Perhaps you’re on an egg white omelet kick or recently cooked a dessert that calls for many egg whites. Throwing away those leftover egg yolks feels wasteful and costly. Instead, combine them and keep this conversion in mind: 1 large egg yolk equals 1 tablespoon (.54 ounces). The USDA recommends storing egg yolks in the refrigerator for up to four days. So keep them there now and use one of our leftover egg yolk recipes later.
1: Make Caesar Salad Dressing
Make a batch of Caesar salad dressing, one of the easiest ways to use spare egg yolks. The Best Caesar Salad recipe from Food Network Kitchen is an excellent place to start. Looking for new ways to use your Caesar dressing? Check out our Chicken Caesar Crouton Cups and Caesar Salad Pizza.
2: Add an extra egg yolk to a box of cake mix or a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
Egg yolks contain moisture and fat, and adding one to simple dishes like box cake mix or your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe results in richer results. Chocolate chip cookies will be chewier, whereas cake mix will be moister. Our Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies, like our Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies, rely on an extra egg yolk for moisture and texture.
3: Prepare Carbonara
Carbonara’s silky, creamy yellow sauce is made from egg yolks and a few additional delectable components like Parmesan. You can cook it for dinner if you have leftover egg yolks. Check out our recipe for The Best Carbonara, or experiment with Spaghetti Squash Carbonara or Carbonara Fried Rice.
4: Use as an egg wash
Egg wash prepared from egg yolks rather than entire eggs gives baked items an additional golden brown color. For example, our Golden Rugelach, Pecan Coconut Pie, and Grape Galette with Almond Cream are all wonderfully burnished.
5: Prepare a Creamy Custardy Dessert
Custard made from egg yolks is shiny, smooth, and rich yellow. Save your egg yolks for a gorgeous custardy dessert like Key Lime Pie, The Best Creme Brulee, Classic Banana Pudding, or Pots De Creme if you want to bake.
6: Prepare an Emulsified Sauce
Several classic sauces, like hollandaise sauce, aioli, and mayonnaise, rely on egg yolks for their thick and creamy quality. Because you’ll be eating raw eggs, be sure they’re pasteurized.
7: Make some ice cream.
Egg yolks provide the creaminess of homemade ice cream recipes. If you’re looking for motivation, try Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream, Black Sesame Ice Cream, and Sweet Corn Ice Cream.
8: Create the Softest Sugar Cookies
Add an egg yolk to the mixture for extra-rich sugar cookies that snap but aren’t brittle. This principle is evident in our Red Velvet Sugar Cookies, The Best Butter Cookies, and Pink Grapefruit Shortbread.
9: Use Whole Egg Yolks to Stuff Foods
When you crack open a perfectly poached or soft-boiled egg, the yolk runs out and is excellent for mopping up with bread or other carbs. You may achieve the same look by carefully putting whole raw egg yolks into dishes such as Crispy Rice Pancakes with Egg Yolk Center, Egg Stuffed Ravioli, and Egg Yolk Stuffed Latkes.
10: Use egg yolks as a rich binding agent.
Meatball and meatloaf recipes frequently call for an egg to be added to bind the mixture together. Egg yolk can also be used to offer a considerably deeper flavor. The cheesy bacon filling in these Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Toaster Tarts, for example, is held together by egg yolk, as is the cheesy veggie filling in these Bacon Ravioli with Mushrooms.
11: Make Shepherd’s Pie
To make a lovely golden crust, egg yolks are typically added into the mashed potatoes that cap shepherd’s pie. If you need a recipe, try ours for The Best Shepherd’s Pie and Chicken Shepherd’s Pie. If you’re making a casserole dish of baked mashed potatoes, add a few egg yolks to get the similar effect.
12: Prepare Eggnog
Eggnog is a quick method to use up a lot of egg yolks. Even if it isn’t Christmas, eggnog is a secret baking ingredient. It goes well with these Eggnog-Cranberry Muffins, this Eggnog Coffee Cake, and this Eggnog Overnight Toast, to name a few.
Learn more: How to Make Fried Catfish