Learn how to halve an egg easily and simply, complete with step-by-step instructions! It's a great trick to know when you want to bake half a recipe and it calls for one egg in the full recipe!
Have you ever wanted to make only half a recipe of cookies or a quick bread or a cake...only to find that the original recipe uses only one egg? How do you halve an egg in these cases?
If the recipe asks for two eggs, it's simple enough to use just one egg if you want to halve the recipe.
But what do you do when you're dealing with just one?
How....am I supposed to take half of that?
Keep in mind that it is usually baking recipes where people encounter this conundrum. Most savory recipes are flexible and you always use whole eggs. One of two? It's not usually any big deal that affects the outcome of the dish.
However, baking is all about chemistry and you can't really go all loosey goosey with the important ingredients if you want the final product to turn out.
I have often wanted to make half a baking recipe and have run into this situation many times where the original recipe requires one egg. I crack an egg into a bowl and look at that one yolk and all the white and think, "Uh....how do I get equal parts yolk and white?"
The key is to actually scramble the egg first with a fork so that you have a relatively cohesive mixture of the yolk and the white!
But then what?
You could try and do it by volume, but that's a bit hard to measure. It is unlikely to be a nice measurement like 4 tablespoons that could easily be divided in half.
Measuring by weight, however, CAN easily be divided in half and is much simpler!
Here is how to do it step-by-step!
Obviously, since this involves weight, you will need a kitchen scale.
Place an empty bowl on top of your scale and reset it to 0 (on digital scales, there is often a button labelled TARE).
Crack your egg into the bowl and take note of the weight in grams. Most large eggs, on average, will weigh about 50g.
Scramble the egg well in the bowl.
Double check the weight to make sure it is the same as before you scrambled it, which it should be.
Using a spoon, scoop out the some of the scrambled egg into another bowl.
Continue to do this until the weight on the scale is half of what you started with. So in my case, 50 divided by 2 = 25.
And voila! You have have successfully halved an egg!
As for the remaining half that you don't use for your recipe, use it for another baking recipe that you want to halve. Alternatively, add the unused half to recipes where half an egg won't make much difference to the final result like Super Simple Egg Drop Soup, Noodle Egg Foo Young, or quiches like Spinach Sausage Quinoa Crusted Quiche or Sweet Potato Broccoli Bacon Quiche.
Or just add it to a couple extra eggs to cook up scrambled eggs in a pan! Not using it right away? Cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for a day until you're ready to use it.
A few notes worth remembering:
- Unless otherwise stated, most baking recipes assume you will use large eggs.
- There can be a slight variance of a few grams, but in general, large eggs (out of the shell) weigh about 50g.
- If you are halving a recipe and only have eggs in any size but large, you can still use the weighing method to make sure you have about 25g of egg for your half recipe.
So there you go! Halving an egg for a recipe is actually quite easy and precise, and making half a recipe is completely doable! Happy baking!
~ Lisa.
How To Halve An Egg For Baking Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 egg
Equipment
Instructions
- Place an empty bowl on a kitchen scale and tare/reset it to 0.
- Crack an egg into the bowl and take note of the weight in grams on the scale.
- Scramble the egg with a fork. Make sure the weight is the same as before you scrambled it, which it should be.
- Place another empty bowl on the scale and tare/reset it to 0.
- Scoop some of the scrambled egg into the empty bowl until the scale indicates half the weight you originally measured from the whole egg.
- Use the remaining half egg in another recipe you want to halve, or scramble it with a couple more eggs to cook in a skillet.
Notes
- A digital food scale works best.
- Unless otherwise stated, most recipes use large eggs.
- On average, most large eggs will weigh about 50g.
- If you are halving a baking recipe and only have eggs in any size but large, you can still use the weighing method to make sure you have about 25g of egg for your recipe.
- Keep the unused half in the fridge for a day.
- Use the unused half for another half recipe, or combine it with more eggs for cooking scrambled eggs, egg drop soup, quiche, etc.
Try halving an egg for these recipes!
-
- Soft Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread
-
- Soft Gluten-Free Tortilla Flatbread
-
- Soft Homemade Gluten-Free Bread
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**Post updated October 5th, 2019 with addition of a recipe card and updated text.
Diane Badget
Thank you! I’ll certainly remember this little trick. I’m a bit embarrassed that I didn’t think of it, since I do my baking using grams instead of cups and teaspoons anyway.
Now, a question. The recipe I need to cut in half calls for one egg and the yolk of the second. I would assume that I’d add the yolk to the weighed egg, scramble, then divide in half. Or would it be more accurate to weigh the yolk separately, scramble it, divide it, then add it to the already divided whole egg? Normally I wouldn’t obsess over it, but since this recipe is for my Brioche buns and eggs are an integral part of the flavor and texture, I’d like to get it right.
Hi Diane! My first inkling would be to scramble it all and divide in half since I think it will be good enough, and that any variances would be tiny and wouldn't have that great of an effect on the end result. However, if you are concerned, then just go with the latter method of weighing the yolk by itself and dividing it in half as it's not that much extra effort. An interesting experiment would be to try it both ways and see if you notice any difference! Thanks for the question!
Dorothoy
Too bad you did tell use if 1/2 was a tablespoon, several teaspoons etc. How hard is that .....
Hi Dorothoy! The thing with eggs and they can each vary in size, and measuring by weight and dividing that amount in half is a more precise way to get the right amount. That being said, you can certainly measure out your egg by volume and divide that amount by two to figure out what half your egg should be. Thanks for the comment!
Lynn
I halved a recipe, and the final result had 3 1/2 eggs. I was wondering how to halve an egg until I found your blog. You are a life saver! Thank you!
Thank you, Lynn! I'm glad that you found me and that I was able to help!
Victoria
What kind of kitchen scale are you using? That is just what I need! Thank you!
Any digital kitchen scale will work. You can check out any of the ones I have suggested above through the Amazon links. Thanks for your comment!
Julia
You are an absolute God send I've been wanting to make gingerbread cookies so bad but I also want to make sugar cookies I don't need so many cookies so I want to have the recipe but it only calls for one egg
I'm happy I can help, Julia. Now you can enjoy both kinds of cookies!
Ryan Branstetter
Thanks for the advice, looking forward to making some Tolera rolls.
Deb
Wow. Never thought of scrambling first and then dividing. Duh.
Thanks!
It's not obvious, is it? I'm happy to share the tip!
Kim
Awesome tip! I figured the scrambling part was involved, but I didn't immediately think of the scale. Another reason why they are such a useful item.
A kitchen scale is a must-have tool in my kitchen!
Elaine
A simple solution for a problem we've all faced! Thanks!
marilyn @family food around the clock
Great post! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Meg
Such a neat little trick!! Thank you!