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We’ve all been guilty of making ambitious plans to cook elaborate meals throughout the week, buying all the necessary ingredients at the grocery store, putting everything in the fridge, and then quickly forgetting about that investment at the end of the day. minute we’re tempted by more convenient, less labor-intensive takeout options. But that’s the beauty of refrigeration technology, isn’t it? Your refrigerator’s cold temperatures are designed to help keep your food fresh long enough until you’re ready to eat. a stark contrast to the days before the invention of the first mechanical refrigerators, and people had to store their food in cold cupboards insulated with ice (hence the origin of the name “cooler”.) After dithering on your kitchen plans, you might be wondering what of your now less than fresh groceries are still safe to eat? Specifically, how long is your raw chicken good in the fridge after all this time?
Chicken is, of course, one of the most popular lean proteins on the planet. In fact, the National Chicken Council estimates that Americans consumed more than 100 pounds of chicken per capita in 2022 alone, and that number is expected to rise in 2023. And what’s not to love? As an affordable source of lean protein, chicken is very versatile, able to top salads as a high-protein side dish or anchor a complete multi-course meal as a star entree.
Whether you want to make boneless breasts, drumsticks, or roast a whole chicken, your cooking plans will depend on the quality and freshness of your chicken while it’s still raw. If your raw chicken has cooled (literally and figuratively) in the fridge, it’s probably still edible. At the same time, almost everything has a shelf life, and even today’s most high-tech refrigerators can’t keep perishable foods fresh indefinitely.
To help you avoid going through the trouble of making a chicken-centric meal, only to find that the raw chicken you were working with was actually well past its peak after taking a bite (and probably gagging), check out these tips on how long does chicken last in the fridge, and how to tell if your raw chicken has gone bad.
How long does raw chicken keep in the fridge?
According to the CDC, approximately one million people in the United States become ill each year after consuming contaminated poultry. Even at its freshest, raw chicken is frequently contaminated with many bacteria, including Campylobacter, SalmonellaAnd Clostridium perfringens bacteria.
So think about the time bacteria have to incubate and multiply the longer you let your raw chicken sit in the fridge. Is it worth rolling the dice to still cook your raw chicken after it’s been in your fridge for a week?
Based on USDA advice on how long fresh poultry is still good after being properly refrigerated, absolutely not – don’t pass GO, don’t garner 200 compliments on your pending chicken dinner. Once your raw poultry enters a standard refrigerator set at 40°F or lower, you have up to two days to use it up before it’s time to throw it out and waste it.
While the USDA guidelines for cold food storage times are a great barometer for measuring the freshness of your food, all of this is of course relative and subject to change based on individual circumstances. That said, if you’re in doubt as to whether your raw poultry is still safe to eat or well past its prime, there are a few telltale signs that will let you know if your bird has gone bad.
How to tell if your raw chicken is still good in the fridge.
If you’re wondering how to tell the difference between a good raw chicken breast and a bad one, run through this list of four tips.
1. Check the date
If after buying your raw chicken, you immediately stored it in your refrigerator, use its expiration date as a gauge to start the clock on how much time you have before your meat goes bad. According to the USDA, “Fresh chicken, turkey, ground meat, and ground poultry should be cooked or frozen within 1-2 days of purchase.”
Pro Tip: If your raw chicken has been in the fridge for so long that the best before date is gone, that’s probably a good sign that it’s gone into rotten territory. Don’t try your luck! Food poisoning is not worth the risk.
2. Look for discoloration
When it comes to investigating the freshness and quality of your raw poultry, relying on visual clues of spoilage is perhaps the easiest approach. At a minimum, this will be the least offensive imposition on your five senses, especially if you know that time spent in the refrigerator with raw chicken pushes the limit set by USDA recommendations for refrigerated raw poultry. Typically, when raw chicken is still fresh and safe to eat, it will look pale pink, pale bluish-white, or even yellow, with shiny white fat. If after examining your raw chicken you notice speckled yellow fat or shades of green and gray, discard that bird!
3. There will be stinky
No, that’s not a typo. Raw, rancid chicken doesn’t just stink with an unpleasant odor. Even in the fridge, declining poultry looks putrid stunk who can smell up to the heavens. To check if your raw chicken is still good, take it out of the fridge and give it a quick puff of air. If you pick up sour, fishy, or sulfuric funk notes, get rid of them.
4. Check the texture
Your raw chicken may pass your visual and olfactory tests, but texture is another big red flag to watch out for before you start cooking. When raw chicken is still fresh, it appears shiny, moist to the touch, and even a little slippery. However, you’ll know if your raw chicken has gone bad if it’s too slimy, sticky, and spongy. If so, throw out your raw chicken as soon as possible.
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