Making a large pot of soup is the best way to provide a hot meal for yourself for several days during cold months. It keeps well, is super easy to reheat, and can be a hearty or light meal depending on the recipe you use.
However, a large pot of soup also takes a long time to cool down, and putting a hot pot of soup in the fridge is not a great idea. If you make your soup in the evening you might not have the patience to wait for it to cool down and that may lead you to wonder if you can just leave it out to cool overnight.
Like any other food, soup should not be left out overnight. It should be cooled down, either at room temperature or by putting the pot in a sink full of cold water, then it should be stored in the fridge as soon as possible. Even if you bring your soup back to a boil, all harmful bacteria that grow overnight will not be killed.
If you’re still not sure what this means for how you should properly store soup, keep reading! We will be taking a deeper look at the risks of leaving soup out and the best practices for cooling and storing it.
How Long Can You Let Soup Sit Out In Room Temperature?
The rule for leaving soup out at room temperature is similar to a lot of other cooked meals. You should plan to refrigerate any leftovers within two hours of taking your soup off the heat.
Even though soup cooked in a large volume takes a longer time to cool than most other cooked meals (like a stir fry or pasta dish), most experts will still recommend that you discard it if it has been left out at room temperature for two to four hours.
With soup being such a broad category of food that can include a huge variety of ingredients you should always use your own best judgment while remaining wary of the two-hour limit.
Soups with lots of seafood and meat can be more prone to bacteria growth than a soup composed entirely of vegetables. Just like soup stored in a cold kitchen is less likely to develop harmful bacteria than soup stored in a warm kitchen.
Can You Leave Hot Soup Out Overnight to Cool?
Because a large batch of soup can take a long time to cool, eating soup that has been out overnight is a little less risky than consuming any other cooked meal that has been left out for longer than two hours.
That being said, you should probably not make a habit of leaving soup out overnight. In hotter months, the risk is greater because your kitchen will likely be a lot warmer and bacteria will be growing more rapidly.
If you’re cooking a large pot of soup in the cold winter months you can put the lid on your pot while the soup is still very hot, the heat should seal the lid to the pot which will prevent any bacteria-laden air from entering the soup.
You can then leave your pot of soup near an ajar window or even leave it on the balcony or back porch (if it is safe to do so in your area and there is no risk of attracting animals).
Making sure your soup is in a chilled environment is the best way to ensure it stays fresh, even if you don’t have the time to wait for it to cool enough to store it in the fridge overnight.
How Long Should Soup Cool Before Storing It in the Fridge?
In accordance with the above information, most people recommend cooling your soup for no more than two hours before refrigerating. However, not all batches of soup are created equal.
I know many people who will leave a huge pot of soup to cool for over two hours so that they can then store the entire pot in their refrigerator. I do this myself, sometimes, however, I tend to cook vegetarian soups and consider those to be a lower risk.
If you are worried about remaining within the two hour limit of leaving food out but you don’t want to risk putting hot soup in your fridge, you have two simple options.
The first is to divide your soup into smaller containers. You can do so while your soup is still hot to ensure that it cools within the recommended time.
This is a great option if you are meal planning for the week and were going to divide your soup into portions anyway so that you don’t have to heat up more than you need. This is also the method to go with if you don’t have enough space in your fridge for a large pot.
The second option is to fill your sink with cold water. You can even add ice to your sink to speed up the process. Then, simply put your whole pot of soup in the cold water bath and let it cool for thirty minutes to an hour.
Make sure you fill your sink up to only half or 3/4 the height of your pot so that you don’t risk pouring any of the water into your soup.
What Causes Bacterial Growth In Soup?
Bacteria growth thrives in environments with a lot of moisture and protein-rich foods, two characteristics that easily define soup.
This means that bacteria grow in the soup just like it does in any other cooked food.
Many people believe that bringing your soup up to a boil after it has been left out will kill any of the bacteria that managed to grow. This is true if you boil your soup for at least ten minutes.
Doing so will kill any active bacteria and deactivate the botulism toxin. However, this is only true if your soup has been left out only overnight. Any longer than that gives too much time for bacteria to reproduce to dangerous levels.
How Do You Know If Soup Has Gone Bad?
You can identify if soup has gone bad much like you would identify the freshness of any other food.
The easiest way to tell that something has gone bad is if the odor changes and becomes unpleasant. Maybe it smells sour when there are no ingredients in the soup that should be causing such a scent.
Any visible presence of mold is a clear indicator that your soup is spoiled and should immediately be disposed of.
If your soup is bubbling before you’ve stirred it or have begun to cool it then it has likely gone bad. The same goes for any major cloudiness or discoloration.
If you know that your soup has been kept in the fridge for over a week or you are aware that it was improperly stored then even without these explicit signs it might be best for your to get rid of it.
What Can Happen If You Eat Spoiled Soup?
Eating spoiled soup can cause a number of food-borne illnesses, the symptoms of which commonly include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, and fever.
If you take one bite of soup and it tastes wrong or different from how it should then you would do best to refrain from eating any more of it. It’s better to be safe than sorry!