How Should Cooked Fish and Seafood Be Stored?

Cooked fish and seafood should be kept in a closed container in the fridge for at most 3-4 days; that's a bit longer than raw fish, but still short compared to meat or chicken, since seafood is a fast-spoiling category of food.

Fish left at room temperature for more than two hours after cooking can carry an elevated poisoning risk even once it's refrigerated, so getting cooked fish cooled and into a container as quickly as possible matters.

Can it be frozen?

Cooked fish can be frozen, but its texture changes noticeably once thawed; grilled or baked fish in particular tends to come out drier and flakier after freezing and thawing. Fish dishes in a sauce or soup show this change a little less.

If freezing, cooked fish should be wrapped tightly and kept in the freezer for up to a month; beyond that, flavor loss becomes noticeable.

Is it different for shellfish like shrimp and mussels?

Cooked shrimp or mussels last a bit longer than their raw counterparts but still shouldn't go past three or four days; even a slight shift in smell in cooked shellfish is usually an early sign of spoilage. When in doubt with these, smelling is a more reliable check than just looking.

When reheating cooked seafood, making sure the internal temperature climbs well up neutralizes whatever small amount of bacteria may have built up during storage; but reheating alone doesn't make food that's past its window safe again.

Do the same rules apply to canned fish?

Opened canned fish, tuna for instance, is a different product from freshly cooked fish and generally keeps for 3-4 days in a closed container in the fridge; that's close to the window for cooked fresh fish, though the can's salt content adds a bit of a preserving effect.

Once opened, canned fish shouldn't be left in its original tin and should be transferred to a glass or plastic container; a metal can exposed to air can leave a metallic taste behind.

Processed seafood like smoked fish keeps for a similar window to cooked fish once opened, though vacuum-packed smoked fish can last until the printed date as long as it stays sealed.

For a dish that mixes cooked seafood with other ingredients, like paella or seafood pasta, the seafood's shorter storage window sets the limit for the whole dish, even if the other ingredients would last longer on their own.

Reheating cooked seafood slowly in a pan or oven rather than a microwave helps keep the texture from turning rubbery.

Liquid-heavy dishes like fish stock or seafood soup can hold up a little longer than a solid fish fillet, since the liquid keeps things from drying out; even so, the three-to-four-day limit still applies.

Reheating only the portion being served and leaving the rest sealed in the fridge is a safer habit than reheating and cooling the whole batch repeatedly.