How to Cure Egg Yolks

If you are looking for how to cure egg yolks, look no further. I am in my condiment era and I am loving it. Welcome to my new niche condiment obsession: the cured egg yolk.

Now what is a cured egg yolk? Okay, great first question. Arguably the most important.

Curing is a type of food preservation. You often see it used for meat, fish, vegetables, and sometimes, eggs! Curing aims to draw the water out of food using osmosis, and this is done through the addition of salt. So what happens when you do this to egg yolks is they turn into these salty, firm and slightly opaque versions of egg yolk that can be used on almost anything. Plus if you rehydrate them, they act very similarly to an egg as an emulsifier. So easy weeknight carbonara, here you come!

I’ll detail more about these egg yolks and how to use them below, as well as an easy way to make this at home!

What are cured egg yolks?

We got a bit into curing in the intro, but they are essentially preserved egg yolks through the process of osmosis.

To cure egg yolks, you place them in a large amount of salt and let the salt excrete the moisture from the egg yolk, leaving you with a translucent, slightly firm yolk.

After that process is done, you dry out the egg yolks in the oven to complete the preservation process, essentially creating a firm, savory version of a normally soft and liquid yolk.

When things are cured they also keep extremely well, about a month in the fridge. Making them a perfect option for any eggs that might be on their last legs.

What do I need to make these egg yolks?

The ingredients list is simple: eggs, salt and maybe a few extra spices if you are feeling into it.

Here’s a full list of everything you want before getting into this recipe:

• 9 large eggs – the better quality the better the curing process will be!
• 4 cups sea salt or kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns optional
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary leaves optional

How long should the yolks cure?

Curing egg yolks takes about 5 days in the fridge. But the process before is just 10 minutes of your time, and the process after is only about 1 hour. So yes, it’s a commitment, but overall when you’re asking how to cure egg yolks, the workload is not too bad.

Here’s a breakdown from start to finish:

• In a small blender, blend together the salt, peppercorns and rosemary until you have a gritty consistency. Skip this step if you are omitting the rosemary and pepper.
• Layer 2 cups of the salt in the bottom of an 8″x 8″ baking dish. Use a spoon to create 9 indents spaced evenly apart from each other.
• Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Save the whites for later use (I have a great egg white oatmeal recipe on the blog!)
• Add each yolk into one indent in the salt. Cover with the remaining two cups of salt.
• Let this sit in the fridge for 5 days.
• After 5 days, remove the eggs from the salt mixture and give them a quick rinse under ice-cold water to remove the excess salt.
• Set your oven to 180°F or its lowest setting.
• Place a piece of parchment paper on a drying rack and place this on top of a baking sheet. Put the egg yolks on top and let them dry out in the oven for 1 hour or until they go from slightly translucent to opaque.
• Store in the fridge and use on toasts, salads, pasta sauces, anything!

How can I use cured egg yolks?

You can use this condiment in so many ways. My absolute favorite way is to grate it on top of everything. And I mean literally everything. Avocado toast? Cured egg yolk on top. Beans and romesco sauce? Cured egg yolk goes perfectly. Cacio e Pepe? Don’t mind me and my cured egg yolk on top.

And that’s because it is so good with savory dishes. It adds a subtle richness but is still packed with salty flavor. Almost like what a parmesan does, but it’s an egg yolk!

Cured egg yolks also emulsify like a dream. So if you are making a soup and you want some extra thickness and richness, grate a cured egg yolk right in and watch it turn a thin soup into something creamy, brothy and delicious. And the same with pasta sauce! If your garlic cream sauce is looking a little lackluster, add in some cured egg yolk and watch something magical happen.

Plus cured egg yolks can even be the sauce. Just use some freshly grated pepper, pasta water and cured egg yolk and you have the perfect pasta on your hands. I highly recommend topping it with parsley. 😉

Looking for other condiments?

Here are a few of my favorites from the blog!

And that’s it for these Cured Egg Yolks!

If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.

And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3