By CARYL ESPINOZA JAEN
How Long Can Cooked Chicken Be Left Out At Room Temperature?
Knowing how long your poultry can sit out of the fridge before it becomes a hotbed for bacteria will prevent you from getting a nasty bout of food poisoning.
Cooked poultry can sit at room temperature for no longer than two hours, and in hot weather above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, it can only sit out for an hour at most.
Leaving chicken out for any longer will allow harmful pathogens to grow to dangerous levels, so you'll want to store any leftovers in the fridge before they hit that time limit.
If you want some wiggle room to avoid leaving chicken out for too long, or you simply don't want to put it away too soon, use a food warmer to display your cooked chicken.
Keep your food warmer at a steady temperature of 140 degrees F or higher, and don’t keep your chicken in there for over 3 hours to prevent it from drying out.