What to cook with eggs: 35 recipes

How to choose and store eggs

Check the date and open the box before buying: shells should be clean and uncracked. Egg size matters in baking; the recipes here count one egg as about 55 g, so if yours are very small or very large, adjust by weight. At home, a quick test helps with older eggs: a fresh egg lies flat at the bottom of a glass of water, an older one tilts up, and one that floats is best thrown away.

Keep eggs in their box on a shelf inside the fridge rather than in the door, where the temperature jumps each time you open it. Leftover whites or yolks keep for a day or two in a closed jar, or whites can be frozen.

Brown or white shells make no difference to taste or cooking; choose by freshness and size.

Tips that make egg dishes better

• Room-temperature eggs for baking. They whip higher and mix more evenly into sharlotka, brownies and banana bread.
• Gentle heat for omelettes and shakshuka. Cover the pan and let the eggs set slowly; the yolks in shakshuka should stay soft.
• Hard-boiled eggs for salads: 9–10 minutes from the boil, then straight into cold water; they peel easily and have no grey ring.
• In carbonara, heat comes from the pasta, not the pan: mix eggs and cheese off the heat to get a sauce rather than scrambled eggs.

An egg week: what to cook

With twenty recipes to choose from, a dozen eggs goes a long way.

• Monday breakfast: a fluffy pan omelette.
• Tuesday: tuna and egg salad for dinner or lunchboxes.
• Thursday: spaghetti carbonara.
• Saturday: shakshuka for a late breakfast.
• Sunday: sharlotka with apples for tea.

Leftovers, kids and budget

Boil four or five eggs on Sunday: peeled or not, they keep for several days in the fridge and turn into quick breakfasts, salads and snacks. Leftover yolks go into carbonara; whites into an omelette.

Children often like eggs best in crepes, oladyi and syrniki. Eggs are one of the cheapest sources of protein, and with flour, milk or tvorog they turn into a full meal in minutes.