Freeze Dried Eggs

HOW TO FREEZE DRY EGGS

The basic process for freeze-drying eggs is pretty simple, as the machine more or less does everything for you.  That’s one of the things I really love about home freeze dryers.  Once you load the food, it’s pretty much hands-off until it’s done.

Preparing the food for freeze-drying can be a bit specific though, as it is with eggs.  The eggs must be scrambled first, as freeze dryers don’t work well with anything that’s just a concentrated fat or oil source (ie. Peanut Butter, Cream, Coconut Milk, and Egg Yolk).  If the egg yolks are scrambled together with the whites, however, it works just fine.

(While you can’t freeze dry just egg yolks because they have too much fat, you can freeze dry just egg whites since they’re mostly just liquid protein.  I’ll walk you through that as well.)

You do need to choose whether you’re going to freeze dry raw eggs, or cooked scrambled eggs.  Both work well, but they obviously have different uses.  If you’re freeze-drying cooked eggs, you just cook them first and then place the freshly cooked eggs on the freeze-dryer trays.  If the eggs are pre-cooked, they won’t work for baking, but they do make a fine instant breakfast.

I’ll start with freeze-drying raw eggs, as that’s the most versatile.  The basic steps are as follows:

1. Crack Eggs

2. Scramble Eggs (not optional)

3. Pre-Freeze Eggs (Optional, but Recommended)

4. Insert in Freeze Dryer and Run Cycle

5. Remove and Store

Start by cracking the eggs and then scrambling them.

Next, place the raw scrambled eggs on your freeze-dryer trays.  This is actually a bit trickier than you’d think, as you basically have a baking tray full of liquid…and any tipping can be problematic.

Generally, you’re supposed to pre-freeze food before you put it in the freeze dryer, and that helps speed up the process.  With a tray full of liquid raw eggs, the odds that you’re going to tip that tray when you’re putting it into your freezer are pretty high.

For eggs in particular, I’d recommend just scrambling the eggs and then putting the trays into your freeze dryer most of the way.  Pour the eggs into a corner of the tray and then slide the tray the rest of the way so they don’t tip.

I actually have some nifty little silicone food mold inserts for my freeze dryer that were just released, and they’re basically a giant silicone ice cube tray.  They’re handy when you’re freeze-drying liquids of all forms, including milk and eggs, but also things like ice cream and sourdough starter.

If you have these, they hold the food on the trays really nicely, and tipping is less of an issue.

If you don’t have these silicone food molds for freeze-drying, I don’t recommend using parchment or flat silicone mats for freeze-drying eggs.  The silicone mats that harvest right sells for their trays are incredibly useful for fruits, meats, and whole meals in the freeze dryer…but I don’t like them for liquids.

When you pour the liquid onto the tray, it just seeps under the silicone mat and makes a big mess.  The same is true for parchment.

Just pour the eggs right onto the stainless steel trays for freeze-drying if you don’t have the silicone food mold accessory.

Next, pre-freeze the food if you can do it without tipping the trays.  Or, just load the trays as is into the freeze dryer.

Turn the machine on and let it run its cycle, which should take about 16 to 24 hours or so.

Once the cycle is done, you should have trays of fully freeze-dried eggs to store.

Once the cycle is complete, remove the trays from the freeze dryer and pull out the freeze-dried egg.

If you’re using plain stainless trays, that will involve scraping it up with a spatula.  In the silicone food molds, each little egg cube just pops out neatly without sticking.

Neat cubes or not, it doesn’t matter, since you’ll be making egg powder either by mashing it up or putting it through a food processor.  Cubes or chunks of freeze-dried raw egg don’t rehydrate well, and you really do want a powder to use.

Once your eggs are freeze-dried, you’ll want to powder them up before storage so that they’re ready to use.  They’re also a lot more compact that way.

My nephews went to work mashing the egg cubes up and had a grand old time, and they do fall apart really easily, so a food processor is not strictly necessary.  That said, a food processor gives you a nice even powder, and it only takes a few pulses.

FREEZE-DRIED EGG ALTERNATIVES

While the most versatile way to freeze dry eggs is as raw whole eggs scrambled together and then powdered for later use, that’s not your only option.

FREEZE DRIED SCRAMBLED EGGS (COOKED)

You can freeze dry cooked scrambled eggs, and that works just fine.  They cannot be used for baking, of course, but they make a lovely camping meal breakfast.  All you have to do is pour boiling water on top of them and allow them to rehydrate.  You can basically make your own mountain house meals this way, and for a lot less money.

To do that, just scramble the eggs and cook them in a pan before placing them on the freeze-dryer trays.  I like to scramble mine until they’re just barely done, as they’re going to get cooked ever so slightly more when you rehydrate them with boiling water.  I use about a tablespoon of butter for every three eggs too, and it adds extra buttery richness (but isn’t so much that they won’t freeze dry nicely).

