You cooked it yesterday, that sterilized it. The lid prevented it from contacting the air, its ok today still. Before refrigeration, people ate stuff out of the dutch oven for days (peas porridge in the pot 9 days old). I wouldn't test it beyond 2-3 days too much, but 1 day old is fine, especially when covered, and spiced with habeneros.






and if you use clean technique when cooking, not cross contaminating stuff


I agree w/ShadowDander and the AC. Chili cooks a long time and should have been sterile when the heat was last on.

I leave food out overnight all the time. But It does depend on what the food is.

For example, foods like chili that have garlic, onions and other allicins in it contain natural anti-microbials that kill germs. So if you cook with a lot of spices like that, you can generally expect that they take longer to spoil.

Also, if your chili has tomato and salt in it, the acid and the salt also makes it harder for most bacteria to grow.

It would take at least 2 days for something like a covered pot of chili to turn.

Left out overnight should be okay.

I wouldn't do this in any commercial operation, just my own kitchen.