Learn how to make freeze dried eggs for short and long-term storage. This is the best way to preserve eggs for long periods of time and is a great way to stock up your emergency food supply.
Eggs are one of those things that are a little harder to preserve. You can freeze eggs for a few months, water glass them up to 18 months, or make homemade sourdough pasta which lasts about a year. But the only way to store them long term is to freeze dry them.
Freeze-drying eggs makes having fresh eggs a possibility in your long-term food storage, and you can use them in all of your favorite recipes. Add them into baked goods like sourdough chocolate chip cookies, lemon poppy seed muffins, and sourdough Bundt cake. You can even whip them up into indulgent cottage cheese scrambled eggs.
Why You’ll Love Freeze Dried Eggs
Simple food preservation – Freeze drying food makes food preservation super simple, it can last up to 20 years, and it’s one of the best ways to keep the nutritional value of the food.
Peace of mind – Having shelf-stable food like dry egg powder can give you great peace of mind knowing that you have healthy whole food ingredients in your emergency preparedness stash.
Easy to use – Freeze dried eggs are an extremely versatile option to have on hand, and are simple to incorporate into everyday cooking.
Tools You May Need
- Freeze dryer – I have the medium Harvest Right Freeze Dryer
- Blender
How to Freeze Dry Eggs
Step 1: Push start on the freeze dryer. It will give you the prompt to allow the vacuum chamber to cool for 15 minutes. Also, make sure the valve is closed at the bottom. Crack eggs and place into a blender. Blend until smooth. This can also be done with a large bowl and a whisk. I like to make a dozen eggs at a time.
Step 2: Pour into the freeze dryer trays and cover. The pans will fit a dozen eggs per pan. Place into the freezer and freeze until solid. You can skip this step and go straight into the freeze dryer, but this saves about 8-10 hours in the freeze dryer and wastes less electricity.
Step 3: Add the trays into the freeze dryer. Close the door, and seal. Sit and wait for the freeze dryer to work its magic. This takes anywhere from 16-24 hours, depending on the amount of eggs you use per tray. Once the freeze dryer turns off, check the eggs. If they still feel wet, place them back into the freeze dryer and do the process again. Hit the “more time” button.
Step 4: Take the eggs out of the trays and transfer them into glass jars (for shorter term storage) or into mylar bags with oxygen absorbers for long term storage (up to 20 years).
How To Make Powdered Eggs
Step 1: To make powdered eggs, transfer the freeze dried eggs into a high speed blender. Make sure the blender doesn’t have any moisture in it or else the eggs will absorb it and they can go bad.
Step 2: Blend until they turn into a powder.
Step 3: Store in a glass jar for short term storage or a mylar bag with an oxygen absorber for long term storage.
How To Use Freeze Dried Eggs
One egg equals 2 tablespoons of freeze dried eggs mixed with 2 tablespoons of water. Freeze-dried egg powder can be used in any baking recipe. You can also rehydrate the egg powder and use it to make scrambled eggs.
Tips
- Blend the eggs before placing them into the trays. This is required due to the fat content.
- Freeze the trays with the eggs in them before placing them into the freeze dryer. This makes the process go much faster and wastes less electricity.
- After the freeze dried eggs are done processing in the freeze dryer, transfer them right away. If you let them sit out very long, they may start absorbing the liquid in the atmosphere around them.
- For easy clean up, you can line the trays with parchment paper.
- If you have older eggs that you aren’t sure of the date that they were laid, you can do the float test to make sure they are still good. Fill a bowl of water and add eggs. If the eggs float they are bad.
Recipe FAQs
Freeze dried eggs will last anywhere from 10-25 years when prepared and stored properly in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.
For shorter term storage they will last 1-2 years in mason jars with oxygen absorbers or 6-12 months without the absorbers.
Make sure your freeze dried eggs are stored in a cool, dry place and use them within 6-12 months once they have been opened.
Yes. Raw eggs or cooked eggs can be freeze dried. I prefer to blend my raw eggs first, then place them in the freeze drying trays. I then stick them in the freezer until frozen, and place them in the freeze dryer.
Yes! Almost all of the nutrients remain in eggs that have been freeze dried. Freeze drying is one of the healthiest food preservation methods because it maintains the majority of the nutrients.
More Egg Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Easy Mini Quiche Recipe
- Best Deviled Eggs Recipe
- Perfect Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs
- Sourdough Breakfast Strata
- Sourdough Dutch Baby Pancake
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Freeze Dried Eggs
Equipment
- 1 Blender
Ingredients
- Eggs, up to 48 eggs with medium sized freeze dryers
Instructions
- Push start of the freeze dryer. It will give you the prompt to allow the vacuum chamber to cool for 15 minutes. Also, make sure the valve is closed at the bottom.
- Crack eggs and place into a blender. Blend until smooth. This can also be done with a large bowl and a whisk. I like to blend a dozen eggs at a time.
- Pour into the freeze dryer pans. The pans will fit a dozen eggs per pan.
