How Long is Chicken Broth Good For?
How long is chicken broth good for depends on how it is stored. Freshly made chicken broth can spoil within 24 hours. Homemade chicken broth must be cooled first, and then very soon stored in a refrigerator, in a tightly closes container. Canned chicken broth can last for a long time, but it eventually loses its taste appeal. Opened chicken broth should also be refrigerated.
Chicken broth is an essential dish of home cooking. A healthy diet without first meals is almost impossible to imagine.
Broth is a balanced food that allows you to quickly satiate appetite. But chicken broth must be good when it is consumed.
A delicious aromatic broth is the basis of the first course. The peculiarity of this chicken broth is that everyone chooses what they want to eat together with the broth and pour it into and mix it with the selected products.
Some cooks, in order to save time, prepare the base broth for the first course. In such cases, it is necessary to know the shelf life of the finished broth, because no one wants to treat their friends and relatives a spoiled product.
And since you are not a lazy (because you are reading this article), it is helpful to know how to store chicken broth and how to ensure the right conditions for its storage to keep it good for a longer time.
Storing Chicken Broth to Keep it Good for Longer
Unopened, packed chicken broth should be stored in a cool, dry place. In your pantry, basement or even your kitchen cupboard – these are all suitable options. After opening, the chicken broth should be kept in a refrigerator, in a tightly closed container.
If the broth was canned, you have to move the rest of the broth to another container.
Nothing is compared to homemade chicken broth. Homemade broth must be completely cooled before being transferred to a sealed container and stored in a refrigerator.
Storage of the soup requires the use of a refrigerator with a temperature of 2-6 °C.
Fresh chicken broth, stored at room temperature, could spoil within 24 hours. Of course, we know that canned varieties now have organic and low-sodium options, but nothing will bring your soups and sauces to the next level of taste like homemade chicken broth.
You can store it in refrigerator for 48 hours, after which it have to be boiled and consumed within the next 48 hours.
TIP: You can freeze the chicken broth. Freezing is a good solution hack for quick preparation of many dishes.
Many experienced home cooks freeze the broth to make it easier and faster to use in the longer future. Any kind of the broth, not only chicken, under room conditions will deteriorate in some hours.
5 factors impacting shelf life of a chicken broth
What is the impact on the shelf life of a broth? Let us consider several factors.
- The first one is the components of broth. Each of components has a definite shelf life.
- The second one is freshness of products. Fresh ingredients will last longer. One bad ingredient can trigger the spoiling of the whole soup like a chain reaction.
- The third one is compliance with cooking rules and standards. Insufficient heat treatment can cause food poisoning. The boiling heat will not improve the quality of broth, but will preserve it longer. In fact, it is recommended to make sure broth reaches boiling heat as early as possible in the process of cooking. Then you can simmer it and add other staff to it.
- The fourth factor is cleanliness in the kitchen area. Bacteria live everywhere. Once they get into the broth, they begin to reproduce actively due to abundance of nutrients. It is necessary to protect freshly made chicken broth as much as possible against the penetration of microflora. Wash your hands and products thoroughly and wrap dishes in boiling water.
- And the fifth factor is the use of salt. People often prefer not to salt the broth. During the cooking process, the liquid evaporates and the salt concentration may increase. And salt can prolong the life of the soup, because it is a preservative. Therefore, it may be better to salt it at the end of the preparation.
TIP: Please note, that if you live in high-altitude areas (in the mountains), boiling temperature will be lower for you, and rules of cooking may be somewhat different. You may need to simmer it for a longer time for complete preparation. See more about high altitude cooking here at USDA’s web-site.
Things to consider when buying ready chicken broth (more tips)
We usually buy products in the store or market, where they have been stored for some time before being sold. Pay attention to the expiration date of the potential broth base and buy only fresh products.
Chicken broth purchased in supermarket usually comes with the expiration date on the label. This date indicates how long at least the broth must remain fresh. Since almost all of the canned broths contain preservatives, it can be eaten after much longer time than fresh broth. Of course, over time, the quality of the broth may become inferior.
By opening the can, you can store the leftovers in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. You can also use your basic nose sniffing abilities to determine if your chicken broth has gone bad. If the liquid chicken broth has gone bad, it smells sour and rotten.
