some of these hickory roasts into the freezer.

click here for recipe

Oven Smoked Brisket

From Dinner Done, Leah will for sure be making lots of oven smoked brisket for Yom Tov. The Pesach version (same technique, different ingredients) is available here on BCP.

click here for recipe

Beer-Braised Ribs

Now it’s time for my freezer picks. This version is one of my family’s top most requested–beer just does the trick of getting them to that amazingly tender point. They also like that it’s not super barbecue-saucey sweet.  The Shiitake Ribs are another one that’s just as popular and up there on the list.

click here for recipe

Ramen Salad with Turkey

Don’t think you can prep salads ahead? You can definitely prep salad components ahead!
Leah likes to prepare salad topping in bulk and keep in the freezer. The crunch in this salad and the one below will last until you use them up!
find recipe here

Daniella's Panko Topped Kale Salad

Keep this crunch in the freezer and a great salad comes together quickly.

find recipe here

Caramelized Onion Chicken

If you want to get a chicken into the freezer, this one will work.

find recipe here

Victoria Dwek

Victoria is the voice behind the long-running "Hello Cooks" column in Ami Magazine's Whisk and the co-author of many (now eight!) cookbooks. She holds a B.A. in English Literature from New York University and a M.F.A in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. When she’s not writing (typing, typing, typing), she’s busy entertaining her cuties and driving carpool.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I think half of my Yom Tov menu will be coming off of this list!! They all look delicious, easy, and with normal ingredients! Thank you!!!

    Reply

  3. Thanks so much for this post! I’ve tried to find on the website information regarding freezing mashed potatoes but couldn’t find. Is it freezer friendly? Any tips when freezing/defrosting?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.