Can you use crescent rolls or biscuit dough after the use-by date?

What the date on the can means

On a tube can, look at the metal ends before the paper wrap. That's where the date is often stamped, and it can be faint against bare metal. USDA's FoodKeeper calls it the package use-by date, and Pillsbury's own copy refers to a use-by date too. No federal rule requires a date on dough, so the maker picks both the date and the wording. USDA describes a use-by date as “the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality” and says it is not a safety date, except on infant formula. More on that in what a use-by date means, and on finding faint stamps in where the expiration date is.

For dough, the maker frames that date as the end of its shelf life. Pillsbury says its preservatives and antioxidants “keep the dough fresh through the refrigerated shelf life (or use-by date),” and its cookie dough package copy says to “refrigerate up to the use-by date or freeze for longer storage.” Pillsbury doesn't say what happens after the date, and USDA's FoodKeeper, unusually, gives no time beyond it.

Holiday baking: check the date against your baking day

Cans bought early for the holidays can run out before the meal. A can stamped USE BY NOV 21 2026 reaches its date on Saturday, November 21, five days before Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26. Read the can end at the store and pick one dated after the day you plan to bake. If you've already bought it, cookie dough and pie crust can go in the freezer before the date. Tube cans of rolls and biscuits shouldn't, so buy those closer to the day.

Stocked up for the holidays? Scan each can end as you put it away. FreshScan reads a stamp like USE BY NOV 21 2026 as a use-by date and reminds you two days before, in time to bake it or move the cookie dough to the freezer.

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Why old dough may not rise well

Tube-can dough is leavened chemically: a base (such as baking soda) reacts with leavening acids to make carbon dioxide. In a General Mills patent application on refrigerated dough, that gas first expands the dough until it seals the can from the inside, then keeps building pressure, which the filing gives as roughly 8 to 20 psi in one version. The same gas and pressure “help to build and sustain the internal gas cell structure of the dough,” which the filing ties to the quality of the baked product. It calls a can that never proofs enough to seal itself an “irreversible product failure.”

Pillsbury says its dough is formulated to stay fresh through the use-by date. We found no published data on how that system holds up afterward, so expect older dough to be less predictable: flatter biscuits or denser rolls are the likely cost, not a guaranteed one. If a holiday table is depending on it, use a can that's still within its date.

Popped, split or leaking cans

Pressure in the can is normal. It's why the can pops open when you peel the label. What isn't normal is a can that has split open by itself on the shelf, or dough pushing out of the seam. At that point the seal that kept air out is gone.

We couldn't find USDA, FDA or manufacturer guidance written for this case, so treat it as opened dough and stay on the careful side. If it's within the date, has stayed cold, you noticed it the day it happened and the dough looks normal, bake it right away. Otherwise, including when it's past the date or you don't know how long it has been open, throw it out. Mold or unusual color means the whole can goes, whatever the date. When in doubt, throw it out.

Pillsbury's instruction for its crescent rolls is to keep the dough refrigerated until you're ready to use it. Like other perishable foods, don't leave dough at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), which FDA advises for perishables in general. FoodKeeper gives no time for a can that has been opened and only partly used, so bake the whole can. Baked cinnamon rolls, for example, keep 1–3 days at room temperature or 3 months in the freezer. For bread you buy already baked, see how long bread lasts.

Freezing refrigerated dough

The answer depends on the product, and on USDA's data it splits cleanly:

• Tube cans of biscuits, crescent rolls and pizza dough: FoodKeeper says freezing is not recommended, and University of Kentucky Extension's storage chart lists refrigerated biscuits as “do not freeze.” Neither explains why, but both point the same way: use them by the date instead.
• Cookie dough: 2 months in the freezer (FoodKeeper, counted from purchase; Kentucky Extension gives the same). Pillsbury's package copy suggests freezing for longer storage, and its FAQ says to add 2 to 3 minutes to the bake time when baking its cookies from frozen.
• Refrigerated pie crust: 2 months in the freezer (FoodKeeper).

Freeze before the use-by date, not after it. Freezing at 0°F (-18°C) keeps food safe indefinitely, according to FDA, so these times are about quality. Puff pastry and bread or cookie dough bought frozen have their own, longer freezer times (see the note under the panel above); FoodKeeper's note on frozen dough is “Keep frozen. For safety, cook as directed.” For more on freezing before a date, see freeze-by dates.

Don't eat it raw, unless the package says you can

FDA's advice is blunt: “Never eat or taste raw flour, dough, or batter.” Flour is a raw food. CDC explains that most flour hasn't been treated to kill germs such as E. coli and Salmonella, that raw eggs can carry Salmonella, and that germs in flour are killed only when it is baked or cooked. A use-by date doesn't change any of this: a fresh can of dough is just as raw as an old one.

Raw cookie dough has been behind real outbreaks:

• 2009: E. coli O157:H7 linked to eating prepackaged refrigerated cookie dough raw. By CDC's June 30, 2009 update, 72 people in 30 states were sick and 34 had been hospitalized.
• 2023: Salmonella linked to Papa Murphy's raw cookie dough: 26 people sick in 6 states, 4 hospitalized. CDC's advice: “Always follow cookie dough baking instructions in the recipe or on the package label.”

Holiday cookie decorating with kids is where this tends to slip. FDA says not to let children use raw dough for crafts or play clay. CDC adds: wash your hands with soap and water after handling flour or raw eggs, and wash bowls, utensils and counters with hot, soapy water.

For everything else on the baking list, the shelf life chart has USDA times by food, and the expiration date decoder shows what a stamp like the one on your can end means.

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