How Long is Sous Vided Food Safe In Fridge? - Ask Jason (2024)

I get a lot of great questions from my readers. In order to help out everyone else I'm answering some of the most popular ones here on the blog. Have something you need help with? You can ask me on Facebook, contact me directly, or view all of the Ask Jason questions!

Note:The following article is an edited transcript from the video.

This is always a big question people have. Once you're done sous viding, if you cook it through to pasteurization and you chill it efficiently and then put it in a refrigerator, the food will last for a long time, a lot longer than normal leftovers do.

If you follow that routine, cooked food in unopened sealed bags will last for at least a week, if not longer. I know some people, I think Douglas Baldwin is one who talks about food lasting for 2, 3 or even 4 weeks, depending on if your refrigerator's cold enough and you've chilled it properly. So sous vide leftovers do last for a long time.

On the thread asking for pre-video questions, a lot of people had some really good comments on this. I know there's a few people in this group who cook a lot ahead of time and then store it for later in the fridge. So that's a great way to do it.

Another question asked was their biggest challenge; people answered "waiting". And that's another way you can reduce the wait time is by cooking with sous vide, chilling it either in cold water or in an ice bath, and then putting it in the fridge days ahead of time. Then when you're planning to eat the food, you only have to reheat it. You will serve a moist and tender dish; it's just like eating it on the day it was initially cooked.

If you sous vide a chuck steak for 36 to 48 hours, chill it properly. When you're ready to eat, you only have to reheat it for about an hour; it's going to be up to temperature and ready to go. You can easily do that for a weeknight meal without worrying about the 36 hours cooking time. This does require a little planning ahead of time, but it's a lot easier than trying to always have dinner ready exactly when everyone wants to eat.

So another important benefit of sous vided food lasting for a while in the fridge is the simplicity it provides in planning meals.

If you like this you can get more than 85 inspiring recipes to get you on your way to sous vide success. It's all in my best selling book Modernist Cooking Made Easy: Sous Vide - Get Your Copy Today!

This article is by me, Jason Logsdon. I'm an adventurous home cook and professional blogger who loves to try new things, especially when it comes to cooking. I've explored everything from sous vide and whipping siphons to pressure cookers and blow torches; created foams, gels and spheres; made barrel aged co*cktails and brewed beer. I have also written 10 cookbooks on modernist cooking and sous vide and I run the AmazingFoodMadeEasy.com website.

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