How Long Is It OK To Keep Marinated Meat Frozen?

Marinating is a great way to introduce flavor into meat and a time-tested cooking trick that humans have been using for thousands of years. If you're a pro, you can even use techniques like marinating meat after it's already cooked. But let's say you have some meat marinating, and you realize you won't be able to eat it in time before it goes bad. Can you freeze it for later?

It turns out you can, in fact, freeze meat in a marinade and thaw it at a later date. That part is not an issue. (And hey, if you freeze a protein in the marinade, you can thaw and marinate it at the same time, potentially saving you some effort.) But there are limits to how long you should do so, just as there are with any other meat — and there are some other marinade rules you should follow, too.

Fortunately, it's not a safety issue — marinated meat isn't going to go bad any faster than non-marinated meat (though there's no truth to the idea it lasts longer in the freezer if you marinate it first). The amount of time you can keep meat frozen safely is "indefinitely;" per the USDA; as long as it's been properly frozen the whole time, meat that's been in there for years isn't going to kill you. How long you should freeze it for quality reasons, though, is a different question, and the answer is probably two to three months.

Meat frozen for longer than that is far more likely to be susceptible to freezer burn, which will damage both the taste and texture. You also want to be careful to freeze the meat in a package that has plenty of room for whatever liquid is in there, because otherwise, the freezing and thawing action of the liquid in a limited space is going to damage the meat itself.

It's also important to know how to thaw it properly. You always want to freeze food quickly (preventing large crystal formation that can damage the food's cell walls) and thaw it slowly (creating the same effect, but in reverse), and marinated meat is no exception. 

It's important, then, to thaw the meat in the fridge rather than on the counter, letting it unfreeze naturally over time. (This can be a good thing, because it has the additional effect of increased marination time.) Then, make sure you use it within 24 hours; it shouldn't sit in the fridge any longer than that.

Freezing marinated meat can be a potent tool in your culinary toolkit. You just have to make sure to do it the right way — and don't freeze the marinated meat for too long if you want dinner to taste good.