How long does Mustard last in the fridge once opened?
Turning the range into a date
Mustard keeps 1 year 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.
Mustard
- Unopened · in the pantryUse by1 year to 2 years after the day you bought it
- Once opened · in the fridgeUse by1 year after the day you opened it
Mustard, dried, ground
- In the freezerUse by1 year to 2 years after the day you stored it
- In the pantryUse by6 months after the day you stored it
The USDA rates 2 kinds of this separately
Mustard, dried, ground keeps 6 months, which is shorter than the window this page answers with. The USDA files 2 separate entries under this name — USDA record 351 and dried, ground — and they do not keep for the same time: Mustard, dried, ground holds 6 months outside the freezer, Mustard holds 1 year to 2 years.
Sealed against opened
Opening the package costs 2 times here: 2 years sealed in the pantry against 1 year open in the fridge. That is a real difference and worth dating the container for, but not the collapse it becomes for the more perishable items in the same list. On the same shelf it sits 6 of 41, between Honey at 2 years and Sauce mixes, nondairy (spaghetti, taco, etc.) at 2 years.
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.
Mustard
- Unopened · in the pantry1 year to 2 years
- Once opened · in the fridge1 year
Mustard, dried, ground
- In the freezer1 year to 2 years
- In the pantry6 months
What the USDA adds in words
The USDA attaches 1 handling note to this item, reproduced below word for word. It is about safety rather than quality, which is the distinction this data is easiest to get wrong. These are the source's own sentences, not ours, and they are the part of the FoodKeeper record that a table of durations cannot carry.
Mustard, in the pantry. Refrigeration ensures that commercial sauces and condiments stay fresh for a longer period of time. Shelf-stable commercial mustard is safe when stored at room temperature after opening. Quality, not safety, is the reason the labels on these products suggest that they be refrigerated after opening.
Can you freeze mustard?
Some kinds, yes. The USDA gives mustard (dried, ground) 1–2 years in the freezer; held at 0 °F food stays safe beyond that. For mustard, the kind this page answers for, it gives no freezer figure. A sealed jar or can does not need the freezer; leftovers from an opened one freeze better in a small airtight container.
How to tell if mustard has gone bad
Go by the date first: mustard keeps 1 year 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 1 year in the fridge once opened. What decides that is the record's own note: the source says quality, not safety, is why the label asks for the refrigerator once open. 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 Mustard past its 1 year 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
All 5 of the 6 items nearest Mustard keep exactly as long as it does, 2 years, so the ranking around it is a tie rather than an order.
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 Mustard, 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: dried ground mustard, dried mustard, ground mustard
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.