For safety reasons, the FDA recommends cooling liquids to 70 degrees within 2 hours after cooking and 41 degrees within 4 hours after that.

The best way to cool down hot liquid such as chicken broth, without raising the temperature of your refrigerator which risks spoiling other foods, is to first let the broth to cool on the counter to 85 degrees. This takes about 1 hour uncovered.

At this point, it’s safe to put it in the fridge. Assuming your refrigerator is properly set, it takes a total of 4 1/2 hours to cool to 41 degrees. That is well within the FDA’s recommendations.