How Long Does Smoked Salmon Last Once It's Been Opened?

Smoked salmon always feels like a special treat: It's pretty, it's pink, and it's just expensive enough to splurge on when the in-laws are in town. But a little goes a long way, and perhaps you bought that smoked salmon for Saturday's bagel, and now you're sitting here on Tuesday wondering if it's still any good.

The process of smoking food is designed to preserve it longer than it would last in its raw state, and this is especially useful for fish like salmon, which will normally last for a couple of days at the most in the fridge. But smoked fish won't last as long as other preserved animal proteins, like a log of dried sausage or a batch of cured egg yolks. How long your salmon will last in the fridge, unopened, depends on the smoking method.

Cold-smoked salmon will last for about a week in the fridge past the sell-by date on the package, or four to seven days past opening. Hot-smoked salmon will go a little longer, up to two weeks past the sell-by date, but will have the same post-opening lifespan as cold-smoked. This is for store-bought salmon — if you prepare your own, whether you make it with or without a proper smoker, it should be good for two weeks in the fridge.

The two primary methods of smoking salmon — cold-smoking and hot-smoking — produce very different products, even if the processes seem quite similar. When you imagine smoked salmon, you probably think of cold-smoked, which looks like it has been sliced and packaged raw. This type is cured and then smoked at temperatures below 80 degrees Fahrenheit, which is low enough that it never really cooks through. 

Hot-smoked salmon (aka kippered salmon), which looks more like baked salmon and has a flaky texture, is wet-brined, and then cooked between 120 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit. It's actually cooked through instead of merely being cured, which is why it will last a little longer than the cold-smoked kind.

If you're worried about trying to use up either type of smoked salmon, vacuum-sealing is a great way to extend its shelf life. However, if you really want to hang on to it for a long time, you can freeze your salmon for up to six months.

Now that you know how to store smoked salmon, you might be wondering about lox. Yes, smoked salmon and lox are different, though their lifespans don't differ too much. Lox, rather than being smoked, is dry cured with salt, sugar, and spices for a few days or weeks to preserve it. So it won't have that smoky flavor, and will instead have a more distinctly briny taste. Nova lox, named after Nova Scotia in Canada, is both cured and smoked, making it less salty than regular lox, and less smoky than smoked salmon.

Any type of lox should be consumed within seven to ten days from purchase when refrigerated, but you can also freeze it for between three and six months. Make sure to keep cured fish wrapped tightly in a sealed container in the refrigerator, and don't let it sit out at room temperature. 

When in doubt, check for sliminess or a foul odor to make sure your lox has not gone bad. The same applies to smoked salmon, though hot-smoked salmon is less prone to developing a slimy texture than lox or cold-smoked salmon, so you will want to rely on your sense of smell.