Pudding is a relishing dessert having different meanings and perspectives region-wise. One thing that everyone is in consensus is the fact that puddings are delicious. Nobody minds taking a bite from the delicious looking pudding in the menu. With pudding, this is very normal that you bake a little extra for everyone. This in turn gives rise to leftover pudding.
So, what to do with those? Can you freeze pudding? This is the most common query when you have leftover pudding at home. Besides that, when you are busy throughout the week, this question pops up in your mind anyway.
That is, when you have time to prepare the dessert, you usually bake them in plenty and store it for the whole week. Freezing is the most convenient option in storing when it comes to normal desserts. But, what about pudding? Let’s find out!
Moment of truth
As you already know that puddings are of different types and a variety of ingredients are used in the making. Ideally, yes you can easily freeze pudding. In fact, if followed the right method, this frozen pudding will sustain for around 3 months. But there is one tiny problem to it. You cannot freeze all types of puddings. It highly depends on the ingredients that you use.
If you use common pudding ingredients freezing shouldn’t be a problem at all. Common puddings include rice pudding, bread pudding, yogurt pudding, caramel pudding, gelatin pudding and cream pudding to name a few.
When it comes to uncommon pudding, well you would know! When you use cookies or something crispy within the pudding, freezing is not a good idea then. It will make it moist and soggy and the pudding won’t taste that good.
But yes, you can still eat the pudding. This means that the pudding with cookies or crispy items will not be inedible but its taste standards will decrease after freezing.
Ways to freeze pudding
There are various techniques and storage methods you can use for freezing the pudding. Today we are here to share with you our little secret for freezing pudding efficiently. Let’s go with specific pudding types for your convenience.
What to do with bread, oatmeal and rice pudding?
These two puddings are usually baked. Now the warm pudding needs to cool down to room temperature at first before freezing. Under normal conditions, it takes tentatively two to three hours for the baked pudding to cool down.
When you are freezing pudding, you would have to compromise a little bit with the aesthetics. You will have to cut the pudding into small parts so that it becomes convenient for storing. Now storing can be done in multiple ways.
The easiest option is to put the pieces inside an insulated lunch box. For better shelf-life we recommend that you wrap the pudding in an airtight plastic bag or aluminum foil.
Innovative gelatin pudding freezing techniques
You can freeze gelatin pudding in similar manner as bread and rice pudding. You can also get creative with the style and presentation of this pudding. When you freeze pudding, the texture of the pudding changes of course!
It forms into an ice cream like taste. We know you got excited when you heard the term ice cream right? Well, guess what? With gelatin pudding, you can turn them into fruit flavored popsicles by freezing. How great is that?
For creating popsicles with gelatin pudding, you need to mix the pudding with some cold milk. Usually one or two cups of milk should be mixed to get the right texture for the ice cream.
You can put them into readymade Popsicle shapers or inside simple cups. If you are using cups, put pop sticks inside them just as you would place them in an ice cream. Now freeze the pudding for around 6 hours and voila, you have yourself a pudding flavored ice cream. Try this during the summer season and you would love this honestly.
Storage ideas for generic puddings
The best part about freezing pudding is that you can eat them right after you take them out of the fridge. There is no need for defrosting. Simply grab a spoon and enjoy the creamy dessert.
For eating pudding in this easy way, you can go for storing them inside boxes or small pudding cups. Our take would be to use cups since it will not waste the texture of other puddings. But there is one problem with that. It will take more storage space in your freezer of course.
How to freeze banana pudding?
With banana pudding, you have to be extra careful while freezing. You can’t simply put them in a normal box. The problem with banana is that it will take in the flavor of everything there is inside the fridge.
Not flavor exactly but the aroma of the food present inside the fridge. Hence, you must store them in an insulated box. But we would suggest making banana pudding in small quantity only. That’s because banana pudding loses its color and the flavor becomes a bit mixed when you freeze them.
What we mean is, freezing banana pudding will not make the pudding unsafe for consumption. But it would definitely make the pudding unappetizing in terms of taste and look.
Freezing persimmon pudding and pudding pie
For both persimmon pudding and pudding pie, our recommendation would be not to freeze if given the choice. First of all, for persimmon pudding you know that the pudding’s flavor is a bit tangy and possess an interesting flavor.
The persimmon and cinnamon used in the pudding are actually quite sensitive to temperature change. Hence, when you defrost the pudding, the texture will be completely changed.
It’s not that you can’t eat the pudding. The pudding is safe for consumption. But the taste and texture will not remain good unfortunately. But yes, freezing persimmon pudding is better than wasting the leftover ones. The same goes with pudding pie. The texture is ruined once you defrost them after freezing.
There is a trick you can follow with these two types of pudding in the summer. Basically, put the pudding into small airtight cups. When you want to eat them, simply take them out and a grab a spoon and eat them instantly. This way, the texture won’t get ruined much and you wouldn’t have to defrost them.
Is thaw pudding a good idea?
You can answer this yourself. When you tried thaw pudding in gatherings or events, did you like it? Then you will have your answer. Usually thaw pudding taste is subjective; some people absolutely love it while others, not so much!
From our perspective, thawing normal homemade pudding produces nice and creamy taste. But we do prefer thawing pudding bought from stores at all. That’s because, pre-made pudding has certain ingredients to keep them fresh for a while. Thawing them will create problem with the taste. The quality is not deteriorated but the taste is!
