12 Favorite Frozen Foods Celebrity Chefs Love To Cook With

When it comes to cooking, basically all of us have used frozen foods one time or another. Frozen foods are not only a great timesaver and prevent us from having to buy fresh ingredients whenever we want a meal, but they also taste great. Because frozen produce is picked and frozen at peak freshness, its flavor is locked in, ready to be thawed and placed in our dishes. Celebrity chefs know this as well as anyone, and they're not above using shortcuts in their cooking. Just like us, they opt for speedier ways to make their meals, from making dishes in their air fryers to using frozen ingredients — and doing so in some pretty ingenious ways, too.

Celebrity chefs don't just use frozen vegetables and fruits, either (although plenty of them do just that). More processed foods like frozen pastry, dumplings, and even tater tots get the celebrity chef treatment, and add huge flavor with minimal effort in their recipes. Some celebrity chefs are also unafraid to use frozen ingredients that you'd typically expect to be fresh for best results, like seafood or aromatics. Ready to cook just like the celebs are? Let's check out their favorites.

Frozen spinach isn't just a timesaver — it's a space-saver, too. Frozen spinach that's been wilted beforehand allows you to pop chunks of pure goodness into your meal, imbuing it with nutty, fresh flavors. Ina Garten knows this better than anyone else, and she's not shy about including it in her recipes. The Barefoot Contessa, who is well-known for using the best ingredients possible, liberally pops frozen spinach into her 5-Star Pesta, Pesto and Peas recipe, where it forms part of the pesto. By adding frozen spinach to the sauce, she gives it more depth than a regular pesto would achieve, a deeper green color, and way more body.

Garten also uses frozen spinach when it's the star of the dish, too. Her spinach gratin recipe incorporates 3 pounds of chopped frozen spinach, mixed into a creamy, slightly spicy sauce. Opting for frozen spinach over fresh here just makes sense: If you've ever tried to cram 3 pounds of fresh spinach leaves into your refrigerator, you'll know how much real estate it takes up — and that's before you have to chop it. Remember, too, that frozen spinach doesn't just save space; pound-for-pound, it's actually more nutritious than fresh spinach. Thanks, Ina!‌

If you've ever gone through the effort of peeling a pack of pearl onions, you'll know how fiddly and annoying things can get. So it's probably no surprise that chefs like Valerie Bertinelli opt for frozen pearl onions instead. Bertinelli pops these into her one-pan honey mustard chicken thighs recipe, where they immediately diffuse their delicate onion flavor throughout the dish and soften into juicy chunks as it cooks in the oven.

Although frozen pearl onions may not have quite the intensity and sharpness their fresh counterparts will have, the fact that they're normally used in slower-cooked dishes means you likely won't be able to tell the difference. "The flavor of frozen pearl onions is almost as good as fresh," stated chef Chris Dickerson to Food & Wine, as he also loves frozen pearl onions in his dishes. "If something's almost as good but much simpler, it's a no-brainer for me. Practicality should be a consideration when cooking." Bertinelli definitely agrees, and so do we. ‌

If you're gonna have one type of vegetable in your freezer, it's probably gonna be frozen peas. This kitchen staple works well in countless dishes, and preparing it is as easy as pouring the peas into whatever meal you're making and warming them through. If you thought celebrity chefs would disagree, you'd be wrong — some of the most notable names out there, like Bobby Flay, love these little veggies.

Flay employs frozen peas in a green pea soup, and he's not shy about the reason why. "90% of the time, I like frozen peas better than fresh peas," Flay said in a video on Instagram. "Frozen peas are frozen at their very, very peak sweetness ... Fresh peas are wonderful, but they become starchy very, very quickly." Flay's not alone in this, either. In the video, he points out that a lot of chefs agree with him and prefer frozen peas. As they will last for up to a year in your freezer, you also don't have to worry about running out to buy them every time you want to use some in your meal.

There are still some people out there who believe that frozen berries just aren't as good as fresh ones. Giada De Laurentiis isn't one of them; she is a huge fan of frozen berries, and employs them in several of her recipes. She employs frozen raspberries in her frozen fruit and yogurt cups, blending them with yogurt to make an almost mousse-like pudding that she then spoons over crushed biscotti. Elsewhere, she pulses frozen strawberries with lemonade to make a super-light dessert akin to a granita or sorbet.

