What Are Pasteurized Eggs?

With headlines of bird flu and egg shortages cycling through our newsfeeds these days, it’s hard not to wonder about the safety and accessibility of eggs. While you may decide to reach for egg substitutes or plant-based egg alternatives, you also may be curious about pasteurized eggs.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have long recommended these heat-treated eggs for raw egg preparations like homemade mayonnaise or meringues, especially for at-risk populations. You’ve also likely eaten them when dining out at diners, bars, and other food establishments, where they are used for efficiency.

Here’s everything to know about buying pasteurized eggs and using them in your recipes. 

What are pasteurized eggs?

Pasteurized eggs are eggs that have been gently heat-treated to kill any potentially harmful bacteria, like salmonella and listeria. They’re usually placed in a water bath with a temperature of around 130°F. This process doesn’t cook the eggs, but keeps them at a sustained warm temperature for a long enough time period to destroy a majority of pathogens.

Salmonella is the biggest risk when it comes to consuming unpasteurized eggs that have not been fully cooked. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have estimated that one in 20,000 raw eggs are infected with salmonella. The risk for salmonella is higher for at-risk populations, such as adults over the age of 65 or people with weakened immune systems. 

Pasteurization also kills H5N1, commonly known as bird flu, although the risk of contracting bird flu from egg consumption remains low.

Where to buy pasteurized eggs 

You can find liquid eggs, egg whites, or egg yolks in cartons in the refrigerated section of many grocery stores. It’s harder to find shell-in pasteurized eggs, but Davidson’s Safest Choice and A Good Egg are two products you might find locally.

While it’s technically possible to pasteurize eggs at home, the FDA does not recommend doing so. When eggs are pasteurized commercially, manufacturers have to follow strict protocols and conduct proper testing to ensure their processes work to kill bacteria.

Should I use pasteurized eggs?

The decision of whether to cook and bake with pasteurized eggs is a personal one that depends on your risk tolerance and concern for the people you’re serving. Because pasteurized eggs are not always easy to find or convenient to use, consider them if:

• You are using raw eggs in recipes like buttercream or Caesar dressing
• You are not fully cooking the eggs to 160°F per USDA recommendations
• You are serving at-risk populations like people with compromised immune systems
• You have no alternative options

How to cook with pasteurized eggs

You can use pasteurized eggs the same way you would use unpasteurized eggs when making recipes like scrambled eggs. Just keep in mind that your dish might look a little different.

Pasteurized eggs tend to be runnier than unpasteurized eggs, mostly because the whites lose some of their structure during the pasteurization process. This may translate to scrambled eggs, omelets, and frittatas that are not quite as fluffy or firm; and boiled, fried, and poached eggs with softer whites. While you can’t necessarily avoid this effect, you might find it negligible.

If you’re using egg yolks for yolk-based sauces like mayonnaise, Caesar dressing, hollandaise, and béarnaise, you’ll hardly notice a difference when using the pasteurized yolks. The yolks are less affected by the pasteurization process, and will emulsify just well as unpasteurized egg yolks. 

How to make cocktails with pasteurized egg whites

Sour-style cocktails, such as the Whiskey Sour, often use egg whites to achieve a silky, full-bodied texture. Thankfully, pasteurized eggs will work just as well as unpasteurized ones. If you do a “dry shake” (or shake the ingredients without ice) before shaking with ice, your egg white cocktail will froth and emulsify beautifully. In fact, there’s a good chance that your favorite bar uses pasteurized egg whites for safety and convenience.

How to bake with pasteurized egg whites

As with cooking, if you’re using whole pasteurized eggs or egg yolks in a baked recipe, you won’t need to make any modifications. Working with pasteurized egg whites is a little more complicated, particularly in recipes that call for whipped egg whites like meringues, soufflés, and mousses. But you can achieve success with some simple recipe modifications.

First, keep in mind that it will take quite a bit longer to build the structure of whipped pasteurized egg whites. Allow for at least double the whipping time. 

In order to better maintain their structure when whipped, the proteins in the egg whites need some assistance. This can come in the form of a little bit of extra acid — like vinegar, lemon juice, or cream of tartar — which stabilizes the protein structure that you and your mixer worked so hard to build. While many recipes for whipped egg whites already call for cream of tartar (or other acid), noted cookbook author and baking instructor Rose Levy Berenbaum recommends using 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar per each pasteurized egg white in the recipe.

The bottom line? You can enjoy all the benefits of unpasteurized eggs with a few tweaks, but you can also opt to skip egg whites altogether. Instead of topping your mile-high meringue pie with French meringue, try an Italian or Swiss meringue, which are both “cooked meringues” that are generally safer to eat; or make American buttercream instead of Italian buttercream. 

It certainly never hurts to have options, especially when it comes to the culinary delights you can make with eggs.