Learn how to freeze dry eggs for long and short term storage, and for the freshest flavor. Freeze drying helps you preserve eggs for over 20 years if stored properly.
Freeze drying is a method that has been used in food production for many years now. In fact many of the foods you buy at your local grocery store or online is freeze dried, such as instant coffee for example.
Freeze drying extends the shelf life of any particular product up to 20 plus years, as well as preserve its fresh flavor and maximum amount of nutrients.
No method of food preservation comes close to all the benefits that freeze drying provides. Itโs no wonder those large food production companies have been using this method of food preservation for over 70 years. Thatโs almost a century!
Jump to RecipeHow to Freeze Dry Eggs Video
How to Tell if Eggs are Still Good
Checking if your eggs are still in good condition before you proceed to freeze drying is an important step of the process. After all, you do not want to freeze dry bad eggs with good eggs and ruin your precious egg powder.
There are several methods that you can use to check if your eggs are still good.
The Float Test
This is a reliable method that has been used for centuries.
- Fill a deep bowl with cold or room temperature water.
- Gently place an egg into the bowl.
- If the egg lays flat on its side at the bottom of the bowl, it is a fresh egg.
- If the egg stands up at the bottom of the bowl, its a good indication that this egg is not so fresh.
- When an egg floats to the top with its pointy side pointing upwards, itโs an old egg, and possibly a bad one.
- If an egg floats to the top with its more rounded side pointing upward, this indicates that it is definitely a bad egg and you should throw it out.
Why do eggs float?
Eggs have a permeable shell which allows air to get in and out of the egg. After all, it is a cell, a living organism.
As the egg gets old, the inner membrane that separate the shell from the egg white shrinks allowing more air to enter the egg. The excess of air inside the egg gives the egg buoyancy allowing it to float.
The Shaking Test
This is a simple and quick test. Simply hold the egg close to your ear and shake it. If you hear a sloshing sound, the egg is old and should be thrown out.
As eggs get old, the inside gets runny, or loses its firmness which causes the sloshing sound.
The Sniff Test
I donโt believe this needs much explanation. If you sniff an egg and it smells bad, sour, stinky, or anything of the sort, it is bad and you need to throw it out. Donโt even attempt to use it.
The Crack Test
If all else fails, this test should give you a pretty good indication to whether your eggs are good or bad.
A good egg will have a firm appearance to its white and yolk. The white will pull together more firmly than an older egg, and the egg yolk will stand straight up and have a bright and fresh color.
A bad egg will be runny. The egg white will not stick together firmly as in a new egg, and the yolk might crack immediately and mix with the white, or lay flat even when still inside its membrane.
And finally, a bad egg might smell bed when you crack it, but not necessarily before you crack it. If it smells too eggy, or just horrid, you know its bad.
Freeze Drying Whole Eggs Vs. Separated Eggs
If you do a quick search online on how to freeze dry eggs, youโll find that most people tell you to freeze dry eggs whole.
While freeze drying eggs whole is quick and easy, you will be sacrificing flavor.
When using freeze dried whole eggs as scrambled eggs, the flavor of the yolks tend to overcome the entire mixture. In essence, it would seem to you, or at least to me, as if you are eating scrambled egg yolks rather than scrambled eggs.
Since the mixture is processed into powder, the egg yolks and the egg whites get mixed in at a miniscule level leaving you with a yellow egg powder.
whole
How do you freeze dry whole eggs? Is the golden question. Freeze drying whole eggs couldnโt get any simpler. Follow the steps below, and you will soon have your whole, homemade, freeze dried eggs.
To freeze dry whole eggs:
- Test your eggs to see if they are good before you proceed with this process.
- Turn your freeze dryer on following the settings on your freeze dryer. Choose whether you are freeze-drying from frozen food, or non frozen.
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk them to break up the yolk. A yolk that is not broken will not freeze dry properly.
- Place your freeze dryer trays into the freeze drier.
- Slide the trays slightly out of the freeze drier, and carefully pour the egg mixture into the trays, making sure to fill them not more than two third of the way up.
- Slide the trays back into the freeze dryer, shut the door, and follow the settings on your freeze dryer ensuring to close the pressure release vent before you begin the freeze drying process.
- The freeze drying cycle should be done in about 36 to 48 hours, or less.
- Once the freeze drying cycle is over, follow the settings on your freeze dryer, release the pressure valve, open the door, and check on each tray to ensure that it is fully dried. If you sense that something is not fully dried, shut the door tight, close the pressure release valve, and add a few more hours to the drying cycle to ensure that everything is super dry.
- Once the freeze drying cycle is over and you are satisfied with the dryness of the eggs, remove the trays from the freeze dryer while remembering to release the pressure before you open the door.
- Place dried eggs into a super dry food processor, and process until the eggs turn into a powder.
- You can now store them in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, or in glass jars. If storing in glass jars, you can remove the air out of the jars for a longer shelf life by using a vacuum sealer.
- To store in mylar bags, you will need to seal them with an impact sealer, or with heat to prevent air from coming in and out of the bags.