- Place into the freezer and freeze until solid. You can skip this step and go straight into the freeze dryer, but this takes less time and wastes less electricity.
- Add the trays into the freeze dryer. Close the door, and seal
- Sit and wait for the freeze dryer to work its magic.
- This takes anywhere from 16-24 hours, depending on the amount of eggs you use per tray.
- Once the freeze dryer turns off, check the eggs. If they still feel wet, place them back into the freeze dryer and do the process again. Hit the "more time" button.
- Take the eggs out of the trays and transfer them into glass jars (for shorter term storage) or into mylar bags with oxygen absorbers for long term (up to 20 years) storage.
Notes
- Blend the eggs before placing them into the trays. This is due to the fat content.
- Freeze the trays with the eggs in them before placing them into the freeze dryer. This makes the process go much faster and waste less electricity.
- After the freeze dried eggs are done processing in the freeze dryer, transfer them right away. If you let them sit out very long, they may start absorbing the liquid in the atmosphere around them.
- For easy clean up, you can line the trays with parchment paper.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I would suggest to put them into half pints or pints, not quart jars unless you have a large family. Once you open them up they go downhill fast unless you put them in the refer. Freeze dry them on a low temp. This FD tends to go above the temp you set and I have some that seemed to be cooked. Still good.
Thanks for sharing!
Where did you get those tray lids?
Thank you,
Nanette
From Harvest Right
Hi, I don’t own a freeze dryer. In our country they are very expensive! I do have an Excalibur Dehydrator. Can I use it to dehydrate eggs? Thank you.
I have never tried it, so I’m not sure.
What do you consider short term? Great information! Thank you.
Less than one year.
Hello everyone,
Just want to add a quick comment about the egg float test. In the TIPS sections, this article says, “If you have older eggs that you aren’t sure of the date they were laid you can do the float test to make sure they are still good. Fill a bowl of water and add eggs. If the eggs float they are bad.” That comment is not quite accurate. The float test is more of a freshness indicator. Not all eggs that float are bad, just not as fresh. I have used eggs that float many times and they were not bad. The true indicators of bad eggs have more to do with texture, appearance, and smell. Here are two articles that will help you understand it better.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/healthy-tips/2020/02/how-to-tell-if-an-egg-is-bad
https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2012/10/the-float-test.html
Happy prepping!
I always scramble the eggs just to the point the liquid is gone. THEN put them on the tray take the spatula and chop up in smaller pieces so the moisture can escape easier. Can get way more eggs per tray and no mess spilling. Just did 15 dozen eggs that froze in the barn during a recent cold spell. Have the large dryer. Have couple hundred hen running in our old dairy barn Would go out at 7:30 to get the first ones but the single egg nests just dont last long
For liquid, like eggs, thich soups or Chilli, I use 4 cup Rubbermaid tagalongs, which are rectangular containers as molds. Freeze a dozen eggs each mold. Two mold bricks fit on 1 shelf in your medium harvest right freeze dryer. Don’t put molds in freezeer, just the frozen egg brick. That obsession the freezedryer capacity up to 8 dozen eggs. You will likely need a bit of an extended drying time, but a few hours extra drying beats a complete batch!
Geoff in Fort Collins
שלום
Edit to above…
increases, not obsession
I hate auto spell checking.
BTW … if you use molds for soups, make sure you only fill the mold to a depth of about 1.5 inches when frozen. You need about 0.25 to 0.5 inches above your food for proper air circulation while drying.
Great tip. Love that idea.
Great! Im really thinking about getting a FD and was hoping you would have a video on your opinion of its value. We love freeze dried fruit and would love to fd my eggs for over winter use, but im just wondering how worth it it will be in the end. I was also gonna see if you had any special offers on it. ☺️
Beware of Harvest Right brand. Quality is very sketchy. Be prepared to FIX IT upon recieving. We bought directly from Harvest Right and my husband spent 3 months with majority of his free time to get it completely sealedand ready to work. No help fromHR.
We have purchased 6 HR freeze dryers and never had a problem with any of them. One of them is shared and is transported and used frequently. They have a warranty, and if I were to receive one that did not seal, it would be going back. Interesting that you didn’t get help, because the gentleman wo is sales rep is always prompt and helpful.
Why don’t the eggs last just as long in glass jars as Mylar? If you put oxygen absorbers into the jars, would they seal and last longer? Thank you! What is your favorite way to use freeze dried eggs?
*following for respose
Hi Emily,
Based on all my research for preserving food, I have learned that the 3 enemies to all foods preserved are: (1) oxygen (2) heat and (3) LIGHT. The jars are allowing in light and most likely also holding more heat in the glass. Just the light alone will reduce the life of the product.
Hi Lisa,
I have been freeze drying eggs since May and put 18 on a tray. So I am able to do 6 dozen per load. Thought this information might help you when you are in prime laying time.
Blessings!
Susan
Thank you Susan!