De Laurentiis doesn't just use frozen berries because she doesn't want to buy fresh ones — she does it because they taste good. Frozen fruit is plunged to sub-zero temperatures shortly after it's been picked, meaning that its flavor is locked in. As the fruit is picked at its ripest, this takes any inconsistency out of the picture, unlike fresh berries, which can sometimes reach your kitchen at varying points of ripeness. Although frozen berries may not be the best choice if you're looking for the firm, crisp snap of a fresh strawberry or blueberry, when they're mixed with other ingredients it's hard to tell the difference. When using frozen blueberries, just remember to give them a rinse before incorporating them into your recipe.

Nigella Lawson is a chef that knows how to keep things simple — and sometimes, simple means not striving to use fresh ingredients when frozen ones will do. Lawson harnesses the power of frozen prawns in several of her recipes where the seafood is the star. Her seafood chowder includes frozen prawns that are added just before the dish is served, so that they don't overcook and become rubbery. Lawson also throws frozen prawns in her red prawn and mango curry, again throwing them in just before you're ready to eat.

Whether they're cooked or raw, opting for frozen prawns has a few key advantages. There's barely any preparation required, and often no deveining or beheading to do. More importantly, we challenge you to find any taste difference between the two, particularly when you're using them in soup or curry dishes. Generally, frozen prawns are usually way cheaper than fresh prawns, and you get more for your money. Plus, while fresh prawns last in the refrigerator for just a few days, in the freezer they'll stay tasty for six months or more. It's kind of a no brainer, y'all.

For some chefs, the thought of using frozen garlic is total sacrilege. We can understand why: It's definitely the case that frozen garlic cubes just don't quite match up to the intensity of fresh garlic. However, if celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver aren't writing it off, there's no reason why you should. Oliver employs frozen garlic in his veggie bolognese pasta bake, which also uses frozen sliced mushrooms. He sautés the garlic just as you would with the fresh kind, cooking it until it's golden-brown and allowing the aroma to release and develop.

Using frozen garlic might seem like the easy way out, but we can understand its advantages. Way too many of us have been caught out by finding that we don't have the garlic we need for a recipe, and having frozen garlic cubes or paste in your freezer eliminates that possibility. Although there's a slight flavor difference, using the frozen kind still fills your food with garlicky flavor. Crucially, opting for frozen garlic eliminates a fiddly prep job, and because it's frozen it doesn't need any preservative ingredients added in –- so its flavor is unadulterated.‌

If you haven't used frozen tater tots in your recipes, you've seriously been missing out. Luckily, Ree Drummond is on hand to show you how to do it. The Pioneer Woman regularly wields the power of tater tots in her breakfast recipes, adding their salty, starchy flavors to various dishes. In her tater tot breakfast casserole, the tots work as a base for sausage, onions, and other breakfast ingredients. Because the tots are already partially cooked, using them helps you claw back some cooking time, and eliminates the fear of your potatoes being raw.

Drummond also cooks tater tots in even more innovative ways, transforming them into an entirely new dish with her tot waffle breakfast stacks. By mixing tots with cheese and pressing them into a waffle iron, she makes ultra-crispy tot waffles. In a few minutes, they're ready to receive a world of toppings. No messing around with whipping up batters and washing up endless utensils afterwards, folks. Because the flavor of tater tots is so flexible, you can also mix in your own seasoning blends to give them a spicier taste or fiery kick.

Some of the most popular restaurants out there use frozen french fries, and some of the most popular celebrity chefs do too — so don't let anyone tell you that you can't employ them in your own kitchen. Frozen french fries are a favorite of Rachael Ray, who uses them in several different recipes. Instead of slicing and deep-frying potatoes for her cheese fries, she just uses the frozen version, and is pleasingly carefree about the shape and width you go for. After all, the fries are soon to be doused in a thick, sharp, salty cheese sauce, so preparing gourmet fries that take days to make is kinda just a waste of time.

