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Anyone who has cooked a big holiday meal<\/a> or celebratory feast knows that the aftermath can be daunting. No one wants to be wasteful and toss it all, but when faced with a myriad of bowls, pots, and platters of leftovers, some cooled down and some still hot, it can be hard to navigate not just the best way to tackle it all, but the safest. Even dinner leftovers can be confusing. Should you let them cool to room temperature before refrigerating or stick them in right away?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Food safety has been thrust back into the spotlight recently after content on social media surrounding rice, specifically reheated rice<\/a>, went viral. The topic spurred a flurry of opinions, videos, and articles debating both sides. But is rice any different than a big pot of beef chili <\/a>or a roast turkey<\/a>? Not really. \u201cRicegate\u201d is actually an issue of proper food handling and food storage, and those best practices are largely the same regardless of the food in question.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I consider myself pretty savvy when it comes to food safety. When I worked as a line cook at a highly respected Manhattan restaurant or on massive television productions like Iron Chef America, food safety was of the utmost importance. But there, I had the benefit of a bottomless industrial ice machine, powerful walk-in refrigerators, and all the large pans and storage containers of every size and material anyone could need for quickly cooling down hot foods. Now, as I work from home, my ice cube trays yield minimal cooling power, and just leaving things to cool on their own goes against what I know. So, is there another way? I wondered, can you put hot food in the fridge?\u00a0<\/p>\n To fully understand the answer to that question and the science behind it, I spoke to Dr. Benjamin Chapman, a food safety specialist, professor, and department head of Agricultural and Human Sciences at North Carolina State University. Dr. Chapman\u2019s knowledge blew my misconceptions out of the water and has changed how I tackle food storage at home for good.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n YES! Not only can you put hot food in the fridge, but you should, as long as you do so correctly.<\/strong> In matters of food safety, cooling food down quickly is the name of the game. To be clear, we are not talking about baked goods like loaves of bread, cookies, or cakes. We are talking about cooked foods, like meat, grains, or vegetables, which start hot and cool after cooking.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Dr. Chapman shares that many of us grew up thinking, \u201cOh gosh, we couldn\u2019t put the turkey in the refrigerator right away because it\u2019s a food safety issue, and it\u2019s totally not. [The] goal is always to chill as quickly as you can.\u201d Getting cooked food into the refrigerator as soon as possible, whether fully cooled or not, is the best way to prevent food spoilage and an environment for foodborne illnesses to grow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSo, Can You Put Hot Food in the Fridge?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
What Is the \u201cDanger Zone\u201d?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n