We would like to share some ways we follow to thaw pudding. The easiest solution is to keep them in the fridge after freezing or in room temperature outside. Keeping them in the fridge, thawing them could take overnight.
But when you keep them in room temperature, only 4 to 5 years should do the trick. Our advice would be to thaw in the fridge. But if you have time constraint, only then fridge is not a good option.
For pudding pies specifically, thawing in general is not such a good option. But if you really want to do it, thaw it in fridge and outside. The texture will be completely destroyed when you thaw pudding pie outside.
When does pudding become inedible?
Unlike other desserts, the shelf-life of pudding is quite high. But it does become inedible after a certain interval of time. Once you take a bite, you would realize whether the pudding has become inedible or not.
There is one tiny problem to it though. Even a bite from stale food can be harmful to your health. But don’t worry, you can’t use your sensory region for taste but you surely can use your smelling senses to detect the quality of food. If the pudding doesn’t smell right, you know what to do. Discard it!
Another way to find out is through the appearance of the pudding. When the pudding gets ruined, you would find moisture and liquid in between the pudding at various parts.
For rice, bread and oatmeal pudding, this type of texture definitely says that the pudding is ruined. But for pudding pie, sometimes you can still eat that but the taste will be very bad. When the pudding turns absolutely bad, you can trace dark colored molds or bacterial stain within the pudding.
The rule of thumb is, if you store pudding for than 2 months, it’s better to discard them for safety. If it is a pre-made pudding, you can still have it if the expiry date is not passed.
Interesting pudding facts
With our long experience in cooking and researching, we have come across various interesting facts about pudding. Some of them are useful and some are not. But still, we would like to share those with you.
Egg based puddings are often referred to as custard or flan. Although custard, flan and pudding are completely different types of desserts, in various regions of the world, they are used interchangeably.
A pudding rich in corn-starch is often termed as ‘blancmange’. During gala dinners or events, we often encountered this name in the dessert section and were honestly surprised. We saw that the dish looks like pudding but it is labeled as ‘blancmange’. We tried it and it tasted like pudding with cornstarch. After few months we got to know that puddings are named as such. How funny is that?
People sometimes call gelatin pudding ‘Jelly’. Jelly is a term used for jams or gelatin based desserts. So, don’t get confused with what you are buying from the store.
There are actually plenty of savory puddings available out there. They work great as appetizers mostly instead of desserts. Cheese pudding and butterscotch pudding are some of our favorite savory puddings. Don’t worry we will sharing some recipes with you too at the end of this article.
Pudding is one of the few desserts that are available as sugar free or gluten free. Despite being sugar free or gluten free, the taste of the pudding is not compromised at all. One does not have to give up on pudding when losing weight or trying to change the diet plan. You can definitely find a pudding suitable to your diet needs.
There are days dedicated to specific types of pudding. For instance, in the United States, 26th June is considered the National Chocolate pudding day! 19th September is celebrated as the National Butterscotch pudding day.
Some treat ideas for you
Since puddings are of different types. We have divided the puddings based on taste and ingredients into three sub-sections. You can use each sub-section of recipes of a myriad of purposes.
Sweet pudding dishes
Sweet potato pudding
You were surprised weren’t you when read the ingredient ‘potato’ here? Sweet potato works fantastic as a dessert ingredient. With the right ingredients, you can create a rich coconut flavored sweet potato pudding. Check out the sweet potato pudding recipe from here.
Walnut and Strawberry pudding
For getting fruity flavors, strawberry puddings taste so wonderful. Adding walnuts to them gives the crispy twist that it needs. With this pudding, we won’t share any recipes with you. We do not want to restrict your innovation in this recipe. With strawberry and walnut, try your very own pudding recipe.
Savory pudding items
Cheese pudding
‘Cheese’ and ‘pudding’ are two of our favorite words in the world of food. Who would’ve thought one can mix them up! Cheese puddings work great as appetizers. Cut them in small pieces and save a bite for everyone to enjoy. You can use this cheese pudding recipe as appetizers for a three course meal.
Butterscotch pudding
This is one of the most interesting puddings with unique flavors into it. You can use them as savory pudding or a sweet one depending on the type of ingredient you use. But the butterscotch flavor retains in both the type. You can use this butterscotch pudding recipe as directions because this one has detailed description of the recipe.
Diet pudding recipes
Orange trifle pudding
This sort of pudding is tangy flavored and gives off a refreshing taste. Add as much fruits chopped as you want to give it a nice taste. The fruits make up for the sweetness and you don’t actually have to add any sugar in the pudding. This orange trifle pudding is one of our top picks. You can add a bit of chocolate sauce on the top for dressing.
Passion fruit and berry pudding
This combination of pudding is both creamy and fruity. You can use soy milk or almond milk as well instead of dairy and it would still taste wonderful. This pudding is suitable for vegans and non-vegetarians alike. You can go for this passion fruit and berry pudding recipe. Instead of sugar stated in the recipe, you can use honey or fruit juice.
Final Verdict
Based on the type of pudding, the freezing depends. Ideally the pudding should sustain 2 to 3 months in the fridge. Freezing most of the common puddings is a good idea and it tastes even better with freezing. But there are few specific puddings that lose the texture and taste after freezing. In all scenarios, however, the pudding you freeze is safe for consumption until 2 months.
