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Two quart mason jars filled with freeze dried eggs sitting on a counter with a basket of eggs beside it.

Freeze Dried Eggs for Long-Term Storage (+ Reconstituting Freeze Dried Eggs)

Food Preservation - Other, Freeze Drying, Preparedness/Survival

Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I will earn a commission at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Regardless, I only link to products we use on our homestead or believe in.
Pinterest pin for how to freeze dry eggs. Image of tray of freeze dried eggs coming out of the freeze dryer.
Pinterest pin for how to freeze dry eggs. Image of a woman holding a jar of freeze dried eggs.
Pinterest pin for how to freeze dry eggs. Image of a woman holding a jar of freeze dried eggs.
Pinterest pin for how to freeze dry eggs. Image of a woman holding a jar of freeze dried eggs.
Pinterest pin for how to freeze dry eggs. Image of a woman holding a jar of freeze dried eggs.
Pinterest pin for how to freeze dry eggs. Image of tray of freeze dried eggs coming out of the freeze dryer.

Learn how to preserve farm-fresh eggs during the summer months to enjoy all year long with my new favorite egg preservation method, freeze-dried eggs. They'll last on the shelf for over 20 years and still taste as fresh as the day they were laid and I'll teach you how to easily reconstitute freeze-dried eggs.

Two quart mason jars filled with freeze dried eggs sitting on a counter with a basket of eggs beside it.

One of the things we're doing throughout the summer is putting up the eggs we collect for long-term storage. Because we don't like to use artificial lighting to force our hens to lay throughout the winter months, we need to preserve the extra eggs we're getting now to last us through the winter.

The struggle with preserving eggs is that up until now I haven't found a method that I actually enjoy the eggs when cooked up fresh.

As I've said before in the many different methods of egg preservation, and in this post on preservation methods for meat, dairy, and eggs, I'm fine freezing eggs that I'll use in the future for baking, but as you can tell in the video below, the frozen then dehydrated eggs when cooked up to eat as scrambled eggs are a bit rubbery in texture.

Why I Love This Method

Not only do freeze-dried eggs taste just like freshly cracked eggs when reconstituted and scrambled, but they take up very little space, I don't have to use up valuable freezer real-estate, and they're also shelf-stable for up to 20+ years!

Image of tray of freeze dried eggs coming out of the freeze dryer.

Why Freeze Dried Eggs?

You may be asking yourself, “If eggs are fine in the refrigerator for 3 months or more, why would I need to worry about preserving them?”

Well, I don't know about you, but I don't have enough extra refrigerator space to store 3+ months' worth of fresh eggs. If I did that, I'd have no room left for any other food.

Think about it, if your family eats two dozen eggs per week, that's 24 dozen eggs for just three months of fresh eating! Who has enough refrigerator space to house all those eggs? Certainly not me!

I also don't want to rely on the freezer to store food long-term because if (or when) the power goes out, we have to rely on generators to keep them running and I don't want to risk losing all that food.

Freeze-dried eggs don't require refrigeration or freezing (other than the initial preserving) and will last for years on my pantry shelf where I have much more storage space than in my freezer. Plus, 48 eggs will fit into two quart-sized mason jars.

To be fully transparent, Harvest Right did sponsor this post and they sent me my freeze dryer as compensation, but all opinions are mine and, now that I've used it for about a month, I truly would buy my own freeze dryer had they not sent one to me first.

Egg and vinegar being stirred together in a bowl with a fork.

How to Make Freeze Dried Eggs

Freeze-dried eggs couldn't be easier to make. You do need to have a freeze dryer, and I'm absolutely in love with my Harvest Right Freeze Dryer. I have the medium-sized unit and have been so pleased with the amount of food I'm able to preserve in one batch.

Pre-Freeze the Trays

When freeze-drying eggs, or anything liquid for that matter, I like to pre-freeze my trays because this will speed up the freeze-drying process. It can actually knock off up 8-10 hours of time in the machine!

I freeze-dry 12 eggs per tray on each of my four trays for a total of 48 eggs per batch.

  1. Crack your eggs into a blender and blend them up (or whisk well until the yolks and whites are completely combined).
  2. Pour them onto your freeze dryer trays.
  3. Repeat until all four trays are filled.
  4. Carefully place the trays into the freezer and freeze overnight.
Image of tray of freeze dried eggs coming out of the freeze dryer.

Freeze Dry

5. Once the trays are completely frozen (this step can be done in the freeze dryer itself, but will use up more electricity and time than pre-freezing yourself), place them into the freeze dryer.