Separated Eggs
This method is my favorite. There are several bonuses to it, and here are just a few.
Firstly, the egg flavor will be the same as if you were to crack and scramble a fresh egg. You can reconstitute the egg white separately and the egg yolk separately, making them distinguishable from each other, and then add them together in the pan to cook.
Secondly, You now have egg whites, and egg yolks to use in any recipe that requires either egg white alone, or egg yolk alone. The separation is already done.
To freeze dry separated eggs:
- Test Your eggs to see if they are good before you proceed with this process.
- Separate the egg whites and egg yolks into separate bowls, and whisk each of them individually especially the egg yolks to brake apart the membrane.
- Follow the same steps mentioned in Freeze drying whole eggs, but place the egg whites and egg yolks into separate freeze drying trays.
- In a food processor, process the egg whites and egg yolks separately, and store them in separate storage containers such as mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, or glass canning jars.
Freeze Drying From Frozen
To freeze dry from frozen, you can place your egg mixtures into the freeze drying trays and place them in the freezer on a flat surface until fully frozen.
Freeze drying from frozen will diminish the freeze drying time by about seven to ten hours, however, I find this process messy when it comes to eggs.
You really have to make sure that the surface you are placing your liquidly egg trays on is level, otherwise, you will have an eggy mess in your freezer.
How to Reconstitute Freeze Dried Eggs
Reconstituting simply means, to bring the eggs back to their original form.
To reconstitute egg whites, mix 2 teaspoons egg whites with 11/2 to 2 tablespoons water, and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
To reconstitute egg yolks, mix 2 teaspoons egg yolk with 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon water, and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes before using.
If you are using whole freeze dried eggs, you will need to mix 2 tablespoons egg powder with 2 tablespoons water and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes before using.
Ingredients:ย
- Fresh Eggs
Utensils
- Freeze Dryer
- 2 bowls
- Whisk
- Food processor
- Spatulaย
- Mason jarsย or Mylar bags
- Vacuum Sealer
- Vacuum Sealer Jar Attachment Kit
- Impact Sealer
- Oxygen absorbers
A freeze dryer is the main thing youโll need to freeze dry eggs. You canโt freeze dry them without it. If you do not have one, you can use my affiliate link to purchase your desired freeze drier. It will be at no added cost to you. I will simply receive a small commission from your purchase.
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Tell Us What You Think!
Freeze drying eggs is so simple once you have the proper equipment. If you donโt have a freeze dryer yet, I am telling you, you should!
Donโt be fooled, store bought freeze dried eggs are not the same as the ones you will make at home. The flavor is a Billion times better. One tastes like carboard, and the one you will make, will taste like fresh eggs.
Donโt forget to check our gardening posts to learn more about growing your own food!
Let us know if you have any comments or questions down in the comment section below.
How to Freeze Dry Eggs
Equipment
- Freeze dryer
- 2 bowls
- Whisk
- Food processor
- Spatula
- Mason jarsย or Mylar bags
- Vacuum sealer
- Vacuum sealer jar attachment kit
- Impact Sealer
- Oxygen absorbers
Ingredientsย ย
- Whole Fresh Eggs
Instructionsย
To freeze dry whole eggs:
- Test your eggs to see if they are good before you proceed with this process.
- Turn your freeze dryer on following the settings on your freeze dryer. Choose whether you are freeze-drying from frozen food, or non frozen.
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk them to break up the yolk. A yolk that is not broken will not freeze dry properly.
- Place your freeze dryer trays into the freeze drier.
- Slide the trays slightly out of the freeze drier, and carefully pour the egg mixture into the trays, making sure to fill them not more than two third of the way up.
- Slide the trays back into the freeze dryer, shut the door, and follow the settings on your freeze dryer ensuring to close the pressure release vent before you begin the freeze drying process.
- The freeze drying cycle should be done in about 36 to 48 hours, or less.
- Once the freeze drying cycle is over, follow the settings on your freeze dryer, release the pressure valve, open the door, and check on each tray to ensure that it is fully dried. If you sense that something is not fully dried, shut the door tight, close the pressure release valve, and add a few more hours to the drying cycle to ensure that everything is super dry.
- Once the freeze drying cycle is over and you are satisfied with the dryness of the eggs, remove the trays from the freeze dryer while remembering to release the pressure before you open the door.
- Place dried eggs into a super dry food processor, and process until the eggs turn into a powder.
- You can now store them in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, or in glass jars. If storing in glass jars, you can remove the air out of the jars for a longer shelf life by using a vacuum sealer.
- To store in mylar bags, you will need to seal them with an impact sealer, or with heat to prevent air from coming in and out of the bags.
To freeze dry separated eggs:
- Test Your eggs to see if they are good before you proceed with this process.
- Separate the egg whites and egg yolks into separate bowls, and whisk each of them individually especially the egg yolks to brake apart the membrane.
- Follow the same steps mentioned in Freeze drying whole eggs, but place the egg whites and egg yolks into separate freeze drying trays.
- In a food processor, process the egg whites and egg yolks separately, and store them in separate storage containers such as mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, or glass canning jars.
Video
Notes
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