If the granules or cubes of your chicken broth grow old, they will no longer crumble. Any mold that may appear (green-blue or white) indicates that the soup has definitely deteriorated and should be thrown out.
Regardless of whether the broth was previously open, if the container swells or bulges in any way, it is a sign that the broth has gone bacterial and must definitely not be consumed.
Summed up, homemade soup you can keep it in the fridge for four to five days. It doesn’t contain preservatives, so it can go bad very quickly. If you want to keep it longer, the best option is to freeze it.
How to Store Fresh Chicken Broth
The shelf life of the chicken broth in the cooling chamber will depend on the cooking conditions. Just recently prepared cooled broth can be kept in the fridge for 48 hours. No more than 48 hours is how much chicken broth one can keep in the fridge.
Besides, it depends on the storing temperature. It should be between 4 and 8°C. Normally this is the temperature on the middle shelf of the refrigerator.
Strained broth with removed spices, placed to separate forms molded and frozen will be stored in the freezer for 4-6 months.
Keep the chicken broth properly in a cool, dry and dark place, away from sources of heat, moisture and sunlight.
For the longer term, chicken broth can be frozen. It is better to freeze the recently prepared cooled broth. It is the base for many of the first dishes that can be stored both in refrigerator and freezer. If you cannot use the soup for a few days, freezing is probably the best way to preserve it.
When it comes to freezing chicken broth, you can go with ice cube trays or a small sealed container. This method allows you to easily defrost as much as you need without defrosting all or re-freezing the rest.
Homemade broth is very easy to store in the freezer. Even if you do not have enough space in the freezer, there are many hacks out there that will allow to expand your freezer space and fill the freezer food products.
And, it always makes sense to purchase a freezer for large hone or condo.
Glass jars of different sizes are also the good solution. Another way to keep a homemade broth in the freezer is using frozen glass cans.
These cans are easily tagged and allow to freeze a cup of broth per each unit to make it convenient to use later as need arises.
If a freezer does not have enough space, it is possible to freeze the broth in silicone shapes or in ice cube trays.
How to freeze chicken broth
The freezing of chicken broth must be done correctly. It consists of a series of actions: quick cooling, degreasing, sieving, distribution into pre-prepared packages, indication the date of the package, freezing at a temperature of -18 C.
Remove as much air as possible before closing. Broth ingredients are frozen separately. If properly stored, it will retain the best quality for 4-6 months, and will remain safe after that time.
When it comes to freezing chicken broth, many recommend use ice cube trays or small sealed containers. This method allows you to easily defrost as much as you need without defrosting it or freezing the rest.
NOTE: a glass jar or container sometimes can break in a freezer, because liquid expands in the process of freezing. Some even leave jars open so that liquid finds its way when it expands, and then they close it. I personally never tried that method. Generally, containers and cans should not be filled to the top so that the liquid can expand by an inch.
Freezing soup in ice trays is extremely convenient for adding soup to sauces or other recipes in small quantities and it can be quickly defrosted.
For defrosting, put broth in the fridge for the night before you need it. Ready chicken broth, which has been unfrozen in the freezer, can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days before cooking. Chicken broth that has been defrosted in a microwave or cold water should be consumed immediately.
What About Refrigerating?
Of course, you must always check for signs of spoilage before using a broth that has been stored for more than a few days. For best storage conditions of the broth, the utensils are very important. The one that can oxidize will be wrong to use.
Sometimes a broth can turn sour just a few hours after it is cooked. To prevent this, try to cool it as quickly as possible. Usually, heat is the perfect condition for active bacterial reproduction, so after cooking it should be cooled as soon as possible.
TIP: Putting hot pot with soup in the fridge is not recommended as it may shift the fridge temperature balance and make other food go bad in the fridge. Better to put ice packs around the pot or a jar to cool broth sooner.
Whatever way was chosen to store the broth before sending it to a refrigerator or freezer make sure to follow the procedure.
To summarize, home broth can be stored in a refrigerator for 4-5 days, frozen for 6-9 months, and canned for 1 year to achieve the best results.