6. Add the insulating sleeve, securely close the door, and start the machine.

7. My eggs took approximately 22 hours to be fully dry. When checking your eggs, they shouldn't feel cold to the touch at all, although the trays will feel cold (use a towel or pot holder when handling trays) or use the warm tray function button, and the eggs should crumble with ease when broken up.

8. If your eggs are not fully dried, place them back into the freeze dryer until completely dried through.

A woman's hands crumbling freeze dried eggs into powder.
Freeze dried eggs getting pulsed in the food processor.
Image of a woman in the kitchen with two mason jars of freeze dried egg powder.

Storing Freeze-Dried Eggs

You can easily crumble the eggs by hand and store them in a mason jar. However, to make measuring your eggs easier when you're ready to use them, I like to run my eggs through the food processor for a few pulses so everything is powdered very finely.

For short-term use, you can simply store your freeze-dried eggs in a jar. If you want to store them for the long term, say more than a few months, drop an oxygen absorber into the jar before sealing. You can then seal your jars airtight using this vacuum sealer with the jar attachment.

Alternatively, you can store eggs in a mylar bag with an oxygen absorber tossed in and all the air removed.

A woman measuring freeze dried egg powder into a bowl.
A woman stirring freeze dried eggs that have been reconstituted.
Freeze dried eggs getting reconstituted with water in a bowl.

Reconstituting Freeze Dried Eggs

Reconstituting eggs to use for scrambled eggs and baking couldn't be easier:

  1. Take 2 Tablespoons of freeze-dried egg powder and add it to a small bowl.
  2. Add 2 Tablespoons water to the eggs and whisk well with a fork or tiny whisk.

Scale-up if more eggs are needed, then use as you would any freshly cracked and whisked egg!

Two pressure canners and jars of home canned food sitting on a kitchen counter.

More Articles on Home Food Preservation

  • How to Preserve Meat, Dairy & Eggs
  • The Science of Home Food Preservation
  • Tips for Home Food Preservation – Seasonal Preserving Each Month
  • A Complete Guide to Home Food Preservation (What to do When You Can’t Find Canning Supplies)
  • Home Food Preservation- Preserving Plan for a Year’s Worth of Food
  • 9 Ways to Preserve Food at Home
  • How to Store Home Canned Food Safely – Jar Stacking & Canning Rings
  • 129+ Best Canning Recipes to Put Up This Year
  • How Do You Know if a Canning Recipe is Safe
  • How to Pick the Best Preserving Methods
  • How to Convert Recipes for Canning + Safety Tips

Melissa Norris

Melissa K. Norris inspires people's faith and pioneer roots with her books, podcast, and blog. Melissa lives with her husband and two children in their own little house in the big woods in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. When she's not wrangling chickens and cattle, you can find her stuffing Mason jars with homegrown food and playing with flour and sugar in the kitchen.

Read more about Melissa

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Comments:

  1. Ann

    1 year ago

    Have wanted a freeze dryer for years but waaay out of my price range. Happy for you tho you have helped so many you deserve some nice perks!

    Reply
    • Bobbie

      1 year ago

      I am with Ann.I have wanted one for a long time. It is way out of my price range.

      Reply
  2. ALAN CAMERON

    1 year ago

    Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Melanie

    1 year ago

    Looks great. Question how many spoons of freeze dried eggs would be equivalent to an egg in a recipe?

    Reply
    • Melissa Norris

      1 year ago

      That’s in the article where it says Reconstituting the Egg 🙂

      Reply
    • William A Burden

      1 year ago

      According to the video, 2 tablespoons (level) is the equivalent of 1 egg.

      Reply
  4. Julene Armstrong

    1 year ago

    How much space do you need for the freeze dry machine an what kind of money are we talking about?

    Reply
    • Melissa Norris

      1 year ago

      The medium size freeze dryer is just over $2,500 the video shows what it looks like set-up on the table. They’re decent sized.

      Reply
      • Glenn Russell

        10 months ago

        Where do you have it in your house? How noisy is it?

        Reply
        • Melissa Norris

          10 months ago

          I did have it in a separate shed but now that we have a larger pantry area being built off the end of the house, I’ll be moving it there. A separate room you can shut the door on is best, it’s not as loud as a vacuum cleaner but it’s louder than a fan/dehydrator.

