How long do Nuts last in the pantry once opened?
Turning the range into a date
Nuts keep 2–9 months in the pantry 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, 4 rows in all.
- In the freezerUse by6 months to 12 months after the day you stored it
- Unopened · in the pantryUse by1 year after the day you bought it
- Once opened · in the pantryUse by2 months to 9 months after the day you opened it
- Once opened · in the fridgeUse by4 months to 6 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 1 year sealed in the pantry; once open it holds 9 months open in the pantry, the same food measured in months instead of years, a drop of 1.4 times. On the same shelf it sits 26 of 70, between Marshmallows at 1 year and Pudding mixes at 1 year. Nut, jar and jars 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.
- In the freezer6 months to 12 months
- Unopened · in the pantry1 year
- Once opened · in the pantry2 months to 9 months
- Once opened · in the fridge4 months to 6 months
Can you freeze nuts?
Yes. The USDA gives nuts 6–12 months in the freezer, and held at 0 °F food stays safe beyond that: the figure is about quality. Shelf-stable food gains little from freezing; keep it dry, sealed and away from heat instead. Keep the fridge at 40 °F or below and the freezer at 0 °F.
How to tell if nuts have gone bad
Go by the date first: nuts keep 2–9 months in the pantry once opened. Insects, a musty or rancid smell, clumping from damp, or a swollen can mean it goes out. Any dish you cook with it follows the 2-hour rule, 1 hour above 90 °F.
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 2 months to 9 months in the pantry once opened. The USDA rating this place at all is the USDA saying Nuts, jars or cans keeps there, so the figure rates how good it will be. 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 Nuts, jars or cans past its 2 months to 9 months in the pantry 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
All 6 of the 6 items nearest this item keep exactly as long as it does, 1 year, 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.
USDA index terms: can, cans, jar, jars, nut, Nuts
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.