How to pasteurize eggs at home
- March 10, 2011
- Cooking
- 26 comments
When recipes call for uncooked eggs, many cooks shy away from them. There is good reason for this, of course, since there is a small chance that raw eggs contain salmonella. This is a very small risk to begin with, and few recipes call for uncooked eggs (mayonnaise and some mousses, just to name a few), but you can always pasteurize your eggs to ensure that they are absolutely safe to use even when they are uncooked.
Pasteurized eggs are eggs that are cooked briefly at a high temperature and then cooled. The yolk must reach a temperature of about 138F. Eggs scramble at a much higher temperature, so it is possible to heat the yolk to pasteurize it without cooking the egg. The eggs still have the consistency of raw eggs (and can be used just like them in any recipe) but microbial growth of harmful bacteria is slowed or eliminated. You can buy pasteurized eggs at some markets, but they’re usually difficult to find and expensive. I tend to pasteurize a few eggs at a time before I use them but if you have a feeling you’ll need a lot, you can do it when you first bring eggs home from the market. You can store the pasteurized eggs in the refrigerator (as you would with regular eggs) and not worry about them again.
To pasteurize large eggs, place them in a saucepan filled with water and fitted with a digital thermometer. Turn on the heat and bring the water up to 140F.
Keep the water temperature at 140F for 3 minutes (and no more than 142F), reducing the heat on the burner if necessary. Remove eggs from hot water and rinse thoroughly with cold water.
Store in the refrigerator until needed or use right away.
Jumbo sized eggs need to 5 minutes in 140F water.
Disclaimer: I feel compelled to mention that I cannot absolutely guarantee that this method is going to completely eliminate the 1 in 20,000 chance that an egg you have might have salmonella, although as long as your egg reaches the appropriate temperature, it should be effective.
This is a method that I, and many friends who are chefs/culinary professionals, use to pasteurize our eggs when we need them. The vast majority of bacteria associated with an egg is found on the eggshell. The fresher your eggs are, the better they are. You can buy pasteurized eggs in some grocery stores and you can read more about egg safety here.
Naturally, I would recommend that anyone pregnant, etc. avoid raw eggs just to be on the safe side.
26 Comments
Awesome! So much easier than tempering milk, egg, sugar, etc. for ice cream bases and having to wait for the cool down.
I never knew how to do this! Thanks for the tip, Nicole!
Unfortunately, although this method has been widely circulated, the official word is that shell eggs CANNOT be safely pasteurized using home kitchen equipment. Straight from the USDA’s website – http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_shell_eggs/ .
Would you recommend a good digital thermometer please??
YES!! Now I can make chocolate dipped cookie dough balls out of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!! I didn’t want to buy a whole dozen when all I needed one pasteurized egg, thanks so much!!!
Great tip! Coincidently I was looking around for pasteurized eggs but they are so hard to find. Thanks to you I can now make my own. Thank you =)
So cool – thanks!!!
that is very useful information! thanks.
Katy – Thanks for the link. The FDA approves facilities that pasteurize eggs. It is possible that they’re just referring to the “approved” equipment with that quite, as the method used at some commercial facilities is not all that different from this one. Commercially pasteurized eggs are also coated with wax to “seal” them after pasteurization.
The method that at least one commercial producer uses is very different than this method. The commercial method guarantees that the proper temperature is reached all the way to the center of the yolk without cooking the egg.
Bacteria multiply rapidly between 40 and 140 degrees F. If the yolk (where bacteria gets its nourishment) is not properly heated, you will be creating a very hazardous situation.
The UEP (egg producers) use the 1 in 20,000 figure. FDA and agricultural studies show the risk to be more like 1 in 5,000. Sometimes 1 in 10,000 is used as a compromise.
Remember, chicken eggs are really chicken meat. They should be handled and prepared carefully.
Here’s an exceptionally well done animation that can help you understand how salmonella can be found inside eggs:
http://www.virtualchicken.org .
Liz – Good info!
Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with my farm fresh eggs & not worry about any disease, way more nutrients that way & even thru pregnancy I would have just about a daily raw egg in my smoothy. But of course, the key here is farm fresh, and hopefully pasture fed, organic is even better – stay away from the stuff in the stores…
Egg safety advice from the American Egg Board. Sure.
I got salmonella poisoning from a neighbor’s eggs. I was in the hospital for 3 days and wanted to die.
Wouldn’t touch a raw egg again if you paid me.
I learned a lot about salmonella (www.virtualchicken.org) and how it gets in the chicken and how it’s passed into the egg. It’s not as uncommon as you think. And all very natural too.
Well Katy, if the USDA say so, well then it MUST be true. Now let’s head off to Iraq, I hear from a good source they have WOMD.
Great pasteurizing tip, thank you.
the REAL temperature for EGGS, and salmonella specifically is 160F Minimum !
to be sure, and it’s better safe then sorry with eggs,
they will still digest very well after keeping them at 160F for 10mins (:
hey, if you read the link katie said, it doesn’t say that you cannot do it at home, it says that it is difficult to do without cooking the egg.
BH – are you seriously of the opinion that if the Department of Defense lies about WMD, then it logically follows that you can’t trust the USDA for food safety advice? Or do you have any scientific facts that prove that the USDA figures/information are fraudulent? If so, please do share.
How long is it safe to kept fresh laid eggs from our hens. We wash them in anti bactercal soap and place in refrigerator.