How Long Can Eggs Be Last Outside of the Fridge? (2024)

FAQs

How Long Can Eggs Be Last Outside of the Fridge? ›

According to the American Egg Board, you can leave eggs on the counter about 2 hours at room temperature (or 1 hour if the temperature is 90°F or hotter). After 2 hours, you'd be safer to throw those eggs out and get a fresh dozen rather than chance it.

Give it a smell

Crack it onto a plate or bowl, and give it a whiff. Fresh eggs should either smell fresh or like nothing at all, so if instead, your egg smells putrid, funky, sulfuric, or just plain off, the egg is rotten. Make sure to thoroughly clean and sanitize the plate or bowl to remove any dangerous bacteria.

As mentioned earlier, eggs are shipped after being refrigerated. Therefore to prevent the development of any potential bacteria, they must continue to be kept refrigerated. Keeping them on the counter at room temperature makes them more vulnerable to bacterial contamination.

Once you purchase your eggs, do not let them sit in a hot car for too long. At room temperature, do not leave them out over two hours and if the temperature is sweltering hot (90 degrees F or higher) then no more than one hour.

Information. Eggs may be refrigerated three to five weeks from the day they are placed in the refrigerator. The "Sell-By" date will usually expire during that length of time, but the eggs will be perfectly safe to use. Always purchase eggs before the "Sell-By" or EXP (expiration) date on the carton.

You can leave eggs on the counter about two hours at room temperature or one hour if the temperature is 90 degrees F or hotter before you start to worry, per the Egg Safety Center. After two hours, you'd be safer to throw those eggs out and get a fresh dozen rather than chance it.

A general rule, unwashed eggs will last around two weeks unrefrigerated and about three months or more in your refrigerator. If you're experiencing an egg boom, it's smart to refrigerate any unwashed fresh eggs you aren't planning to eat immediately. This will help them last longer.

Left at room temp, any bacteria on the shell can move with that moisture into the egg, since egg shells are semipermeable. Even clean eggs with no cracks can harbor Salmonella, so it's important not to just go by the appearance of the eggs. Cold will also slow the aging of eggs, making them last longer.

Can I eat cooked eggs left out overnight? ›

Never leave cooked eggs or egg dishes out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours or for more than 1 hour when temperatures are above 90° F. Bacteria that can cause illness grow quickly at warm temperatures (between 40° F and 140° F).

So you will hopefully now know that you should not leave eggs out overnight, as they can only stay fresh for 2 hours unrefrigerated. If you have left eggs in your car for an extended period of time, they must be thrown out as it is not worth the risk of food poisoning.

“The shelf life of an unrefrigerated egg is 7 to 10 days and for refrigerated egg it's about 30 to 45 days,” notes Dr Batra. But that doesn't mean you can pop a 2-month old egg for a quick omelet. - Eggs can last for about 5-6 weeks if refrigerated properly.

See If The Egg Floats

If the eggs sink to the bottom and lay flat on their side, they're still fresh. If they sink, but stand on one end at the bottom of the glass or bowl, the eggs are not as fresh but still edible.

When eggs spoil, they begin to smell bad, and the yolk and egg white may become discolored. Cracked or slimy eggshells can also be a sign of bacterial contamination. Easy ways to determine an egg's freshness include checking the expiration date, visually inspecting its shell, and cracking it open to smell the inside.

According to the USDA, refrigerated eggs should not be left out for more than two hours. “Eggs are stored cold right after the hen lays the eggs. Once a cold egg is left out at room temperature it can sweat, which facilitates the movement of bacteria into the egg and can increase the growth of bacteria,” Amidor says.

Never leave cooked eggs or egg dishes out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours or for more than 1 hour when temperatures are above 90° F. Bacteria that can cause illness grow quickly at warm temperatures (between 40° F and 140° F).

To perform the float test, gently set your egg into a bowl or bucket of water. If the egg sinks, it is fresh. If it tilts upwards or even floats, it is old. This is because as an egg ages, the small air pocket inside it grows larger as water is released and replaced by air.

On those egg cartons, if an expiration date appears, it can be no more than 30 days after the pack date. "As long as they're kept properly refrigerated at 40°F or lower, fresh eggs are safe to eat four to five weeks beyond the carton's Julian date," Maloberti says.