How long does Corn on the cob last in the fridge?
Turning the range into a date
Corn on the cob keeps 1–2 days in the fridge from purchase. The window here is 2 days, short enough that the day it went in is worth writing down.
- In the freezerUse by8 months after the day you bought it
- From purchase · in the fridgeUse by1 day to 2 days after the day you bought it
Freezing changes the unit, not just the number
Here the freezer does not so much extend the answer as replace it. 2 days in the refrigerator becomes 8 months in the freezer: 120 times longer, and days turning into months. It stands 89 of 89 on its shelf, one step below Parsley, fresh at 3 days.
Every storage figure the USDA publishes for this item
The USDA rates this item cold or frozen and never at room temperature: no pantry figure exists for it, as for 222 of the 466 foods in the data that get no pantry time at all. Within Produce it is filed under Fresh Vegetables.
- In the freezer8 months
- From purchase · in the fridge1 day to 2 days
Can you freeze corn on the cob?
Yes. The USDA gives corn on the cob 8 months in the freezer from the day you buy it, and held at 0 °F food stays safe beyond that: the figure is about quality. Most produce goes soft when thawed, so frozen it suits cooking, smoothies and sauces rather than eating raw.
How to tell if corn on the cob has gone bad
Go by the date first: corn on the cob keeps 1–2 days in the fridge. Mold, slime, a sour smell or soft dark spots mean it goes out; firm produce can be saved by cutting 1 inch around a small moldy spot, soft produce cannot.
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 1 day to 2 days in the fridge. What decides that is the food and not the shelf the source files it on: Corn on the cob is raw and whole. 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 Corn on the cob past its 1 day to 2 days in the fridge window. Past that the calendar stops deciding and the food itself does. Mold, a slimy or sticky surface, soft or darkened spots, or a sour smell 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
The 6 items nearest it sit inside a band of 3 days to 4 days — a tight cluster, and this item at 2 days is inside it.
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: cob, Corn
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.