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Freezing Meatballs And Sauce

Asked by Goldilocks29. Answered on 8th May 2018

Full question

I love Nigella's meatballs recipe and it's really tasty but next time I would like to make a double quantity and freeze half. Is it OK to do this? I'm wondering if the milk might separate. Thanks.

Meatballs
Photo by Francesca Yorke
Meatballs
By Nigella
  • 14
  • 2

Our answer

Nigella's recipe for Meatballs (from NIGELLA BITES) has a tomato sauce that has some full fat (whole) milk added towards the end of the cooking time. Milk can be added to tomato sauce to make it taste slightly creamier and as long as the tomato sauce has simmered for a while, to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes, the milk should cook smoothly into the sauce.

The sauce with meatballs (but without any pasta) should freeze without problems. After cooking, cool and chill the meatballs and sauce as quickly as possible (and within 2 hours of making) and then transfer to airtight containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the sauce overnight in the fridge then transfer to a saucepan and reheat gently until the meatballs are piping hot all the way through and the sauce is just simmering. Try not to stir the sauce too much on reheating as this could break up the meatballs.

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