If you’re poking chicken in a food container from meal days gone by, you might be wondering if it’s safe to eat. Poultry is a higher-risk meat than beef due to its propensity to develop E. coli and other food-borne illnesses. That’s why you never want to eat spoiled chicken, and storing it properly is the key to avoiding sickness.
But that begs the question: how long does it take for chicken to spoil and how long can you wait before it’s too late?
The USDA gives raw chicken just 48 hours to be cooked and consumed after purchase, but that timeframe errs on the safe side and isn’t the final word on when a bird goes bad. Cooked chicken has a longer fridge-life and a lower risk of serious food poisoning, but even chicken in its cooked form has limits.
If you’re wondering whether or not your chicken is bad or how long it is good for in the fridge, we have answers. Here, we explain how long chicken typically lasts in the fridge and freezer — both cooked and uncooked — and how to know when it’s time to put that poultry out to pasture.
How long does raw chicken last in the fridge?
The sell-by date on chicken can be a full week after you buy it. That doesn’t mean you should wait that long to cook it.
The USDA recommends cooking chicken one or two days after you buy it. If that seems conservative and sooner than the sell-by date on the package, that’s because it is — but there’s a reason for that. The sell-by, use-by or freeze-by date may be as long as a week from when you bought it, but that’s just the chicken producer’s guess as to how long the chicken will be at optimal taste before it starts deteriorating in quality.
As many in this Reddit thread and others assert, you can probably split the difference without serious ramifications, but you should never eat chicken that’s been in the fridge for more than three or four days. The reason why chicken isn’t necessarily safe to eat until that sell-by date is two-fold:
For one, that date isn’t issued by a regulating body but rather by the brand. While poultry brands do have to consider consumer safety, their chief goal is enticing retailers to buy their product. The longer it’s “good for,” the better chance they’ll have of making a larger sale.
The other reason is that grocery store meat fridges and coolers are usually colder than your average home refrigerator. A normal fridge has to keep meat cold without freezing delicate vegetables and other groceries. Supermarket meat coolers only need to keep meat cold, so they can be at lower resting temperatures. Chicken kept at a colder temperature is naturally going to last longer.
How long is cooked chicken good for in the fridge?
Cooked chicken is good in the fridge for up to four days. After that, it should be frozen or thrown away.
Cooked chicken has a far lower likelihood of developing bacteria, but it can still make you sick if you wait too long to eat it, even if it has been stored in the fridge. The USDA recommends you eat chicken within four days of cooking it. Like raw chicken, it should also be stored at under 40 degrees F to avoid rapid spoiling.
How long can you store chicken in the freezer?
If you’re not sure when you’re going to get to that package of chicken, put it in the freezer.
Chicken that’s kept frozen (under 0 degrees F) is technically safe to eat for about one year according to FoodSafety.gov, but that doesn’t mean you should wait a year, or even months, to eat it. Even shrink-wrapped meat will eventually succumb to frost and freezer burn. While that might not cause the chicken to become unsafe, it will affect its deliciousness. The meat may develop a rubbery or mealy texture.
Frozen cooked chicken can last indefinitely without risk of illness, but it will start to lose flavor almost immediately in the freezer, and its texture will also become compromised if exposed to freezer burn.
When in doubt, employ the smell and eye test
When in doubt, give your chicken a whiff. Some ground poultry may be infused with rosemary extract. Otherwise, it shouldn’t smell like much.
While the sell-by date and USDA recommendations are good guideposts for eating chicken safely, the smell test should always be employed as a backup. Chicken can encounter all kinds of storage mishaps and irregularities in its journey to your kitchen. If you’re chicken smells foul, acrid or rotten, it’s probably time to chuck it.
Also, keep a close eye on any changes in the meat’s appearance. Chicken that appears slimy or discolored in any way (yellow, brown or green) should be discarded immediately.
Does raw chicken have a natural smell?
Ground chicken and turkey are sometimes infused with rosemary extract to reduce lipid oxidation.
Not usually. Most raw chicken doesn’t smell like much, and if it does have a strong odor, it could be a sign that something is amiss. That said, some chicken farms and poultry producers add rosemary extract to ground chicken and turkey to reduce lipid oxidation in meats. If you smell a faint herby smell in your ground chicken or turkey, but it’s been stored properly and is within the sell-by dates and also within one or two days since you bought it, it may be the rosemary you’re smelling and not spoiled chicken.
FAQs
Can I eat chicken that’s been in the fridge for more than two days?
The USDA recommends not storing raw chicken in the fridge for more than two days. From our experience, three to four days should be OK, provided you’re within the use-by or sell-by date. Beyond this, avoid consuming the chicken.
Is it OK to eat cooked chicken after storing it for a few days?
Once cooked, your chicken will definitely have a higher chance of not spoiling. However, based on USDA recommendations and our own experience, do not eat cooked chicken after storing it for more than four days.
What are the best ways to tell my chicken has gone bad?
We recommend two methods to check any piece of chicken. First, look for a slimy film that may have formed on the its surface. Second, give it the sniff test. Here, you’re smelling for a sour or rotten egg-like scent. If either is present, it’s better to say goodbye to the piece of meat than to eat it.
