How Long Can French Toast Sit Out? (Explained!)

There are not many breakfast options as delicious as French toast – to be honest, we even like it more than bacon! However, that doesn’t mean we always finish all of the toasts, quite the contrary, it seems like there will always be some leftovers, and we doubt you’re much different. Hence, you have probably at least once in your life wondered:

How long can French toast sit out? According to the USDA, French toast can sit out for no more than two hours. After that amount of time passes, eating it may be very dangerous, just like any other perishable food.

But this is hardly anything there is to be said about french toast sitting out, so in this article, we’ll dive into this topic a bit deeper.

What are we waiting for then? Let’s just jump right into it!

How Long Can French Toast Sit OutPin

Does French toast need to be refrigerated?

Yes, French toast needs to be refrigerated, at least if you’re not planning on eating it right away – when in the fridge, French toast can stay suitable for even a week, while without refrigeration, it can’t last for any more than two hours.

More about the last thing in the following answer, though!

How long can French toast sit out of the fridge?

According to what the USDA says, French toast can sit out of the fridge for just two hours if you want to be completely sure that it’s safe to eat. Because bacteria grow extremely quickly at room temperatures, eating a French toast left out of the fridge for a longer time may very likely be dangerous.

Can French toast be left out overnight?

As we have explained right above, due to the high activity bacteria have at room temperature, it is thought no perishable food, including French toast, should sit out for more than two hours. So no, French toast can’t be left out overnight.

And that’s even though the two-hour stamp might very likely be too much strict, because leaving your French toast (and any other food for that matter) overnight is simply for far, far too long.

How can you tell if French toast is bad?

Just like with pretty much every other food, telling a bad French toast from a good one is nothing hard to do. First, to tell if French toast is bad, take a good sniff. Have you noticed any weird smell coming from it? If no, also make sure that they’re no weird stains on it to be seen, and your French toast is good to go! 

However, if you’ve seen or smelled anything striking, throw the French toast away as soon as possible.

How do you keep French toast fresh?

Keeping your French toasts as fresh as possible is not a very challenging task – to keep French toast fresh, firstly seal it into some airtight containers. After that, just put it into the fridge. That way, the French toast will stay in excellent shape for maybe even a week in some cases!

What happens when you eat a bad French toast?

Just like with every other spoiled food, eating a bad French toast is definitely not safe. When you eat a bad French toast, you might very likely get sick or, if you will, food poisoned – that means you may be having a stomach ache, vomiting, or diarrhea.

Can you get food poisoning from French toast?

Yes, you can get food poisoning from French toast. As we have explained in the previous answer, eating a bad French toast might very likely result in you having digestive conditions. Because of that, you should rather always throw weird-looking French toasts away.

Summary

As the safety guidelines by the United States Department of Agriculture state, it is dangerous to eat any perishable food that was left out of the refrigerator for more than two hours. Because of that, French toast should never sit out for more than two hours if you want to be sure it’s safe to eat.

However, if you put it into the fridge, you can expect it to last longer. When refrigerated (and most conveniently also put into some airtight sealed containers), French toast should be able to last for even as long as a week.

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Image credits – Canva

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