KeepsUntilSearchMy fridgeShelf Stable Foods · USDA FoodKeeper

How long does Applesauce last in the fridge once opened?

2 kinds · each with its own window
Applesauce, commercial · Once opened · in the fridge
Use by7 days to 10 days
Counted from the day you opened it
Quality window · past it, judge it yourself
How this date is worked out
From KeepsUntilIt is past the dateWhat to do when the window has run out, and when tasting is not a testWhere these numbers come fromThe USDA source, the parse rules and what this site cannot tell youEvery food on the siteOne page, every product, longest first

Turning the range into a date

Applesauce (commercial) keeps 7–10 days in the fridge once opened. Each kind gets its own dated rows here, 4 rows across the 2 the USDA lists under this name, because a date is only worth printing against the window it belongs to.

Applesauce, commercial

  • Unopened · in the pantryUse by12 months to 18 months after the day you bought it
  • Once opened · in the fridgeUse by7 days to 10 days after the day you opened it

Applesauce, homemade

  • In the freezerUse by8 months to 12 months after the day you stored it
  • In the fridgeUse by3 weeks after the day you stored it
Applesauce, commercial · Unopened · in the pantry
12 months to 18 months
Counted from the day you bought it
54×
Applesauce, commercial · What opening the package costs540 days sealed in the pantry ÷ 10 days open in the fridge

The USDA rates 2 kinds of this separately

The USDA files 2 separate entries under this name — commercial and homemade — and they do not keep for the same time: Applesauce, homemade holds 3 weeks outside the freezer, Applesauce, commercial holds 12 months to 18 months. They also disagree about the pantry after opening.

What opening the package actually costs

Opening the package is the decision that settles this page. Sealed, the item holds 18 months sealed in the pantry; once open it holds 10 days open in the fridge, the same food measured in days instead of months, a drop of 54 times. On the same shelf it sits 23 of 70, between Peanut butter at 24 months and Fruit cocktail, canned at 18 months. Apple, sauce and commercial are the same food in the source list.

Every storage figure the USDA publishes for this item

All three places the USDA recognizes are rated here — pantry, refrigerator and freezer — which only 65 of the 466 foods in the data manage. The source also indexes it as apple, sauce, commercial and homemade.

Applesauce, commercial

  • Unopened · in the pantry12 months to 18 months
  • Once opened · in the pantrynot recommended
  • Once opened · in the fridge7 days to 10 days

Applesauce, homemade

  • In the freezer8 months to 12 months
  • In the fridge3 weeks
From KeepsUntilWhere these numbers come fromThe USDA source, the parse rules and what this site cannot tell you

Can you freeze applesauce?

Some kinds, yes. The USDA gives applesauce (homemade) 8–12 months in the freezer; held at 0 °F food stays safe beyond that. For applesauce (commercial), the kind this page answers for, it gives no freezer figure. Freeze it well wrapped while it is still well inside its fridge window: the freezer keeps quality, it does not restore it.

How to tell if applesauce has gone bad

Go by the date first: applesauce keeps 7–10 days in the fridge once opened. A sour or off smell, mold, slime or an odd color mean it goes out. The bacteria that make people sick change none of these, so past its window it goes out even if it seems fine. Never taste to test.

Sources: USDA FSIS: the danger zone USDA FSIS: freezing and food safety USDA FSIS: molds on food FDA: are you storing food safely FoodSafety.gov: the FoodKeeper app.

Is it still safe to eat, or just past its best?

The answer at the top of this page reads 7 days to 10 days in the fridge once opened. What decides that is the food and not the shelf the source files it on: Applesauce, commercial is acid, dry, sweet, alcoholic or pure fat. Past it, whether it has gone bad is yours to judge by look and smell: this window rates quality, not the day it turns hazardous.

It is past the date. Now what?

Say the calculator above puts Applesauce, commercial past its 7 days to 10 days in the fridge once opened window. Past that the calendar stops deciding and the food itself does. A rancid, paint-like smell in a nut, an oil or a seed, mold around the neck of a bottle, or a swollen can mean it goes out whatever the date says.

The whole rule, including the cases the source does not cover, is set out under what to do when the date has passed.

Items that behave the same way

Every one of the 6 nearest items keeps the same or less, 1 year to 18 months against the 18 months of Applesauce, commercial, which makes it the durable end of the cluster.

Where these numbers come from

Every storage time on this page is the USDA’s own published figure from the FoodKeeper data, one of the 9 it keeps per food, reproduced unchanged and never an estimate of ours. Where the USDA lists several kinds under one name, each kind keeps its own windows, and the page names the kind its answer is for. The dates and multipliers are ours, computed from those ranges.

Source: USDA FoodKeeper, retrieved 1 September 2026. Found a figure that does not match the source? Tell us on the contact page. How the site is built is on the method page.

Comparisons and the place in the category are computed for Applesauce, commercial, which is the kind the plain name means here, chosen kind by kind rather than by the order the source happens to list them in.

USDA index terms: Apple, commercial, homemade, sauce

KeepsUntil is an independent reference built on public USDA data. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Administration. Whether a given window is a safety limit or a quality window is stated on the page that prints it.

From KeepsUntilEvery food on the siteOne page, every product, longest first