How long does Thyme last in the fridge?
Turning the range into a date
Thyme keeps 2–3 weeks in the fridge. The window here is 3 weeks, short enough that the day it went in is worth writing down.
- In the pantryUse by1 week to 2 weeks after the day you stored it
- In the fridgeUse by2 weeks to 3 weeks after the day you stored it
The methods the USDA actually rates for this item
The USDA rates only 2 of its nine storage methods for this item, and the pantry and refrigerator are what it rates. The other 7 slots are blank, and a blank is not a zero: it means no published figure, not that the method fails. On the same shelf it sits 14 of 89, between Chives at 3 weeks and Radicchio at 3 weeks.
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. Within Produce it is filed under Fresh Vegetables.
- In the pantry1 week to 2 weeks
- In the fridge2 weeks to 3 weeks
Can you freeze thyme?
The USDA prints no freezer time for thyme. 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 thyme has gone bad
Go by the date first: thyme keeps 2–3 weeks 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. Refrigerate cut or peeled produce within 2 hours.
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 2 weeks to 3 weeks in the fridge. What decides that is the food and not the shelf the source files it on: Thyme 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 Thyme past its 2 weeks to 3 weeks 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.
Two places, and one of them is the wrong one
The USDA rates two places for Thyme in one state and they disagree: 2 weeks to 3 weeks in the fridge against 1 week to 2 weeks in the pantry. This page answers with the refrigerator, the longer of the two. Both figures are the USDA's own, so this is a choice of where to put the food rather than a disagreement about how long it keeps.
Items that behave the same way
All 6 of the 6 items nearest this item keep exactly as long as it does, 3 weeks, 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.
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.