Does Pizza Go Bad Overnight or When Not Refrigerated?
Question: Does pizza go bad when not refrigerated? Does it go bad overnight? Read on to find out.
You ordered a number of pizzas for your party but your guests didn’t manage to eat all of them. You now have a lot of leftover pizza and are left wondering whether or not they can still be eaten. Does leftover pizza get spoilt?
Or even when your last guest went you decided to do some cleaning and discovered that there’s a lot of pizza left. You don’t want to throw it away and are left wondering if there’s a way you can preserve it for later use.
If you find yourself in either scenario, then you came to the right place. Here, we’ll discuss about the life shelf, storage and different signs that pizza is spoiled. Continue reading for more details.
How To Store Pizza
Normally, when you’re done eating your pizza, the leftovers should be kept in the fridge. The faster you put it in the fridge, the better.
To be on the safer side, the pizza should be refrigerated within two hours (or just one of the temperature in your apartment is above 90 degrees F) from when the pizza arrived. This is because perishable foods cannot stay out for longer periods when still at ambient temperature for safety reasons.
If the pizza has been on the counter from when it arrived to when the party ended, consider using other strategies. Perhaps when everybody is done eating, find out if they would like more and if not, clear out the table and put the leftovers in the fridge. Refrigerated pizza can always be reheated when needed.
The two-hour rule is not as hard to adhere to as you think. The pizza won’t get spoiled or become unsafe for consumption immediately and can stay on the counter for more than two hours, but the longer it stays out, the higher the chances for it to go bad. In short, you can decide whether you want to eat it or throw it away.
When it comes to refrigerating leftover pizza, you can leave it in the box it came in and eat it for breakfast. However, if you’d like to store it for a longer time, wrap each of the slices in aluminum foil and put them back in the box. Since the boxes allow airflow, the pizza will dry out pretty fast if left in such conditions especially when kept for longer periods.
How To Freeze Leftover Pizza
Freezing leftover pizza can be done in a very easy way. All that’s required is aluminum foil and in some instances some freezer bags. Here’s how it can be done:
- Wrap every slice using aluminum foil. If you’re going to store the leftovers for more than just a couple of weeks, place the wrapped slices in freezer bags before storing them in the freezer.
- Put them in an airtight container (optional). If you don’t want the pizza slices to become squished before they become frozen, put them in a container so that they can remain intact.
- Place everything in the freezer.
That’s the entire process. Your frozen leftover pizza can remain in the freeze for several months without losing a lot in terms of quality. When you want to thaw the frozen pizza, just put it in the fridge the night before you plan to eat it.
How Long Does Pizza Last?
This is fairly easy to know. Leftover pizza is still safe for consumption for two hours when at room temperature and at least four days when it’s refrigerated, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
As mentioned before, the durations aren’t necessarily hard and fast, and it is possible to get away with keeping the food for a longer time (for instance, 1 to 2 hours at room temperature or even 1 to 2days when in the fridge). This is especially for pizzas that are fairly “dry”, which is the ones that don’t have toppings that include a lot of water. So, if the pizza stayed on the counter from when it arrived till morning, just discard it.
Nevertheless, to remain on the safer side, stick to the guidelines provided by the USDA. if you’d like to stretch the rules a little, go for it, but don’t overdo it.
| Counter | Fridge | |
| Leftover pizza | 2 hours | 4 days |
How To Tell If Pizza Is Bad?
Apart from following all the required storage guidelines mentioned above, always check your leftover pizza before eating it. Look out for:
- Mold and other kinds organic growth. If you notice any, throw it away. If there’s anything wrong in terms of appearance, don’t risk it.
- Off smell. If the leftovers don’t smell so good, get rid of them. Note that when pizza isn’t wrapped properly, it can pick up some smells. So, if your Hawaiian pizza smells like Pepperoni or Chorizo that was on the same shelf, there’s not much to worry about.
- Bad taste. In case you’re not quite enjoying your leftover pizza after reheating it, it okay to discard it. In fact, it’s safer to do so because there may be something wrong with the pizza.
Finally, if the leftover pizza seems stale and dried out, it’s probably because it was not wrapped properly. You can choose to go ahead with reheating and eating them, or you can just cut your losses and throw them away.
