How Long Does Cooked Fish Last?

Cooked fish keeps in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, provided it was cooled quickly and stored in a sealed container. Cooked shellfish is a little shorter-lived and is best eaten within 2 to 3 days. In both cases the countdown starts when the fish was cooked, so chill leftovers promptly rather than leaving the plate on the side.

The working numbers

• Cooked white fish and oily fish: 3 to 4 days. Cod, haddock, salmon, mackerel and the rest follow the ordinary cooked-leftovers window once they are chilled.
• Cooked shellfish: 2 to 3 days. Prawns, mussels, crab and squid are more perishable, so lean towards the shorter end.
• Reheating: once, until piping hot. Take out the portion you want and heat that through fully, rather than warming the whole lot more than once.

Get cooked fish into the fridge within a couple of hours of cooking. Spreading it into a shallow, covered container helps it cool faster and keeps the smell contained, which your fridge will thank you for.

How to store it

Cooked fish takes on and gives off smells readily, so a well-sealed container matters more here than with most leftovers. Keep it covered, keep the fridge properly cold at 0 to 5C, and store it away from anything you would rather did not smell of fish. If you are not going to eat cooked fish within its window, it freezes well: cool it, wrap it tightly, and use it within a couple of months for the best texture.

How to tell if cooked fish has gone off

Smell is the clearest guide with fish. Fresh cooked fish smells clean and mild; fish that has turned smells sharply sour, ammonia-like or strongly fishy, and that is your cue to bin it. A slimy or sticky surface, a dull grey cast where the flesh was white, or any sour tang all mean the same thing. As with any leftover, if you are in doubt, throw it out, because a smell is a veto and not a guarantee of safety.

What I actually do

Fish is the one leftover I am strictest about, because when it turns it turns fast and unpleasantly, and because the smell gets into everything else in the fridge. So the moment a fish meal is over, any leftover goes straight into a shallow container with a proper lid, and into the coldest part of the fridge, which for most fridges is the bottom shelf at the back, not the door. I do not wait for it to cool on the plate. Spreading it thin in a wide container gets it cold in minutes rather than an hour, and that early cooling is what actually protects those 3 to 4 days.

I also date the lid with a scrap of tape, because “I think that was Tuesday” is exactly the guess that gets you into trouble. With most leftovers I will stretch a day if they smell fine. With fish I do not stretch. If it is on day four and I have not eaten it, it either gets eaten that evening or it goes. The cost of a binned fish portion is small. The cost of getting it wrong with something as perishable as shellfish is not.

One honest limit worth repeating: a clean smell tells you the fish has not spoiled in the obvious way, but it does not prove the food is safe, because some of the bacteria that make you ill leave no smell at all. That is why the timing matters as much as the sniff. Keep it cold, keep it covered, keep to the window, and when you are genuinely unsure, throw it out.

Quick answers

• How long does cooked salmon last? The same as other cooked fish: 3 to 4 days in the fridge, chilled promptly.
• Can you eat cooked fish after 5 days? Better not. Past 4 days the risk climbs, and fish is not the leftover to gamble on.
• Can you freeze cooked fish? Yes. Wrap it well and use it within a couple of months for the best texture.

For where cooked fish sits alongside everything else and the fridge habits that keep the times above honest, see how long food lasts in the fridge. If you are freezing leftovers ahead, freezer storage times has the wider list.