Can you freeze leftover egg yolks from your pavlova?

Be kind to your egg yolks this Christmas. They deserve more than the bin.

December is a bad time of year for egg yolks. Any other time of year and they’re sitting pretty, lording it over the egg whites on top of your smashed avo. But in December? Get back in your shell, egg yolk. This is egg white’s time to shine.

The pavlova-making frenzy that engulfs the nation from mid-December puts egg whites in high demand. But egg yolks? Not so much. If you imagine the average pav needs around six egg whites, that’s potentially a whole half-dozen egg yolks going unused.

And, if you’re like me, you’ll start off with the best of intentions to do right by your egg yolks. You’ll plan to use them in custard, maybe in home-made mayonnaise, maybe a hangover cure (or not!), but you do plan to use them.

Then you’ll go away for a week or two, forget about them, and come home to find those leftover pavlova egg yolks at the back of the fridge have indeed turned themselves into a form of custard, but not one you’d ever want to eat.

And that brings us to the question every sensible pavlova-maker has probably Googled at some point in their lives: can you actually freeze egg yolks?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: you do it like this…

The best way to freeze egg yolks

Step 1) Firstly, separate your egg yolks from your egg whites. If you’re not keen on the shell method and don’t want to get your hands dirty, here’s a handy tip: you can use a clean, empty plastic water bottle as a large pipette to literally suck the yolks from the whites and drop them into a separate bowl

How to separate eggs using a bottle

Step 2) Next, you need to prep your yolks for freezing. Whisk them in a bowl with a pinch of salt (or about 1/4 teaspoon to six yolks). Freeze in ice cube trays, then pop out and place into a freezer bag, expelling the air. Label and use within six months. 

Food writer Tracy Rutherford explains: “Egg yolks take on a different texture after freezing, which makes them difficult to use. Adding salt will prevent that. Don’t forget to label the container with the amount of egg yolks it contains.”

Step 3). Before using frozen egg yolks, defrost them in the fridge for up to 24 hours, depending on volume. Use them within two days.

What else can you make with leftover egg yolks?

If you don’t want to freeze your yolks and need to use them up quickly, there are plenty of recipes to turn them into something awesome.

This lemon curd pavlova recipe uses the whites for the pav, then yolks for the custard – plus it makes a fresh new change from the classic fruit and cream topping. 

Lemon curd pavlova

If you’re making a six-egg pav, Curtis Stone’s best-ever eggnog recipe is the perfect way to reset the white-yolk equilibrium; it needs six yolks exactly.

Eggnog recipe

Custard is good from a carton but so much better from scratch, and this 4-yolk Baileys custard sets the bar high for festive sauces. Drizzle over pavlovas, puddings and more.

Got just a couple of yolks to spare? Try air-fried custard fingers coated in cinnamon sugar.

Originally published as Can you freeze leftover egg yolks from your pavlova?