Easily Give Dishes A Kick Of Heat By Storing This Canned Ingredient In The Freezer

Ready to bring the heat? Even if you're not someone who has a library of hot sauces or always has a batch of homemade salsa in the fridge, you might still like a little kick of spice in your meals from time to time. Canned chipotles in adobo are a great way to add in a bit of heat as well as a smoky flavor to anything from tuna salad to chipotle and tequila steak fajitas. Having some on hand means you can easily enliven a spicy tomato sauce to serve with meatballs or give soup a smoky overhaul.

But if you're cooking for one or only want a small amount of spice, you may be hesitant to break into the full can of chipotles in adobo you've been keeping in your pantry for just a small amount of chiles. That's why you should be freezing your canned chipotles in adobo so you can add a little whenever the craving strikes.

While you may have heard warnings against freezing canned food, the issue behind that advice isn't about the food itself; it's about the can. Canned foods can expand when frozen, potentially causing the can to burst. However, if you remove your chipotles in adobo from their can and put them in a freezer bag or other freezer-safe container, you can store them for a lengthy amount of time. Just cut or chip off pieces to defrost and cook when you need them.

Once you've discovered the joys of keeping canned chipotles in adobo in your freezer, you'll likely soon see the downside. That is, the hassle of breaking off chipotles to cook with if you don't want to defrost the whole frozen portion at once. If that sounds annoying to you, you'll like the easy hack for getting quick portions of chipotles in adobo whenever you like: storing them in an ice cube tray.

This trick works because ice cube trays are, by their design, freezer-safe and meant to create small portions. To try it for yourself, simply scoop portions of canned chipotles in adobo into each individual cube (you can also puree them first if you prefer), and pop the tray in the freezer. Now you have individual cubes of frozen chipotles in adobo, and you can easily remove as many or as few of them from the tray as you like for each dish you're cooking. Depending on how many ice cube trays you own, you can even make them in bulk by opening up several cans of chipotles in adobo at once to batch freeze. Transfer the frozen cubes to another bag for easy access, and use however many of them you choose at a later date — they'll maintain their best quality for about six months.