Can You Freeze Grated Cheese? Here's How to Do This Right

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Cheese is delicious in any shape and form, but keeping it fresh can be a bit of a chore, so sometimes freezing is the best option on the menu. While most cheese types freeze well, can you freeze grated cheese just as successfully?

Grated cheese works with fries, pasta, pizza, and pretty much any other dish you want – it’s your food, after all. Whether or not freezing grated cheese will work or not is something we’re going to dive into.

Can You Freeze Grated Cheese?

We’re not the only ones who end up in cheese shops buying expensive cheese and then looking for ways to make it last longer when we figure out we can’t eat it all. So, here’s a message we received from one of our readers:

I recently went to a fancy cheese shop and purchased a lovely large chunk of expensive cheese. I had it grated at the store, but now realize that I may have bought too much.

I love putting grated cheese on my pasta and in other savoury dishes, but I doubt that my family and I will consume enough of it before it starts to mould.

The cheese was expensive, and I would like to be able to enjoy what I paid for, without feeling like I have to pour grated cheese over everything I eat for the next few weeks.

I was going to freeze it, but my partner thinks that freezing grated cheese will cause it to lose flavour. Can you freeze grated cheese?

No need to worry, you can certainly freeze grated cheese without losing any flavor at all. In fact, freezing grated cheese is perhaps the best way to preserve the taste over the long-term.

Unlike shredded cheeses, grated cheese is made from hard cheeses with low moisture content. That means that it won’t clump together when frozen, and the moisture won’t separate and change the texture or color of the grated cheese after freezing.

This allows it to be kept frozen for longer periods of time as well, making it the ideal cheese to freeze.

Can You Freeze Grated Parmesan Cheese?

Absolutely! In fact, grated parmesan cheese will freeze off great. You can read more about the specifics in our dedicated article about what you should do to freeze grated parmesan cheese. If you’re worried about freezing whole blocks of parmesan cheese, you can also read about that.

Can You Freeze Grated Mozzarella Cheese?

You most certainly can freeze shredded mozzarella cheese. You can learn more about freezing grated mozzarella cheese or mozzarella chunks from our dedicated articles.

How to Freeze Grated Cheese?

When freezing grated cheese, you don’t need to worry about portioning it out into smaller serving sizes since it doesn’t stick together.

If the grated cheese is in a bag, you may decide to put it into a hard-sided freezer-safe container to avoid it being squished in the freezer. This will also make it easier to use what you need without spilling grated cheese everywhere.
Simply place the bag of cheese into the container, or pour the cheese into the container.
Then seal the container, then label and date it.
Next, place it in the freezer.

How to Keep Grated Cheese for Longer?

If you want to make sure that your grated cheese is kept in the best conditions, you may want to consider using a vacuum sealer. These appliances will make sure to take out all the air in the freezer bag or the container, which means that anything stored like this will last longer and suffer no flavor loss.

We reviewed a lot of vacuum sealers and wrote all about it, but our favorite is the FoodSaver V4840 2-in-1 Vacuum Sealer Machine. This one works with freezer bags and containers of various sizes, so you can store single-servings or whole dishes.

How to Use Frozen Grated Cheese?

The best part about grated cheese is that you don’t have to thaw it out before using it.

Grated cheese can be added to recipes or dishes straight from the freezer.

Simply remove the container from the freezer, then use a clean spoon to scoop out the desired amount needed for a recipe or to garnish a dish.
Reseal the package and return the rest to the freezer.
Simple! No need to let your cheese go to waste!

Here are a few of our recipes featuring grated cheese assortments:

Can You Freeze Grated Cheese? Here’s How to Do This Right