If there’s one thing we can agree on, it’s that there are few foods that are as delicious as fried chicken. Funny enough, that’s not the best thing about this meal. We love the fact that we can cook fried chicken from backyard barbecues to hang out with family and friends. While the taste and flavor of properly cooked chicken are not in doubt, there’s just one problem with this meal. Sadly, it’s not an issue you can overlook. We’re referring to leaving the cooked chicken to be left in the open for a prolonged period.
Consider a scenario where you have tons of relatives and friends coming over for a visit, and you have to prepare the cooked chicken before they come. This means that you may have to leave the fried chicken to sit out for a while after it’s ready in anticipation of their arrival. However, if you leave it to sit out beyond a certain time window, it becomes unsafe to consume the fried chicken. This begs the question – how long can cooked chicken sit out?
Does it Matter How Long the Chicken is Sitting Out?
Yes, it matters a great deal. When you leave cooked chicken to sit out for too long, it can result in food poisoning. How? After a prolonged period of exposure, the fried chicken becomes a site for harmful bacteria to breed and multiply. When you consume this cooked fried chicken, you’ll be ingesting the microorganisms as well. This is why you can’t afford to leave the cooked chicken to sit out longer than it’s safe.
You may argue that the process of cooking fried chicken kills the germs on the raw chicken. This is true. However, these harmful microbes can accumulate again when the chicken cools down and reaches a temperature that’s favorable for their growth.
How Long Can I Keep Fried Chicken Out at Room Temperature?
How long cooked chicken can sit out without going bad depends on the warmth of the room. If your kitchen has an ideal room temperature (less than 32 degrees Celsius), you should avoid leaving cooked chicken to sit out for more than two hours. If you leave the cooked fried chicken to sit out for a longer period, what we described in the previous subheading will happen. This will leave you prone to food poisoning and ruin what should have been a great dining experience. On the other hand, if your kitchen has a room temperature that’s warmer than 32 degrees Celsius, do not eat cooked chicken left for more than an hour.
Now, we understand that you’ll have some questions. ‘How can I store cooked chicken since I can’t leave it at room temperature for more than two hours?’ ‘If refrigerating cooked chicken will solve the problem, how long should I leave it for?’ We’ll answer these questions in the next couple of paragraphs.
Do You Need to Refrigerate Fried Chicken?
In summary, yes, you need to store your fried chicken in the refrigerator to prevent it from going bad. Get an airtight container and place your cooked chicken inside. If you have parchment paper, you can place it at the bottom of the container and then place your chicken on it. You should store your fried chicken in the fridge within an hour of leaving it to sit out at room temperature. Despite your hurry to store cooked chicken in the fridge, please allow it to cool down before storing it in the fridge. We strongly advise against keeping hot chicken in the fridge.
How Long Can You Refrigerate Chicken?
Now, for the duration, we don’t recommend storing your fried chicken in the refrigerator for more than four days. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the refrigerator slows down the growth of bacteria on your crispy fried chicken but doesn’t stop the process. This makes your fridge the best short-term place to store your fried chicken. If you want to keep fried chicken fresh for a longer period, the freezer is a better option. When refrigerating your chicken, ensure to keep the raw and cooked chicken separately.
How Long Can You Freeze Chicken?
Frozen fried chicken can last for 3-4 months. However, before you leave fried chicken in the freezer, ensure that it has not sat out at room temperature for more than two hours. The freezer exposes your frozen chicken to a much colder environment than the refrigerator. This is why it’s capable of keeping bacterial growth at bay for a much longer time window. Microorganisms cannot survive in extremely cold or hot environments. After you freeze fried chicken for the recommended time window, move it to the refrigerator. This is the best way to thaw fried chicken. Then, reheat the chicken in the oven or microwave.
Is It Okay to Eat Fried Chicken if It’s Left Out Overnight?
No, we don’t advise you to eat cooked chicken left out overnight. If you remember, we said that fried chicken should not be left out at room temperature beyond two hours. If the food can go bad after two hours, then think about what will happen after it’s left to sit out overnight. There’s more than enough time for the chicken to host bacterial growth. The damage can be so irreversible that reheating cooked chicken may not rectify the situation.
Aside from the fact that the fried chicken will become contaminated, leaving fried chicken at room temperature will make it lose its flavor and texture. It’s also more than enough time for the chicken to absorb bad smells from its external environment, and this will heighten its contamination.
Is It Safe to Eat Fried Chicken if It’s Left Out for 4 Hours?
We’ve answered this question before. What you’ll have after that time window is a bad fried chicken. As we mentioned earlier, anything beyond two hours makes the cooked chicken unsafe to eat. Eating chicken that has been sat out for more than four hours will result in stomach cramps, diarrhea, abdominal and rectal pain, fever, headache, and other symptoms of food poisoning. After 4 hours, it’s pointless doing anything other than throwing the chicken away. Even freezing cooked chicken that has been left out for more than 4 hours won’t change anything.
