How Long Your Store-Bought Chicken Broth Is Good After Opening

Soup recipes typically call for a lot of broth, meaning you might use entire boxes or cans of the store-bought kind. But what if you're making a pasta dish that only calls for a cup or two or some other skillet meal that only uses a few tablespoons of chicken broth — leaving you with leftovers? How long is it good for in the fridge after opening?

Your chicken broth (if it is still before its use-by date) is good for four to five days if refrigerated, assuming the boxed type is properly closed (meaning the cap is sealed tight). If you use the canned type, it should be transferred to an airtight container like a mason jar or other glass or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid, and it will stay good for an equal amount of time.

If you double-check your broth in the fridge and see that it's past the use-by or expiration date by a few (two or fewer) days, it should be all right to use if it smells and tastes okay. However, if it's past the expiration date by three or more days, you should likely pour it down the drain. 

There are a few ways you can tell if your chicken broth has gone bad while sitting in your fridge, and it all starts with the scent when you open the container. If it has a rank odor — like it smells of rot or has a sourness to it –  then it's likely turned.

How your broth looks can also help you decide whether or not to use it. If the broth has changed from its typical golden yellow hue to a darkened brown shade or looks cloudy, you should dump it. The texture may have also changed, forming a thin film of slime indicating mold sitting on top; in that case, throw it out immediately and do not use it (even if you spoon off the mold). Finally, even if the broth looks all right and smells all right, but you take a little taste and its flavor is off, you're better safe than sorry.

If you hate throwing out food or are on a tight budget (we respect that), and you need your leftover store-bought chicken broth to last longer than four to five days, here's a solution. Because broth's main ingredient is water, you can freeze it. You'll need either a thick glass container or a plastic container with a lid, and the broth will keep for up to three months.

If you want to be clever, you can freeze your broth in ice cube trays or try one of those pre-portioned 1-cup silicone containers used for meal prep. If you're using a typical ice cube tray, each cube comes to about 2 tablespoons. And, if you go the ice cube method, there is an additional step of waiting for the broth to freeze fully and then busting those cubes out of the tray and moving them into a plastic freezer bag. Either way, you don't have to wait for the broth to thaw before using it; you can simply take however much you need and melt it right in the pot or pan — perfect for making a chicken broth cocktail in a hurry.