How long does Balsamic vinegar last in the fridge once opened?
Turning the range into a date
Balsamic vinegar keeps 18 months in the fridge once opened. Two clocks run on this item: one from the day it went into storage and one from the day the seal broke. Both are listed below, 2 rows in all.
- Unopened · in the pantryUse by3 years to 5 years after the day you bought it
- Once opened · in the fridgeUse by18 months after the day you opened it
What opening the package actually costs
Opening the package is the decision that settles this page. Sealed, the item holds 5 years sealed in the pantry; once open it holds 18 months open in the fridge, the same food measured in months instead of years, a drop of 3.4 times. On the same shelf it sits 1 of 41, between Gravy, jars and cans at 5 years and Anchovies, canned at 5 years.
Every storage figure the USDA publishes for this item
The USDA gives this item a pantry and a refrigerator figure and no freezer figure at all, the pattern behind 79 of the 466 foods in the data.
- Unopened · in the pantry3 years to 5 years
- Once opened · in the fridge18 months
Can you freeze balsamic vinegar?
The USDA prints no freezer time for balsamic vinegar. Frozen at 0 °F any food stays safe; whether it is still good after thawing is a matter of quality. Keep the fridge at 40 °F or below and the freezer at 0 °F.
How to tell if balsamic vinegar has gone bad
Go by the date first: balsamic vinegar keeps 18 months in the fridge once opened. A bulging, leaking or badly dented can, or a jar whose lid has popped, goes out unopened; so does mold or fizzing in an opened one. Once opened, keep it in the fridge at 40 °F or below.
Sources: USDA FSIS: the danger zone USDA FSIS: freezing and food safety 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 18 months in the fridge once opened. What decides that is the food and not the shelf the source files it on: Balsamic vinegar 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 Balsamic vinegar past its 18 months in the fridge once opened window. Past that the calendar stops deciding and the food itself does. A jar or can that is bulging, leaking or rusted goes out unopened, and so does an opened one with mold at the rim or a sour, fizzing smell.
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, 2 years to 5 years against the 5 years of this item, which makes it the durable end of the cluster.
- Gravy, jars and canskeeps exactly as long
- Anchovies, cannedkeeps exactly as long
- Soy sauce or teriyaki saucekeeps 1 month in the fridge once openedup to 3 years sealed in the pantry
- Relishkeeps 30 months sealed in the pantry
- Dry gravy mixeskeeps 2 years sealed in the pantry
- Honeykeeps 2 years sealed in the pantry
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.
USDA index terms: balsamic, vinegar
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.