Is Salmonella Present in Fried Chicken if It’s Left Out?
Yes, it is. Let’s explain. Salmonella is not a bacteria that grows from nowhere in your cooked chicken. Every poultry product in its raw or undercooked state (eggs, dairy, meat) has salmonella present in them. That’s why food safety bodies emphasize that we should properly cook our meat or eggs to prevent food poisoning.
If the fresh chicken is not cooked to the recommended internal temperature, the salmonella in it will remain active and have a chance to breed. As you know, bacteria multiply at a very fast rate. This is also why it’s advisable to wash our hands before and after handling the chicken. It even explains why we should keep our chickens away from other raw foods. The right temperature to kill salmonella when you cook chicken is 73 degrees Celsius.
Cooking your chicken to the desired temperature is not enough to get rid of salmonella. If you don’t thoroughly fry every part of the chicken, it will still have some bacteria alive, and this will make it contaminate faster. For this reason, we recommend using a deep fryer because it will fry everywhere evenly at the same time.
How Can You Tell if Your Fried Chicken Has Gone Bad?
Just like other foods, you can tell if your cooked chicken has gone bad. It’s a case of the same signs pointing to the outcome. When your fried chicken gets bad, there are some reasons why that can happen. Firstly, it could be undercooked. Secondly, you failed to store fried chicken properly (not using an airtight container or keeping it there for too long). Thirdly, you left it out for too long. Lastly, you mix the chicken with other foods that may be undercooked or raw, contaminating it in the process.
Back to the subject of discussion, there are certain ways that you can tell whether you have a rotten chicken or not. They will go a long way in helping you avoid eating chicken that has gone bad.
Eye Test
This has to do with the appearance of the cooked chicken. When you look at the chicken and you notice something wrong with the way it looks, that’s a sign. The first thing to look out for is the color. Properly fried chicken that’s still good to eat will be golden-brown or just brown. So, if you notice that your chicken is black or gray, that’s a surefire indication that your chicken has gone bad.
The second thing to look out for is the texture. Does your chicken appear slimy, excessively soft, or sticky? If yes, then your cooked chicken has gone bad and should be disposed of.
Taste Test
This is another way to confirm if your chicken has sat out for too long. Unlike the eye test, this method carries an element of risk. What do we mean? Since this method involves tasting a small part of the chicken, you’ll be ingesting some germs/bacteria if the chicken is confirmed as bad. However, it’s the ideal method to adopt if your chicken still looks appealing. If the chicken tastes sour or unlike how fried chicken should taste, it has gone bad.
Odor Test
This is the third method of confirming if you have a bad fried chicken or not. Usually, we advise people to smell their chicken before eating it. The odor test can be used as a preliminary test before the taste test. If the chicken smells fine, but you’re not convinced, you can still taste a small part of it. Fresh fried chicken should have a pleasant smell. So, anything other than that should tell you all that you need to know.
How Can I Keep My Fried Chicken Fresh?
Sometimes, you may store cooked chicken properly and fail to keep it fresh because you didn’t reheat it the way it should be done. After removing your chicken from the fridge or freezer, please place it in a preheated oven. For best results, place the chicken on a wire rack on the baking sheet. The purpose of the wire rack is to circulate the heat evenly (especially to the underside of the chicken). The oven should be set to high heat; this will enable the chicken to bake fast.
Is It Okay to Reheat Fried Chicken That Sat Out Overnight?
No, it’s no use. We’ve said earlier that leaving your cooked chicken at room temperature for even more than two hours will expose it to dangerous levels of bacterial contamination. Reheating cooked chicken that has been left out overnight will not undo the damage. The best course of action is to throw it out.
What Are the Ways to Preserve Fried Chicken Without Refrigerating It?
There are ways to make your chicken last longer without storing it in the fridge. The trick is to reduce or eliminate moisture. So, if you don’t own a fridge or you prefer to explore alternative measures, this is for you.
- Salt Curing: As the name implies, this method involves the use of salt to preserve meat. It’s a very old preservation hack that existed before the invention of the refrigerator. It inhibits the growth of bacteria on the chicken and also adds some flavor to it. What makes salt curing so effective is that it draws out moisture from your chicken. As you know, moisture is essential for the growth of bacteria, and when your chicken is deprived of it, the microbes can’t thrive.
- Drying: A food dehydrator is used to draw out moisture from your cooked chicken and keep it fresh for a longer time window.
- Smoking: This process uses smoke to remove excess moisture from your fried chicken and adds a smoky flavor to the process.
Conclusion
Fried chicken will always remain a favorite delicacy for many. The buster here is that eating bad fried chicken can make you hate the food. So, to prevent that, following the food safety guidelines is of the utmost importance. Remember that a maximum of two hours answers, ‘How long can fried chicken sit out.’ To keep your chicken fresh and unspoiled, cook it to the recommended internal temperature and store it within two hours of cooking it. Also, avoid keeping it in the fridge for more than four days or in the freezer for longer than four months.
