How Long Can Tofu Sit Out And Does It Go Bad?

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Tofu is a food item that comes in the list of dairy products prepared by coagulating soy milk. It looks like cheese, but it is not cheese. It is bean curd, and these curds are converted into solid white blocks of softness. It contains multiple healthy nutrients that can keep you healthy and is quite soft and firm in texture.

If you are here to discover some interesting facts about tofu, then luckily, you are at the right spot. In this article, we will briefly discuss some important facts about storing tofu so, read it till the end. We hope it will be helpful and informative for you.

Table of Contents

How Long Can Tofu Sit Out?

Starting from the first question that comes to your mind while buying tofu is, how long can tofu sit out? You must know about the shelf life of any food item you are buying to store it accordingly. If we talk about tofu, it is a shelf-stable food item as it can stay fresh for some time at room temperature easily.

If you want to keep it on the countertop, then you must not store it for more than three days because if you store tofu for more than seventy-two hours on your countertop, then it might get spoiled and lose its texture and freshness.

What Happens If Tofu Sits Out For Too Long?

The spoilage of tofu depends on the way you store it. If you store it in unpleasant conditions for a long time, it will go bad. Generally, tofu can last for three days at room temperature, maintaining its freshness. But if you store them for a long time there, there are some chances that they will not retain their freshness.

It also depends on the temperature of your surroundings. If you live in the hotter region, then your tofu will not sit out for too long, but if you live in colder areas, then there are fewer chances that tofu will spoil.

What Should You Do If Tofu Is Left Out For Too Long?

As mentioned above that leaving tofu for too long in a hot environment can be effective for its freshness. So, if you have mistakenly left it at your countertop for a long time, then you must worry about its spoilage. Before suing that tofu, you should first check its freshness. If you see any molds or dark spots on its surface, then it will be best for you to get rid of them.

Otherwise, you should immediately transfer it to the Best Undercounter Refrigerator to keep it safe. Make sure that you cover the tofu in the Best Airtight Containers to protect them from the odors of other food items in the fridge.

Does Tofu Go Bad If Not Refrigerated?

If you have bought a lot of tofu for long-term usage and you are expecting it to last for a long time outside the refrigerator, then you are doing a mistake. As I have mentioned above, tofu cannot last for more than three days outside the refrigerator if the temperature of the surroundings is hotter.

So, for long-term storage, it is important to keep it fresh for a long time, and that cannot happen without using the Best Outdoor Refrigerators. Your tofu will get rotten quickly if you fail to keep it in a calm and cool environment.

Does Tofu Go Bad If You Lose Power?

Tofu can stay fresh for three days outside the refrigerator, and if you keep them in the fridge, its shelf life increases to weeks. So, if you have lost the power, you should not worry much as it won’t have a big effect on the quality or texture of tofu.

Tofu will remain fresh for some time even after the refrigerator shuts down, and it will not go bad at all. But if you have doubts about its spoilage, you should better use the Food Storage Containers to store them.

Which Temperature Is Safe For Tofu?

As tofu is prepared from soy milk, you should not keep it in higher temperatures for a long time. It is because bacteria are more likely to grow at higher temperatures. So, If you keep tofu at temperatures higher than 10 degrees Celsius for days, there will be more chances of spoiling.

The temperature that best suits tofu is below 5 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, tofu will stay fresh and retain its quality for some time.

How to Store Tofu?

Once the tofu is opened, we must store it properly so that we can enjoy it later. Hence here are some techniques to store it properly.

For Unopened

Basically, there are two types of tofu. one is a shelf-stable and the refrigerated one. The shelf-stable tofu, as we can predict, has longer shelf life ranging around 2 to 3 months, after which you have to get worried about that it did go bad or not.

The easy way to store and unopened tofu is to store it in a refrigerator. However, if you bought it from a shelf, store it at room temperature. The other way to store tofu is to cover it in water and change the water daily.

At Room Temperature

As we leave tofu at room temperature after opening it, it becomes a home for all bacteria. To avoid this, you have to cover it properly while placing it on the shelf or wherever you want.

In Refrigerator

The refrigerator type can only be stored in the refrigerator to get a better result once opened; you have to store the tofu in a tight container to keep it safe from moisture or other contaminants.

Can You Freeze Tofu?

Any food you want to last longer and enjoy later can be stored in a freezer, and similarly, the tofu can also be stored in the freezer for a long-lasting result. If you bought many tofu packets, freeze the unopened tofu in the freezer; when you want to use it later, defrost it.

If you already opened the tofu packet and want to use it for later use, you can still store it in the freezer. Drain the moisture from the tofu, store it in a freezer bag or a plastic bag or an airtight container and when you are ready to use, defrost the tofu.

As it takes a while to defrost the tofu so we will give u the advice to defrost it in a refrigerator; remove the tofu from your freezer and place it in the fridge.

How Long Does Tofu Last?

The lifetime of the tofu depends on the techniques that are used in storage. The article given below can tell us that how long tofu can last differently.

In Fridge

If it is unopened and stored in the refrigerator, you can go for the use by date on the pack, but if it’s opened, it can just last 3 to 5 days in the fridge, and you have to use it before this time or after this you have to waste the tofu.

In Freezer

For long-lasting you have to freeze the tofu and use it later; it can be stored for about 4 to 6 months in the freezer and can still have the same taste any longer than that it will be still safe to eat, but the taste and the flavor of tofu are likely to have gone bad.

Cooked Tofu

Cooked tofu usually has more life than uncooked tofu for almost 3 or 4 more days. Simple is that if you want to use the tofu for a week, cook all the tofu and store the rest cooked tofu in the refrigerator for about 6 to 7 days. It will last longer than the uncooked tofu, as told in the above article.

How to Tell if Tofu Is Bad?

If tofu is bad, there is no need for any instrument or many other things to do. Your sense of smell, taste and six sense are usually the perfect way to tell if the tofu is bad or not.

The major and common way of telling if the tofu is bad is to check its color from white toward yellow, and it will have a sour smell. Fresh tofu does not have any smell. So, if you get funky smell, it means that you need to discard your tofu. So before using it, first try to figure out the signs of spoilage and then use it.
You can also use your sense of taste if you want to confirm that your tofu has gone bad. Just taste a very small sample and if it taste other than good, like sour or funky, you know you will have to discard it.