She also uses frozen fries in recipes where they're the star of the show, and isn't shy about offering ways for cost-savvy home cooks to make theirs better. In one recipe, Ray takes frozen fries and coats them in a mixture of garlic, parmesan, herbs, and lemon zest. By doing this, the plain flavor of the fries acts as a base for the sharper notes of the coating, and you get a restaurant-level side dish that only costs a couple of bucks. Check out our ranking of the best frozen french fries, and grab a bag for your freezer.

Why should fresh corn have all the fun? That's certainly Alex Guarnaschelli's mindset, with the "The Kitchen" star putting frozen corn to good use in her dishes. Guarnaschelli points out that using frozen corn is an awesome way to inject your meals with summer flavors in the depths of winter. "If you're feeling in the mood for corn in February, let's face it, there's not many ways to get there. You gotta go to the freezer," says Guarnaschelli via YouTube while whipping up a corn pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, a dish she calls a "pantry pasta." Guarnaschelli helps her frozen corn get even sweeter with the addition of brown sugar, which adds a deeper, more caramelized note to the kernels' bright sugariness.

One key advantage of frozen corn over fresh is that the preparation time is just so much shorter. There's no shucking, steaming, or slicing the kernels off the cob. Instead, you just tumble the kernels straight into your dish and you're good to go. As frozen corn is already cooked, it's really a matter of thawing it in your dish, and mixing it with complementary flavors.

If you're the kind of person that makes their own pastry, well, we salute you. Frankly though, you kinda don't need to do it — especially when the celebs aren't either. Anne Burrell skips the hassle of making her own puff pastry and goes straight for the frozen option. "Puff pastry is one of those things you buy in the store. You don't make it," instructs Burrell via YouTube. "Even in restaurants we buy it, because it's so labor-intensive to make." Given that making puff pastry takes endless rolling and folding to create the layers you need for it to puff up, we understand why she goes for the store-bought option.

Store-bought puff pastry doesn't mean that your recipes can't be fancy, either. Burrell uses it to make palmiers, a classic French pastry that thrives on its simplicity and elegance. She also harnesses its power to be both sweet and savory, making a cheese and preserve Danish using frozen puff pastry. As you can keep frozen puff pastry in the freezer for up to a year, it's the perfect ingredient to buy in advance and whip out when you want something classy. ‌

While making your own dumplings is a lot of fun, there's no denying that it takes a while — and not all of us have the time to do so. That's something that Sunny Anderson understands well, which is why she's so partial to using frozen dumplings instead. Anderson combines them with a homemade hot and sour soup, to make it more substantial. She steams her frozen dumplings until thawed and warmed through, and then pops them in a bowl before ladling soup over them.

Using frozen dumplings gives your meals immediate flavor, and if you don't regularly make them from scratch, it also cuts down on the amount of ingredients you have to buy for them. Having said this, you shouldn't just go for the first kind you see — make sure you put the legwork in. "Finding quality, fresh dumplings can sometimes be difficult, but local Asian markets will stock all sorts of quality frozen dumplings that are delicious," says The Tasting Room's executive chef Ian Rynecki via Food & Wine. "Just remember that you get what you pay for!"

There's a lot of snobbery around frozen seafood, particularly frozen fish. However, Cat Cora doesn't subscribe to this, and is perfectly happy to employ frozen salmon in her dishes. Cora opts for thawed salmon for her Alaskan salmon protein bowl. Once thawed, she seasons the fish well, and then pan-fries it until it's developed a gloriously brown crust, just as you would with salmon that's been bought fresh.

The reason Cora opts for frozen salmon is not just because it's easier to keep on hand — it's actually usually better. Frozen salmon has generally been frozen very soon after it's been caught and fileted, locking in its flavor and texture. Fresh salmon, meanwhile, has usually already gone through the freezing process, and has then been thawed before being sold. Unless you live by the water and can be sure that the salmon has been caught very recently, they usually have to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to get to your local store, requiring them to be frozen to stay fresh. However, when they're thawed, there can be a deterioration in quality -– and that "fresh" salmon might be even worse than if you just used your own frozen filet.