Since the eggs are pre-cooked, they won’t slip under parchment or silicone mats, so I use silicone mats under these to make cleanup easier.

You can fit about a dozen cooked scrambled eggs on a single large freeze-dryer tray.

FREEZE DRIED EGG WHITES

While you can’t freeze dry egg yolks alone because they’re too high in fat, you can freeze dry plain egg whites. 

HOW TO STORE FREEZE DRIED EGGS

At this point, you have freeze-dried egg powder that needs to be stored in a dry, airtight container out of direct sunlight.  The best way to store freeze-dried eggs is in sealed mylar pouches with oxygen absorbers.  When you buy a freeze dryer, it comes with an impulse sealer that will seal mylar, as well as a starter pack of mylar pouches and oxygen absorbers that are sized to those same pouches.

It really makes the process simple.

If you’re using your own mylar pouches for storage, make sure you have oxygen absorbers that are appropriately sized to the size of the pouches you choose.

HOW LONG DO FREEZE-DRIED EGGS LAST?

If properly stored, freeze-dried egg powder will for up to 20 years.  That means oxygen absorbers and light-eliminating packaging (like mylar).

You can also store freeze-dried eggs in glass jars, like mason jars, but they should have tight-fitting lids and be stored in a dark pantry or cabinet.  Without an oxygen absorber and in a container that’s frequently opened, freeze-dried eggs should last about a year if kept clean and dry.

HOW TO USE FREEZE-DRIED EGGS

To reconstitute freeze-dried eggs, mix equal parts freeze-dried egg and water by volume and allow it to sit for 5 or so minutes to fully rehydrate.

It takes 2 Tablespoons of freeze-dried egg and 2 Tablespoons of water to equal one fresh whole egg.

(Every freeze-dried food has different rehydration instructions.)

If you’re using freeze-dried eggs in baked goods, you can make the eggs ahead of time and add them to the mix like you would use a fresh egg. 

You can also add the powdered freeze-dried egg to the dry ingredients, and then just add the appropriate amount of water to the wet ingredients.  That allows you to make your own powdered pantry mixes that are simple just add water mixes.  Mix together things like flour, baking powder, powdered eggs, sugar, and whatever else your recipe calls for and you can design your own mixes for pancakes, muffins, and more.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Start by cracking and scrambling the eggs. Be sure that the eggs are thoroughly scrambled. A blender or immersion blender helps.

2. Pre-chill your freeze dryer and close the air vent at the back.

3. Insert the freeze dryer trays about 3/4 of the way into the freeze dryer, and then carefully pour the raw egg onto the tray. (This prevents the tray from tipping, resulting in spilled eggs. If you have silicone insert molds for your freeze dryer trays, as I do, you can fill those and pre-freeze them. Do not attempt to pre-freeze the eggs or other liquids directly on the trays, as they'll likely spill as they're moved around.)

4. Press start on the freeze dryer, and it will begin the cycle, first freezing the food, then creating a vacuum, and then finally freeze-drying the eggs.

5. When the cycle is complete, remove the eggs from the freeze dryer for storage.

6. Crushing the eggs into a powder before storage is optional, but recommended. They'll pack tighter into bags that way, and they rehydrate better if first crushed into a powder (rather than left as chunks).

7. For short-term storage, store in an air-tight container such as a mason jar. For long-term storage, use mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.

NOTES:

YIELD

We have a large freeze dryer, and each tray can hold about 18 to 20 eggs.  The machine has 5 trays, so that means a full batch is around 90 to 100 eggs. My total yield was 3 quarts of freeze-dried egg powder. 

Yield will vary based on the size of your freeze dryer.

• Small Model - 24 to 36 eggs

• Medium Model - 45 to 50 eggs

• Large Model - 90 to 100 eggs

• Extra Large Model - 200 to 250 eggs

Once freeze-dried, it takes about 8 to 9 eggs to make a cup of freeze-dried egg powder, or about 32 to 36 eggs to make a quart of freeze-dried egg powder.

FREEZE DRIED SCRAMBLED EGGS (COOKED)

You can freeze dry cooked scrambled eggs, and that works just fine.  They cannot be used for baking, of course, but they make a lovely camping meal for breakfast.  All you have to do is pour boiling water on top of them and allow them to rehydrate.  You can basically make your own mountain house meals this way, and for a lot less money.

To do that, just scramble the eggs and cook them in a pan before placing them on the freeze-dryer trays.  I like to scramble mine until they're just barely done, as they're going to get cooked ever so slightly more when you rehydrate them with boiling water.  I use about a tablespoon of butter for every three eggs too, and it adds extra buttery richness (but isn't so much that they won't freeze dry nicely).

Since the eggs are pre-cooked, they won't slip under parchment or silicone mats, so I use silicone mats under these to make cleanup easier.

You can fit about a dozen cooked scrambled eggs on a single large freeze-dryer tray.