How long can cooked chicken stay outside the fridge?

Answer 1

Repeat after me. Any food should be unrefrigerated no more than 3-4 hours total during it's life. Since SOME unrefrigerated time is unavoidable during processing and transportation, you should never eat anything that's been unrefrigerated more than an hour. (This is true primarily for foods containing protein, but it only takes a tiny amount of chicken to drop into the rice to contaminate the whole, so use the rule for everything.) Also, rules about letting a food come to 'room temperature' before refrigerating were devised in previous decades, when refrigerators weren't as efficient as they are now. No matter how hot a food is, refrigerate it! Trust me, it's easier to discard some leftovers than to go through a real toilet-hugging, stomach-pumping bout of food poisoning.

Cooked chicken should not be left unrefrigerated for more than 2 hours. Less time is better. Make that only one hour if the ambient temperature is very warm. If it hasn't been consumed by then, it should be re-heated or refrigerated. It needs to stay out of the temperature danger zone which is 135°F to 40°F.

Answer 2

chicken cant be at room temp for more then about 5min cause bacteria starts to grow rapidly it needs to stay out of the temp zone 41*f to 139*f that's the danger zone.

Answer 3

I am not completely sure, but i have kept raw (uncooked) chicken out for over 12 hours

Answer 4

Raw or cooked chicken will spoil quickly and should be discarded after two hours of sitting at room temperature.