Sushi is a Japanese dish that has become very popular in the Western world in recent years. There are sushi restaurants in almost every city. You can even buy sushi at the supermarket, or buy a kit to help you make it at home.
If you’re unfamiliar with sushi, however, you may not have a good feel for how long it can be stored safely if you want to save some for later.
This is complicated by the fact that there are a few different varieties of sushi using different ingredients that can be stored for different lengths of time.
So how long does sushi last? Generally sushi will last for 24 hours from the time it is prepared if it is stored in the refrigerator. This will depend on the ingredients in the sushi, such as the fresh fish, vegetables, and rice used to prepare the sushi. It should also be refrigerated right away, ideally within an hour.
How Long Do Sushi Rolls Last In The Fridge?
Sushi will last in the fridge for around 24 hours. The different ingredients used in the sushi will affect the length of time it can be stored.
Traditionally, sushi rolls are made with a handful of basic ingredients:
- vinegared rice (cooked rice that has been flavored with rice vinegar)
- seaweed (also known as nori)
- seafood (e.g. salmon, tuna, mackerel, yellowtail, squid, imitation crab meat)
- vegetables (e.g. cucumber, avocado, shiitake mushroom, carrot)
Not all sushi rolls are made with all of the ingredients, so you can have seafood sushi rolls or vegetarian sushi rolls.
The key feature of sushi is that the seafood is not cooked, which is what makes sushi rolls so delicious. But it is also what makes storing sushi rolls safely so difficult.
When you cook food, you are increasing the temperature to a level that will kill any bacteria that are growing on the food.
And there will always be some bacteria on the food just because there are bacteria everywhere.
So when you are eating food that hasn’t gone through this cooking process, and especially meat (including fish), the risk of contracting food poisoning from the bacteria is much greater
How Is Sushi Fish Stored During Transport?
Sushi is designed to be consumed immediately after preparation. The fish will be kept on ice until it is made into the sushi roll, at which point the “cold chain” will be broken.
When food is in the cold chain, it means that it is kept at a cold enough temperature that bacteria can’t grow, and this temperature is maintained while the food is being transported from one place to another.
As soon as that cold chain is broken, the countdown to the food being unsafe to eat starts. You should never eat a sushi roll that has been at room temperature) for more than 4 hours.
Sushi rolls can be safely eaten after being stored in a fridge for up to 24 hours
A refrigerator isn’t cold enough to maintain the cold chain, but it will slow down the bacteria-growing process somewhat.
The sushi rolls probably won’t taste as nice as they did when they were freshly made, but they can stay safe to eat for up to a day.
Can You Freeze Sushi?
Freezing sushi rolls isn’t really possible because the ingredients that are used will be damaged too much by the freezing process.
If you do choose to refrigerate your sushi for the next day, it is a good idea to wrap it tightly with saran wrap and place it in an airtight storage container in a back corner of the fridge.
This will reduce the growth of bacteria as much as possible.
How Long Does Chicken Sushi Last?
A chicken sushi roll will last in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Even though cooked chicken is good for 3 to 4 days, the rice in the sushi roll should be eaten within 24 hours.
Of course, it isn’t safe to eat raw chicken so any chicken you find in sushi will be cooked. The most common type is a teriyaki chicken sushi roll.
This does change the storage guidelines significantly because the chicken has been through the bacteria-killing cooking process.
Cooked chicken can be stored in a fridge for 3-4 days, but chicken won’t be the only ingredient in your sushi.
You should only store your food for as long as the ingredient that goes off the quickest and, if your chicken sushi has rice, this will limit how long you can safely store it.
How Long Does Sushi Rice Last?
Cooked rice should be placed in the fridge as soon as possible and should be eaten within 24 hours. This is because rice contains spores of Bacillus cereus, which is a bacteria that causes food poisoning.
Unlike other types of food-borne bacteria, this type is not killed by cooking. So even though the rice in your sushi has been cooked, it will still contain live bacteria. .
If your chicken sushi uses nori alone, then you aren’t going to have that problem. Nori can be stored in the fridge for 4-6 months because it has been dried, which is an ancient form of food preservation.
So in this case, you should go by the cooked chicken storage guidelines of 3-4 days.
How Long Does Vegetarian Sushi Last?
As with chicken sushi, you should go by the ingredient that has the shortest expiration. If you are using rice in your vegetarian sushi, then you should still only store it in the fridge for 24 hours.
With the fresh vegetables, you don’t have to worry quite so much about food safety, although their quality may decline at varying rates. For example:
- Sliced cucumber – 1-2 days (source)
- Avocado – 3-4 days (source)
- Sliced carrots – 2-3 weeks (source)
- Shiitake mushrooms – 2 weeks (source)
Can I eat sushi that is 2 days old?
If your sushi includes rice or seafood, you shouldn’t eat it after 2 days. It should be stored for a maximum of 24 hours, but if there are any signs of the sushi having gone bad (e.g. strange smell, visible mold) then you should throw it out.
If your sushi uses nori, cooked chicken, and/or vegetables only then it usually can be consumed after 2 days.
In any of these cases, your sushi probably won’t taste as nice as it would have done when it was eaten when it was fresh, as it isn’t really designed to be stored and eaten later.
Final thoughts
Sushi was developed to be eaten as soon as it was prepared and if it has been stored to be eaten later, the texture and flavor won’t be as nice as it was when it was fresh.
If you ordered too much sushi during your meal, you can store it as leftovers if you want to. The different ingredients that you find in sushi will impact how long it can be stored for, and you should always go by the guidelines of the ingredient that will go bad the earliest.
Resources
https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning/)