21 foods that surprisingly taste better frozen

Applesauce freezes surprisingly well—especially compared to other sauces—but have you ever tried eating it frozen? There are two methods for this. You can freeze a cup of sauce ahead of time, and when you’re ready for a frozen treat, let it thaw for a few minutes and dig in. Or you can drop some spoonfuls onto a parchment paper-lined tray and freeze those for bite-sized versions.

Some people prefer frozen bananas for the texture, while others like them for the taste, as frozen bananas tend to be a bit sweeter. We like frozen bananas for those reasons and also because they are often dipped in delicious chocolate and covered in crunchy nuts.

Freeze your blueberries right in the carton—or just buy the pre-frozen variety—and break them out whenever you want a cold, refreshing snack. If that sounds too healthy for you, sprinkle the blueberries with a bit of sugar for some added sweetness.

Don’t knock it until you try it: Frozen cheesecake is a frosty delight that’s sort of like eating a really good ice cream cake. (Or you can cut the cake into bite-sized cubes!) Cheesecake can also be safely stored in the freezer, so if you don’t end up enjoying it in its frozen state, just let it thaw and enjoy the cake the usual way.

Sometimes we actually NEED to put chocolate in the freezer or fridge to stop it from melting during the warmer months. Other times we just want to because cold chocolate that melts in your mouth is just so satisfying. There are even certain types of chocolate that we exclusively keep in the freezer, including Ghirardelli squares, Dove squares, and Hershey’s Kisses.

You’re just going to have to trust us on this one. The next time you bake a batch of chocolate cookies, throw a few of them in the freezer for a couple of hours. Then you have a few options: microwave them for a few seconds, let them sit out for a few minutes, or devour them immediately—all of which are delightfully delicious options.

The high water content and small size of this fruit make it a perfect candidate for freezing. Try this method: Peel a clementine, freeze the pieces overnight, let them thaw at room temp for two hours, and prepare to enjoy a treat that tastes like orange sorbet. Want to take it to the next level? Dip the little slices in chocolate before freezing them.

Nearly every type of Girl Scout Cookie tastes better frozen—and we think it has something to do with them being the perfect size for the freezer, as they’re all on the thin side, so they don’t become hard as rocks. Many people swear by frozen Thin Mints, but we think Peanut Butter Patties (a.k.a. Tagalongs) and Caramel deLites (a.k.a. Samoas) are fantastic freezer options, too.

Like bananas, grapes also get sweeter in the freezer. And texture-wise, the high amount of water turns the interior into a slushy consistency, making them a refreshing—and healthy—warm-weather snack. (They can also be used to chill wine without watering it down!)

People on TikTok started encouraging their followers to freeze gummy bears—and we couldn’t agree more. Pop them in the freezer overnight and they take on an entirely new consistency, getting firmer as they freeze. Don’t believe everything you see on TikTok, but this time the influencers got it 100% right.

You may have been warned not to freeze iceberg lettuce, as it doesn’t defrost very well. We’re going to advise otherwise—but the trick is to eat the lettuce while it’s still frozen. Just remove the outer leaves and core, cut the head into four wedges, freeze on a tray for 30-120 minutes, drizzle with dressing, and enjoy!

There are a lot of recipes for frozen key lime pie out there because a lot of folks are now hip to the fact that this dessert is most delicious when it’s chilled overnight in the freezer. You can do this for full-sized pies or individual mini-pies.

Another fruit that’s fantastic frozen, mango makes sense because it’s already a soft food, so putting it in the freezer adds a little density. Just be sure to first cut the mango and put the pieces on a tray before freezing. When you’re ready to eat, drizzle them with a bit of lime juice!

The freezer is an excellent way to keep marshmallows fresh, as they thaw well after being frozen. But that rarely happens in our kitchen, as it’s so tempting to eat the marshmallows while they’re still cold little tasty treats.

Peppermint is already pretty cool, but pop a peppermint patty in the freezer and it’ll turn your mouth into Hoth (minus the Rebel base and tauntauns). And, as we’ve already touched on, frozen chocolate is always a good idea.

A dessert “hack” went viral not too long ago, and it involved freezing pudding. Basically, you take a sealed individual pudding cup (your choice of flavor), shove a spoon right through the lid, and freeze the whole thing. Once it’s done, you can pop out your creamy homemade popsicle, enjoy it, and become a believer that pudding is best consumed when frozen.

When you freeze and thaw raspberries, they lose their natural shape and become mushy. So don’t thaw them—eat them right out of the freezer and the raspberries will melt in your mouth along with the ice.

Honestly, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have always had a strange consistency to us. The chocolate exterior is so thin that it quickly melts, and the peanut butter interior is so moist that the bottom often sticks to the wrapper. Freezing a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup fixes all this—which is why everyone we buy goes right into the freezer.

You can really take your pick when it comes to freezing candy bars, but the slight disadvantage of options like Snickers and Milky Way are that the dense, caramel-filled interiors get rock solid in the freezer. Of course, you can just defrost them for a little longer—or you could go with a Three Musketeers bar, whose light and fluffy nougat center achieves the perfect consistency when frozen.

Freezing watermelon will make it mushy when thawed, so once it’s frozen, it’s best used for smoothies and sorbets. Our technique? Freeze cubed watermelon or slices for an hour or two (you’ll have to experiment based on your freezer and the size of the pieces) and then they’ll melt in your mouth like popsicles.

Duh! Frozen yogurt is an obvious entry to this list, as you can already buy it in most ice cream shops and grocery store freezer aisles. You can also make it at home by actually freezing yogurt! Plain yogurt, flavored yogurt, fruit-filled yogurt, and Greek yogurt are all fair game—and kids will love the frozen treat that is created when you freeze tubes of yogurt.