1,484 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

Egg whites management

Quite often, in cooking or pastry-making, we have recipes that use only egg yolks: gâteau breton (brittany butter cake), confectioner's custard, spaghetti carbonara, etc. And so, inevitably, we end up with unused egg whites that will have to be used elsewhere, in another recipe, and certainly later, for meringues, macaroons, Pavlova, etc.

And so, inevitably, we end up with unused egg whites that we will have to use elsewhere, in another recipe, and most certainly later, for perhaps meringues, macarons, a pavlova, a frozen nougat, and many others.

8,322 4.9/5 (14 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Egg white Use Conservation Usage

Last modified on: June 12^th 2021

For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend

Egg whites management

Is this a problem?

No, not so much, because egg whites keep for a long time, you can very well put them in a bowl or a container, which you film and keep in the fridge.
As egg whites are only water and proteins, they keep very well, they don't go mouldy and they keep all their qualities (well, they have almost no taste anyway).
Better still, for certain recipes such as macaroons, you will succeed more easily if you use "old" whites, the pastry chefs say "dry whites", which contain less water than fresh whites.

egg whites bowls

At home, for example, I have, perhaps like you, a whites bowl in which I take or add whites as I produce or consume them. It is just filmed to protect them from the air, and the whites keep in it for 3 weeks easily.

And for longer?

If you are worried about keeping them in the fridge for a long time, you can also freeze them very well.
But it would be a mistake to freeze 6 whites at once for example, you will be forced to defrost all 6 at once as well, which is not very flexible.

That's the trick, you have to freeze them individually by pouring them 1 by 1 into a silicone mould or ice cube tray:

silicon mould ice cube tray

The shape doesn't matter, it just needs to fit a whole white (about 50-60g).
If you have several whites in a bowl, because of their viscous aspect, they will not be easy to pour individually into the moulds.
So to make it easier you can give them a few whacks with a whisk, or even a quick blast with a mixer (2 or 3 seconds), this will make them more liquid and easier to pour/mould.

Then put in the freezer overnight to set, unmould into a freezer bag, and scoop in as you need to.

In summary: Egg whites keep well in the fridge, but they also freeze well, and in this case it's best to freeze each white individually so you can then scoop out just what you need.

Lasts posts

The thermometer is your friend

There are many recipes or foods that require a (very) precise cooking temperature: foie gras, sugar for caramel, meats and fish, and not forgetting pastries. For these few examples, getting the cooking temperature wrong can spoil the whole recipe or dish: undercooked, it's no good or misses the...
April 10^th 20257775

Travel cakes

You may have come across the term "travel cakes" ("gateaux de voyage" in french) for certain pastries, so let's take a look at what they're all about.
January 27^th 20252,721

The aromatic power of sugar

In the kitchen, sugar doesn't just sweeten, it also has an exceptional ability to capture flavors. Combined with aromatic ingredients, such as citrus zest, it acts as a veritable sponge for aromas. By taking the time to let the sugar soak up the flavors, you can transform your desserts, making...
December 25^th 20243,0875

The little trap of thick cream

When you need to add cream to a recipe, you might be wondering: thick (heavy) cream or liquid cream? In most cases, there's no big difference: you can use either. But there is one exception, and that's when the cream needs to be cooked, for a sauce for example, and here the difference between...
December 13^th 20243,3515

Sauce and salad: When and how to mix them?

When dressing a salad, there's a kind of golden rule: add the dressing very shortly before serving, especially if your salad contains crunchy elements such as croutons or fresh vegetables, which will retain their crunchiness or crispiness. But, as is often the case in the kitchen, there are...
November 29^th 20243,4875

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

The thermometer is your friend

Drawing a pattern in pastry

Often in the kitchen, in pastry-making, or in baking, we need to trace a pattern on a pastry. It's just a question of aesthetics but it has its effect after baking on a galette, pithiviers, pâté en croute (terrine in a pie crust), etc.
May 23^th 201930 K4.1

Well-cooked meat

Have you ever noticed that if you like your meat well done, it invites strange looks? For instance, in a restaurant, when asked “How would you like that cooked?” If you reply, “Well done,” it is almost as if you are swearing….
May 21^th 201130 K 14.4

The first breads of humanity?

I have already told you in a previous article the beautiful story of the croissants, but do you know what it is about the bread, who "invented" it, where and when? Well, you can imagine that recent discoveries, in 2018, have profoundly changed the history of bread.
February 16^th 201911 K5

Burgers and cheeses

A quick look at burgers(article from 2 weeks ago), and in particular the cheese in burgers, many of you have asked me about this, and how to get cheese to melt in your burgers.
April 24^th 20216,6614.8