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How Long Does Smoked Salmon Last Before It Goes Bad?

You want to make an easy and light salad with smoked salmon and melon. You’ve found some of the smoked salmon you’ve bought on that great promo last week. How long does smoked salmon last before it goes bad?

Is it worth your time to freeze the smoked salmon or not? I can imagine eating 3 days of smoked salmon isn’t something your family is looking for.

Here, we will talk about all you need to know about smoked salmon, its shelf life, how to store it properly, and the spoilage signs.

Enjoy the read!

What Is Smoked Salmon

Smoked salmon is salmon that has been smoked, hot or cold, to give it a smoky taste. It comes in large pieces or slices.

You can smoke salmon in many ways, some ways are using burning aromatic hardwoods. Depending on the way of smoking, hot or cold, it will have another taste and texture.

  • Cold-smoked salmon is cured, thus contains a lot of salt, and smoked at a low temperature (doesn’t get cooked).
  • Hot-smoked salmon will get cooked because of the higher temperature, removing the bacteria in the process.

How Long Can Smoked Salmon Last

We will start with a quick table for your convenience:

Smoked SalmonRefrigeratorFreezer
UnopenedUp to 2 weeks until sell-by date + up to 3 daysUp to 3 months
OpenedUp to 1 week ( 7 days)Up to 3 months
Cold-smoked Up to 1 week (7 days)Up to 1 month
Hot-smoked Up to 2 weeks (14 days)Up to 3 months
Indicative timetable for how long smoked salmon can last before it goes bad. Always look for spoilage signs!

You see that salmon is no exception to other foods and drinks, on the contrary, it goes bad fairly fast. Fish is a delicate product and when packaged, it won’t be good for longer than 3 weeks in our case after the fish has been packed. Once opened, it will be fine for up to 1 week (7 days) at most. Try to finish within the first 2 days. There are so many options and recipes with smoked salmon.

It’s inevitable that you will pick it up sometime after that, so you best make some plans about what you should do with the smoked salmon to get the best out of it.

Always look at the printed date on the package, as this is a sell-by or use-by date. Don’t see this as a best-by date because you really don’t want to get food poisoning by eating smoked salmon that has gone bad. Be reasonable, a few days past the 3 weeks can be fine, but don’t let it go to a few weeks or even months.

How Long Does Smoked Salmon Last Unrefrigerated

Smoked salmon won’t last very long when not refrigerated. It will go bad after 2 days, don’t give it more. We even say that 1 day is too much. That’s why we always say to have a plan when buying some smoked salmon and use everything in different recipes.

How Long Does Smoked Salmon Last Refrigerated

Smoked salmon can last for up to 2 weeks when stored in the fridge, but will go bad within a few days after the sell-by date. We all know that vacuum-sealed salmon has undergone some journey to get there on the shelf in the store.

How Long Does Smoked Salmon Last Once Opened

Once you open the package, it will be good for up to 1 week (7 days) max when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Don’t let it sit out for longer than 2 days outside the fridge, 1 day can be enough for some serious signs of spoilage.

How Long Does Cold-Smoked Salmon Last

Cold-smoked salmon will last for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. It will stay good for up to 3 weeks since it’s been vacuum-packed, 3 days past the printed expiration date, and up to 1 week (7 days) after it has been opened. You can freeze it for up to 1 month.

How Long Does Hot-Smoked Salmon Last

It can be stored for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Hot-smoked salmon is better protected because it’s been cooked. It will last for up to 3 weeks since it’s been vacuum-packed, 3 days past the printed date, and up to 1 week (7 days) after it has been opened. You can freeze it for up to 3 months.

The above estimates and periods are indicative and can only be used when you’ve stored the smoked salmon in a proper way.

How To Store Smoked Salmon

Salmon is fish, which is a very delicate and perishable product. You need to be cautious with it and be thoughtful about how you should store it at home.

It is simple, you should store any product at least the way you’ve bought it at the store or marketplace. You always should store your smoked salmon in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Even if you have bought salmon in the unrefrigerated section, it’s always a great habit to store it in the refrigerator to extend its shelf life and thus your possibilities of using the salmon.

When it comes to storing foods and drinks, it’s very important that you shield them safe from harmful external threats like heat changes, direct sunlight, air, moisture, strong odors from other products in the fridge, bacteria, and so on. When you know that fish is a delicate and perishable product, it’s even more important to do so.

So to conclude, always store it in your refrigerator in an airtight container. It isn’t that much extra work to do so and you’ll be happy you did it.

You could of course if you want to extend the shelf life more, freeze the smoked salmon.

Can You Freeze Smoked Salmon

Yes, you can freeze your smoked salmon, but we always say, should you and why would you freeze it?

That is because we want to let you think about the why, because you must have a plan for the nearby future on what to do with it, if you don’t, why would you freeze it up?

You can freeze almost every food and drink but the freezing capacity is limited.

When you buy smoked salmon, it will come in vacuum-sealed packages and those can be used for freezing. So when you’ve bought a few of these, leave one out and freeze the rest of them.

Of course, when you’ve opened the pack, place it in another freezer bag or an airtight container and store it in the freezer.

Consider these guidelines when freezing your smoked salmon:

  • Divide into single-serve portions. Normally, vacuum-sealed packs will do just fine.
  • Make sure the pack or container or bag is sealed tight. We don’t want anything to get to the smoked salmon
  • Label the pack with the correct date and time, making your decision process a lot easier.
  • Place into the freezer and let it freeze
  • When thawing, let it sit for one night in your fridge

Thawing comes with some risks, but if you did everything right and let it rest for one night in the refrigerator, you should be fine. You can apply this to most foods and drinks and is easy to do.

Usually, you should be fine freezing the salmon for about 3 months. Don’t let it freeze for a longer period. When your smoked salmon is cold-smoked, limit the freezing period to 1 month. This is because hot-smoked salmon is cooked and smoked at the same time, cold-smoked isn’t cooked but cured, that’s why it will taste more salt.

Before you use the smoked salmon, it’s always good to check for some spoilage signs, just to be sure.

How Can You Tell If Smoked Salmon Has Gone Bad

Looking for some spoilage signs all comes to developing and trusting in your senses and intuition. We also like to look at the data and consider the dates and times we have the smoked salmon.

It’s quite simple when your unopened smoked salmon pack is older than 1 week past the printed date, just get rid of it, and don’t even think to use it anymore. The same goes for opened smoked salmon that’s already more than 1 week in the fridge.

Consider the following tips when looking for spoilage signs:

  1. Does the smoked salmon have another color? Salmon should look bright and clear. If it becomes less bright and clear, this might be a very good sign that it’s going bad. You can discard it.
  2. Does the smoked salmon have another texture or do you see some slime? Get rid of it immediately. Don’t waste your time by cutting out the bad parts.
  3. Does the smoked salmon have a sharp smell? If you smell something funny or unpleasant, toss it away.
  4. How is the taste? Does it taste odd? Get rid of it.

That’s about it. Very simple right? When you’ve tasted it and it tastes okay, but you’re still in doubt, just discard it. It has lost a lot of its freshness already and this can be reason enough for discarding it.

We on GoodOrGoneBad like to repeat that it’s not worth it to eat fish that won’t be that good anymore. Eating spoiled fish and other foods can cause a lot of problems for your health and well-being. We know that salmon isn’t a cheap product but that a higher price tag doesn’t justify the fact you can eat spoiled food. The degree of food poisoning isn’t correlated to this.

Be thoughtful about how many smoked salmons you’re going to buy. It’s a shame you’ve maxed a promo in the store and have to throw it away because you didn’t know what to do with it.

Enjoy your smoked salmon!