How do you halve a recipe that calls for 1 egg?
Clarification: I do not want to have to make the full recipe just to use half and I don't have powdered egg substitute.
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1I have had the same problem; I don't want to waste the other half of the egg. I recently learned (on this site), though, that egg can be frozen and saved. I recommend following any of the advice below & then freezing the other half for future use.– JustRightMenusJul 18, 2010 at 3:40
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2Is half of a ~16 cent egg really that big of a deal?– ceejayozJul 18, 2010 at 4:13
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Depending on the recipe, you might not even notice 1/2 vs 1 egg.– Matt KrauseJun 9, 2020 at 18:04
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5 Answers
Crack the egg into a cup or bowl, whisk it, and measure out half of the contents. If you use eggs frequently, you could probably save the other half for a day or two – otherwise, it's like 8 cents out of your pocket.
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Freeze the egg and carefully saw in half, end to end. Thaw and you're good to go :)
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6This brought back memories of college -- I had one of those small fridges with the little compartment inside that was the freezer ... the eggs got too close to the freezer ... I cracked an egg ... the shell came away, but there was just frozen egg.– JoeJul 18, 2010 at 3:33
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4From which end do you start sawing? :D– NikhilJul 20, 2010 at 8:04
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3-1, it's a funny answer, but in reality, if you freeze an egg, you can't do anything with it after you thaw it. (And no, I didn't try it because I read the answer :P I've frozen eggs accidentally when my fridge thermostat went crazy).– rumtscho ♦Jan 16, 2015 at 14:23
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2@Jefromi even without bursting the shell, a frozen egg will have vastly changed protein structure when thawed - clumped yolk, weird white. I admit I haven't tried actually using such eggs, but they just seemed not up to the task. Who knows, maybe they work despite their strange texture.– rumtscho ♦Jan 16, 2015 at 18:37
Measure half by weight. Simply crack an egg into a bowl on a zeroed scale, note the weight. Beat the egg with a whisk or fork until combined. Rezero your scale with a new empty dish and pour half the egg by weight into it.
answered Jul 18, 2010 at 3:23
Depending on the recipe and number of eggs total, you can separate the white from the yolk.
This doesn't work well if you're dealing with just one egg total (throws the fat content too far off), but I've done this when going from 3 -> 1 1/2 with good success in baking recipes. I've also used it to fine-tune the amount of fat in the recipe if I didn't like the original consistency.
Depending on what you're making, there may be a good egg substitute other than that powdered stuff. e.g. if you are making some kind of baked good, I've had good results from using bananas or apple sauce. (bananas sometimes add a banana-y flavour though... which is often a welcome addition :-))
There are a wide variety of egg substitutes out there, and each lend themselves to different kinds of recipes... Perhaps one of these could solve your problem.
