Can you freeze bubble and squeak cakes?
Yes, before its final cook. Freeze the pieces on a lined tray until firm, then pack them into a container.
How to freeze and defrost it, with the Food Standards Agency’s advice at each step.
The recipe
One batch makes 8 portions.
Ingredients for 8 portions
Method
Cook the potatoes
- Boil the kettle.
- Grate extra mature cheddar cheese.
- Peel maris piper potatoes and cut them into even chunks. Put them in your biggest pan.
- Pour water from the kettle over the potatoes, add salt and bring back to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes until soft.
- While the potatoes simmer, trim and thinly slice leek, and shred savoy cabbage finely.
- Drain the potatoes and leave them to steam dry in the colander.
Make the mix
- Melt salted butter in the empty pan over a medium heat. Fry the leeks and cabbage for 8 minutes until soft and starting to colour.
- Tip the potatoes back in with the cheese, dijon mustard, salt and black pepper. Crush with a masher, leaving it lumpy.
- Leave to cool for 20 minutes, so it's firm enough to shape.
Shape the cakes
- Shape into 16 cakes about 2cm thick, and dust them all over in plain flour.
- Brush each cake on both sides with sunflower oil.
To eat now
- Heat the oven to 200°C fan.
- Bake on a lined baking tray for 25 minutes, turning halfway, until crisp and golden.
How to freeze
-
cool any warm dishes before putting them in your freezer
, says the Food Standards Agency. - Spread them out on a lined tray and freeze until firm, then pack into your container.
How to defrost
-
the safest way to defrost food is in the fridge overnight
, says the Food Standards Agency. - Take it out of its container.
- Heat it in the oven until it’s steaming hot all the way through and crisp, turning halfway.
-
it is important that food is cooked to steaming hot throughout, rather than warmed
, says the Food Standards Agency.
How we’d cook it, not advice. We don’t check recipes for allergens, and ingredients vary by brand, so check the label on everything you use. Prepare and cook food the way the Food Standards Agency says. Allergens and food safety
Nutrition
Per portion- Energy
- 455 kcal
- Fat
- 21.3g
- Carbohydrate
- 52.7g
- Protein
- 12.1g
Nutrition details
- Energy
- 455 kcal
- Fat
- 21.3g
- of which saturates
- 11.4g
- Carbohydrate
- 52.7g
- of which sugars
- 5.7g
- Fibre
- 7.6g
- Protein
- 12.1g
- Salt
- 3.36g
Estimated from ingredient data.
Made some already? Add it to your stash. Mark it always in and Nomstash tells you when you’re running low.
For Boxing Day
- Serve it with Red onion marmalade, a fried egg on top, and a second container of the gravy.
- 2 cakes each One batch makes 8 portions.
- Vegetarian Some cheeses are made with animal rennet, so check the cheddar says vegetarian.
No special kit
- Works best in freezer bags Any freezer-safe container does the job too.
- Everything from one shop Batch cook it with Nomstash and the freezer bags go on the same shopping list as the food.
Cook what you already cook
-
Already keep a freezer spreadsheet?
Paste it in from Excel or Google Sheets, or choose a CSV file, and Nomstash reads it into your stash.
Bring in my freezer list
Freezing and defrosting safely
The Food Standards Agency’s advice, in their words.
Label everything you freeze.
label food you freeze so you don’t end up with Unidentified Frozen Objects (UFOs)
The rest of the Food Standards Agency’s advice, in their words, is in our freezing and defrosting guide.
Sources
- Food Standards Agency How to chill, freeze and defrost food safely gov.uk
- Food Standards Agency Cooking your food gov.uk
Last checked . Each quotation on this page was read against the page it links to.