          Reply
  5. sylvia housner

    1 year ago

    So glad you aren’t recommending water glassing the eggs. If it’s all someone can do, it’s ok, but the nutritional value of the egg declines and some eggs rot in the water glassing method. Freezing either way is much better!

    Reply
  6. Jerry D Young

    1 year ago

    A freeze-dryer is on my shortlist to get before things go belly up. At the moment, I have several friends that have Harvest Right machines. Every one of them loves the thing. One friend especially is an experimenter and has come up with some wonderful items. Including the famous freeze-dried ice cream sandwich. (Just FYI: They need to be cut in half before processing.)

    Thank you, Melissa, for this article. Not only is it informative, but rather inspiring in the presentation and enthusiasm you show during it.

    Thank you.

    Jerry D Young

    Reply
    • Jodi

      2 weeks ago

      Jerry,
      Did you ever get the freeze dryer? I’ve been concerned about heat and wanting a wood burning stove but this also seems like a must. I wonder how much time we have!

      Reply
  7. Heather Kleiner

    1 year ago

    I am wondering if you used a mixer to blend the frozen egg before cooing it would it have a different outcome.

    Reply
  8. Angelo Miranda

    1 year ago

    What do you do with the garlic after it is harvested?

    Reply
    • Melissa Norris

      1 year ago

      I cure it, braid it once cured, and then store it in the pantry for a year

      Reply
  9. Cindy

    1 year ago

    Harvest Right actually allows you to make payments. You don’t have to come up with the whole amount. I got mine from utilizing their payment plan option.

    Reply
  10. Michael Mathiesen

    1 year ago

    Why not use the freeze dryer to vacuum seal the jars. In a medium you could seal at least 5 or 6 at a go, ina large 9. Takes 2 minutes and they are totally good to go.

    Reply
  11. David Petronelli

    11 months ago

    My freeze dryer is set at factory setting of 9 hours freeze time. If I freeze my eggs in advance do I need to lessen the factory freeze time on the machine. What do you set freeze time to?

    Reply
    • Ashley

      4 months ago

      Depending on your model and if it is a newer model, the machine will adjust the time to your product. The only time you might need to “add time” is when you check the product at the end of the cycle and it’s not entirely dry.

      Harvest right doesn’t advise skipping the freeze cycle as the freeze dryer actually freezes food to a much colder temperature than a freezer chest, prior to the sublimation process.

      Reply
  12. Jeff

    10 months ago

    You mention Mylar and oxygen absorbers. I do it that way but I saw a video where the lady said you also need to vacuum package the Mylar to get the nitrogen out as well or else you are creating an environment for botulism. I’ve never done that and I have fun 18 dozen eggs through my Harvest Right in the last few weeks. Just wondering if I need to throw them all out and start using the OA and vacuum sealing too.

    Reply
    • Ashley

      4 months ago

      Jeff, I don’t know if anyone reached out to provide an answer but no, you don’t have to worry about botulism if your eggs are completely dry when the cycle is done and while you packaged them.
      You are right that botulinum toxin grows in low oxygen environments but they also need to be moist. The freeze dryer removes the moisture when done properly so all your eggs would be fine.

      Reply
  13. Deborah

    8 months ago

    Great, thank you! Now will you please tell us about freeze drying your sourdough starter and milk, please!
    And thank you!

    Reply
  14. Steve

    3 months ago

    Are you sure freeze dried eggs are shelf stable for 20 years? Eggs are a high fat item, which normally do not last long. Even Harvest Right says eggs are only shelf stable for 5 years, at most. Would love it if you can point me to something showing they will last that long as we have chickens and are swamped in eggs for most of the year that we have to give away.

    Reply
    • ToniAnn

      2 months ago

      Steve, I was wondering if you’d found an answer to your question. I have been searching for this info as well. Thank you!

      Reply
    • Ernest Hubbard

      4 weeks ago

      If you’re concerned about the shelf-life of anything you have preserved for long-term storage, one suggestion I’ve seen is to rotate your stock. Label and date everything you put up. Use the oldest stock, first.

      Another suggestion would be to use smaller packages for the items you’re most concerned about having a shorter shelf-life. For example, use smaller mylar bags in which to vacuum-seal your freeze-dried eggs (or anything else), oxygen absorbers in each. Package them up as one-use containers (decide how many eggs you tend to use at one time, only put the equivalent of that much in each bag). This way, you’re only breaking the seal on what you will immediately be using, rather than exposing a larger quantity to oxygen and moisture.

      Reply

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Melissa K. Norris

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