How long does poultry last?

Reviewed by the MyListResort team · Data from the USDA FoodKeeper · Updated July 30, 2026

Poultry is one of the most perishable proteins, so treat its refrigerated window as short and cook or freeze it promptly. Odor, appearance and texture can reveal spoilage, but their absence cannot establish safety. Follow package and official time-and-temperature guidance.

What are common spoilage signs for poultry?

• A sour, sulfurous or plainly off smell.
• A slimy or tacky film on the surface.
• A dull gray or greenish cast rather than fresh pink.
• On cooked or ready-to-eat poultry: a slick or sticky surface, a sour smell, or any mold. Reheating does not make spoiled poultry safe.

Storing poultry

• Keep poultry sealed on the coldest, lowest shelf so it cannot drip onto other food.
• Cook within the short fridge window or freeze it; frozen, it keeps for months.
• Thaw in the fridge and cook promptly once thawed.
• Cooked and ready-to-eat poultry goes straight back in the fridge, sealed, and keeps only a few days.
• Canned and retort-pouch poultry keeps in the cupboard while the pack is sealed, then follows the same short fridge window as any cooked poultry once opened.

Poultry shelf life, food by food

Tap a food for its once-opened window, full shelf-life table and storage tips.

• Canned chicken
• Capon, whole
• Chicken nuggets, patties
• Chicken parts, breast halves, bone-in
• Chicken parts, breast halves, boneless
• Chicken parts, legs or thighs
• Chicken, whole
• Cooked poultry dishes
• Cornish Hens, whole
• Duckling, domestic or wild, whole
• Fried chicken
• Giblets
• Goose, domestic or wild, whole
• Ground turkey or chicken
• Pate, poultry
• Pheasant, young, whole
• Quail, whole
• Raw kabobs with vegetables
• Retort pouches or boxes
• Rotisserie chicken
• Stuffed, raw chicken breasts
• Turducken
• Turkey bacon
• Turkey parts, breast halves, bone-in
• Turkey parts, breast halves, boneless
• Turkey parts, legs or thighs
• Turkey, whole

Shelf-life windows come from the USDA FoodKeeper, published by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (public domain); we vendor the FSIS FoodKeeper dataset and refresh it in place. These are quality estimates, not food-safety determinations or guarantees: actual condition depends on storage and handling, and harmful bacteria may not have obvious signs. Follow package and official guidance; when in doubt, throw it out. See our food safety notice and terms.