Like most foods, cooked beans, regardless of the variety, will spoil in the fridge after about four days of being refrigerated. That said, you may eat them up to five days after being put in the refrigerator; you should examine your beans visually and with your nose before consumption to avoid eating rotten beans.
Rotten beans can have a horrid aroma and an awful taste but could very likely lead to a foodborne illness like Listeria, E. coli, or Salmonella. No one wants to have any symptoms of foodborne illness. That doesn’t sound very fun.
How Long Can You Keep Cooked Beans in the Refrigerator?
You can keep cooked beans in your fridge for approximately 3 to 4 days. You must ensure that you store the cooked beans correctly in your fridge. To stow your cooked beans correctly, you must let them cool thoroughly before sealing and placing them in your fridge.
Once your cooked beans have cooled, place them in an airtight, covered container. It would be in your best interest if you did not use a metal container, as using metal to store food will spoil the food faster than it would in a plastic or glass container.
Alternatively, if you don’t plan to use your cooked beans before the 3 to 4-day mark, you could freeze your cooked beans just as effortlessly as refrigerating.
Just like almost every other food, cooked beans will spoil. You must be careful with leaving your cooked beans in the fridge for too long. You could easily risk exposing yourself to a foodborne illness or pathogen such as Botulism, E.Coli, or Salmonella.
If you’re unsure if it has passed the 3 to 4-day mark, don’t take the chance; just toss them out. You do not want to land yourself in the emergency room or seriously ill anytime soon, especially when you could have easily prevented it from happening.
Another thing you need to remember is to keep your eye on expiration or sell-by dates. You don’t want to start with bad beans before even cooking.
How Do You Know When Cooked Beans Have Gone Bad?
As with most food, you should examine your cooked beans visually before consuming them. If your beans have an opaque, whiteish-colored liquid around your cooked beans, they have passed the okay point.
If your cooked beans look entirely normal, you next need to do the smell test. Once spoiled, most food will inherit a foul, unpleasant odor. If your cooked beans have this odor but still look fine, that does not mean they are still okay. An unpleasant, moldy-smelling food is rarely alright to consume.
How to Store Cooked Beans in Fridge Properly
Storing your cooked beans in your fridge is relatively simple. All you need is your cooked beans and an airtight container with a sealable lid. The critical thing you need to remember when storing beans in the fridge is not to let your cooked beans, or most food, get exposed to the air.
Assure your fridge is dry and clean and the humidity isn’t too high. Air in your fridge can quickly spoil your beans or other food. That is why you should always store it in a plastic or glass container rather than metal.
Alternatively, if you do not plan on consuming your cooked beans within the 3 to 4-day period, you could freeze your cooked beans.
Can You Eat Cooked Beans the Next Day After Storing Them in the Fridge?
Cooked beans will stay fresh for 3 to 4 days in your fridge. Most people state that once their cooked beans have been in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, the flavor of their beans is more potent and delicious!
Yes, you can eat cooked beans up to 5 days after cook time which is excellent for an easy grab-and-go meal! However, ensure after day three, you inspect your cooked beans thoroughly, checking for any sign of spoilage.
Related Questions
Why do Beans Spoil so Quickly?
One reason your beans spoil so quickly is that you store them in the original or another metal container. The low acidity of your beans will negatively counteract the metal, causing premature spoilage. Your best bet would be if you never stored cooked beans, or any food, for that matter, in a metal container; metal will make most foods spoil quicker.
The beans’ low acidity level makes them slightly more perishable than most other more acidic foods. Their low acidity levels also make them more prone to molds, bacteria, and spoilage.
Since they are prone to spoilage, this causes them to deteriorate dramatically visibly. Low-acidic foods are more perishable than high-acidity foods as the acids serve kind of like a preservative for your canned food.
What Happens if You Eat Bad Beans?
Eating bad beans heightens your risk of foodborne illnesses and pathogens like Botulism (food poisoning,) salmonella, E.Coli, and more. Like most other foods, you will more than likely get severely ill if you consume spoiled beans.
Only a couple of beans can make you extremely sick. Symptoms usually occur within one to four hours after eating the bad beans.
If you have consumed bad beans and think you may have gotten a foodborne illness, you may experience the following symptoms:
Mild fever.
Nausea.
Cramping of your abdomen.
Vomiting.
Weakness.
Diarrhea.
You can expect these symptoms to last for around one to seven days; some don’t recover for several weeks. There have also been reports of hospitalizations or more severe health issues. Your best choice would be to avoid eating spoiled beans, and then there is no chance of a foodborne illness!
What Do Spoiled Beans Taste Like?
Unsurprisingly, spoiled beans taste very sour, rotten, and grassy with a mushy, funky texture. You would have to be insane to enjoy the taste of bad beans.
If you take a bite of your cooked beans and they taste sour, grassy, spoiled, moldy, or anything other than savory and umami, you should discard your cooked beans as they likely have spoiled.
Final Thoughts
To finalize, cooked beans last 3 to 4 days in your fridge. Alternatively, if you cannot use them within 3 to 4 days, they could last up to 6 months in your freezer! No need to fret when you have leftover cooked beans; you can use them up to 5 days after you place them in the fridge. Although, always do the smell and visual test before consumption to avoid any illness or, worse, hospitalizations.
