Can You Freeze Feta Cheese? Yes, Here’s How

Got some leftover feta, and no plan on using it in the next week or so? If so, you probably considered putting it in the freezer. Can you freeze feta cheese?

If you’re like me, you don’t buy feta that often. And the Greek cheese, especially if you buy it in the Mediterranean or Greek markets, can get expensive. Because of that, you probably want to get the most out of it.

That means using those leftovers instead of letting them dry out in the fridge and end up in the trash. But if you don’t feel like cooking anything with feta anytime soon, freezing might be your only option.


Need your leftover feta to last a bit longer? Make your own brine.

Adding feta cubes to pasta
Adding frozen feta cubes to pasta

Can You Freeze Feta Cheese?

Before you get to freezing feta, you probably want to know what you’re in for, right?

After freezing and thawing, feta gets crumblier and loses a bit of its signature richness and saltiness. It also becomes a tiny bit drier.

The changes are nowhere as significant as in cottage cheese, but you can notice them if you pay close attention. If you don’t, they’re hardly there, and 8 out of 10 times, you won’t be able to tell if that feta was frozen or not.

That means, in most cases, that frozen and defrosted feta is still usable in salads, and so on.

Frozen feta closeup
Frozen feta closeup

But if you want to be 100% sure nobody can tell if it was frozen, use it in a cooked dish. Those changes are impossible to notice in such dishes because, well, the cheese has been melted. And if it lacks saltiness, you can always add a pinch or two to make up for that.


You can add saltiness back to feta by submerging it in a saline solution for half an hour. Use one teaspoon of salt per every cup of water and make sure the solution covers the cheese.

Want to use that thawed feta cheese in a salad? It’ll likely turn perfectly fine. Probably not spectacular, but unless you’re trying to impress whoever is going to eat that salad, that’s not an issue.

Thawed feta cubes
Thawed feta cubes, not much in terms of visual changes

How To Freeze Feta Blocks?

For starters, think about how you’re going to use that feta after thawing. Having a dish or two in mind makes it easy to cut the block into portions that you can easily use.


If you’re not sure how you will use that feta, freeze it in cubes. This way, you can quickly grab as much as you need without defrosting the entire thing or struggling to cut frozen feta.

Here’s how you freeze feta block:

  1. Strain the brine. If it’s an unopened block, open it and get rid of the brine. Consider patting the block with a paper towel, but don’t try to get all of the water out.
  2. Cut the feta into portions. Each portion should be enough for a single dish, so you can just grab it and thaw it. Or do like I do, and cube the feta.
  3. Pre-freeze. Grab a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat (or something else that’ll prevent the cheese from sticking to the sheet), and transfer the slices onto it. Make sure they don’t touch each other, so they don’t freeze together. Put the cookie sheet into the freezer for a couple of hours until the feta freezes solid. Skip this step if you freeze the whole thing.
  4. Transfer the frozen pieces into a freezer container or bag. After pre-freezing, the slices won’t stick together. That means you can keep them in a single box, no problem. Add a label to the container if you like.
  5. Put everything in the freezer.

That’s it. Feta is ready to sit in the freezer for at least a couple of months.

Cubed feta
Cubed feta

How To Freeze Crumbled Feta?

With crumbled feta, most of the work is done for you. Here’s how you freeze crumbled feta:

  1. Pre-freeze. Spread the crumbles in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat or aluminum foil. Make sure there’s some space between crumbles so that they don’t freeze into a single large and thin clump. Or divide them into a couple of groups, each group enough for a single dish. Put the cheese into the freezer and leave it there until it freezes solid.
  2. Transfer crumbles into a freezer bag or container. When doing so, split apart ones that stick together using a spatula. Stick a label with name and date if you like.
  3. Put the bag or container into the freezer.

And that’s all. You have a bunch of feta crumbles frozen, and you can quickly grab as much as you need for a recipe.

Pre-freezing feta
Pre-freezing feta

How Long Does Feta Last In The Freezer?

As usual when it comes to freezing food, it’s difficult to answer that question.

The longer feta cheese stays in the freezer, the worse its quality, that’s for sure. But those changes are very gradual, and you can only see those if you compare feta that’s frozen for a month to feta that’s in the freezer for 3+ months.

To get decent quality, try to use the frozen feta within 6 to 9 months. But remember that it’s not like it’ll go bad or something if it’s in the freezer for more than those nine months.

The only thing you should expect is that the quality will be a bit worse.

Pre-frozen feta
Pre-frozen feta

How To Defrost Feta

There are two options when it comes to thawing feta:

  • In the fridge. Put the container or bag in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, or overnight. The only downside of this method is that it requires quite some time and a bit of planning.
  • Throw it in frozen. If you plan to melt that feta over pasta or add to a soup or stew, you might as well skip defrosting. Just add those cubes or crumbles straight from the freezer, and let the temperature do its wonders.

The second method is my favorite. With it, I don’t need to know when I’ll use that feta so that I know when I have to start thawing it. I grab as many cubes as I need and get on with cooking the dish.

If you’re still unsure how you’re going to use that feta, the next section is for you.

Pasta with spinach and feta
Pasta with spinach and feta

Using Thawed Feta

As I mentioned, frozen and defrosted feta works best in cooked dishes. Those include, but are not limited to:

  • Melting on top of pasta or mashed potatoes (that’s how I use feta most often)
  • Adding to cooked sauces
  • Adding some extra flavor to creamy soups
  • Stews, casseroles, and anything else that you cook on the stove or baked in the oven
Pasta with melted feta
Pasta with melted feta

Want to learn more about cheese in general?

Check out our guide: