Chicken bone broth left out for three hours: Can I eat it?

April 28, 2020 5:03 PM

I made bone broth by first boiling it, then cooking it in the crockpot for 24 hours. I poured it into a glass jar and left it to cool before putting it in the fridge so the jar wouldn't explode. About three hours later I remembered it. It was tightly covered and still warm. It's now in the fridge. Is it safe to eat?
posted by Beethoven's Sith to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

I, a non-expert, would definitely still use it. In fact, some recipes say to let stock and broth cool to room temperature before you put it in the fridge. Also, are you planning to use it in something else anyway? I think that might kill off anything.
posted by bluedaisy at 5:10 PM on April 28, 2020 [11 favorites]

If you're really worried, you can bring it up to a boil again in a saucepan (I have done that with stock that I just plain forgot in the pot overnight).

As mentioned above, if you're gonna just cook it up in something else, that should also do the job.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:11 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

If it was below 70*F within 2 hours, and below 41* within the next 6, you’re good. If you’re in doubt, bring it back up to a boil for like 10 minutes. That’s safe, according to Serve Safe.
posted by Grandysaur at 5:31 PM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

I'm pretty conservative, but I've left stock out to cool for that long and have had no problems. I always boil it again as part of the recipe I'm making it in, though, if it matters.
posted by mollweide at 5:41 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

Absolutely fine. I’ve even had soup left overnight no problem.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:10 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

100% fine. Honestly, that's prob the minimum amount of time I leave my broth to cool before putting it in the fridge, and Ive never had a problem over the decades Ive been doing this.
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 6:14 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

I would eat that, which is not my usual answer to the "should I eat this?" questions here.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:21 PM on April 28, 2020 [4 favorites]

'Tightly covered' while it cooled down? Yeah, that's basically how canning is done. You are better than fine. However, tightly closing a jar with hot stuff in it can make it implode. Next time, put the lid on, but don't tighten it until you put it in the fridge. Other than that you did it just right. The main reason to wait before putting a big hot thing in the fridge isn't so much breaking glass, but heating everything in the fridge up to room temp for a while.
posted by sexyrobot at 6:48 PM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

Unless you are immunocompromised, I would eat that if I were you.
posted by Candleman at 6:59 PM on April 28, 2020

The USDA guidance states: "Always refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours—1 hour when the temperature is above 90 °F (32.2 ºC)."

So 3 hours is three times the recommended limit, now you can probably get away with exceeding that, the question is, do you feel lucky?

Also from devrims's link: "after a thorough boiling, its flavor will certainly be compromised"

I would toss it, the next time you make broth, throw in a few ice cubes and set a timer to remind yourself to put it in the fridge after 1/2 hour.
posted by Lanark at 6:44 AM on April 29, 2020

Refrigeration is an extremely recent invention in human history. Our species would never have survived if this was going to be a problem. Go ahead and enjoy your broth.
posted by number9dream at 6:55 AM on April 29, 2020 [5 favorites]

Yeah it had to cool. You're good.
posted by bile and syntax at 7:27 AM on April 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

I make meat stocks constantly. Your broth is fine. To save yourself worry, set a timer next time for 1 hour.
posted by desuetude at 7:50 AM on April 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

The USDA guidance states: "Always refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours—1 hour when the temperature is above 90 °F (32.2 ºC)."

So 3 hours is three times the recommended limit, now you can probably get away with exceeding that, the question is, do you feel lucky?

The 90 °F doesn't refer to the temperature of the food, it refers to the ambient temperature. It can definitely take a while for any food item to cool down sufficiently to be put into the refrigerator. For some things it makes sense to accelerate cooling so the food doesn't spend too much time in the "danger zone" temperature range. In restaurants, for example, they might take a bug stockpot of stock and put it in a sink full of ice to cool it down faster. I any event, three hours of cooling time in a closed jar on the counter before putting the stock into the refrigerator is just fine (in fact, it's actually good because if you had put the jar in there while it was hot it would have created an unsafe temperature condition for everything else in there). The stock wouldn't have spent all that much time in the danger zone before you got it into the refrigerator. This is something I wouldn't worry about in the slightest. If spoilage bacteria got in there somehow, trust me when I say this will be completely obvious to you. And if you're worried about infectious microorganisms or toxins they might have produced in the stock, all you need to do is boil the stock for around five minutes before consuming it.
posted by slkinsey at 8:45 AM on April 29, 2020 [2 favorites]

PSA, wait for things to cool down before you put them in the fridge. Putting hot food in the fridge warms up your fridge for no reason, potentially heating up everything else in there. In the case of something like stock I wouldn't even bat an eye at three hours. You just boiled it!
posted by aspersioncast at 9:42 PM on April 29, 2020