Half a roast chicken and a carcass, and the fridge shelf it will occupy for the next four
days. What you do in the next ten minutes decides how much of it gets eaten.
First: strip it while it is warm
Two reasons, and neither is obvious. A whole bird cools slowly — the cavity holds heat for
hours, which is exactly the wrong thing. And the meat comes off the bones far more easily warm
than cold.
Ten minutes of work after dinner gets you meat in a shallow box, cooled fast,
plus a carcass ready for stock.
The meat: three or four days
Stripped and covered, it keeps as long as the whole bird would and takes a quarter of the
space. Sliced for sandwiches it drops to two or three days —
so slice as you go, not in advance.
The carcass: worth more than the leftovers
Freeze it. Six months, and when you have two or three, make
stock.
It is the cheapest good broth you will ever have, and the part most often thrown away.
If four days is not enough: freeze the meat
Up to four months plain, three in gravy. Freeze it in the portions you will actually use —
a bag of shredded chicken for a pie is more useful than one large block.
The times, together
| Form | Fridge | Freezer |
|---|---|---|
| Whole roast bird | 3–4 days | up to 4 months |
| Stripped meat, covered | 3–4 days | up to 4 months |
| In gravy or sauce | 3–4 days | up to 3 months |
| Sliced for sandwiches | 2–3 days | up to 2 months |
| Carcass for stock | 2–3 days | up to 6 months |
Reheating without drying it out
160 °C under foil with a splash of stock in the dish, or a covered pan on low heat.
Breast meat dries far faster than thigh, so if you are reheating a mix, add the breast last.
The two-hour rule applies here more than anywhere
A roast left on the counter overnight goes in the bin regardless of how it smells.
This is the single most common way roast chicken goes wrong.
Elsewhere in the guide:
How long does cooked fish last in the fridge ·
How long do meatballs last in the fridge ·
How long does broth last in the fridge ·
Why chicken turns dry