When it comes to egg production in a backyard flock, most people think, the more the merrier! But what do you do when your flock is producing more eggs than your family can possibly eat? How do you use up all those extra eggs coming out of your chicken coop?
Fortunately there are plenty of solutions to egg over-production. From egg-heavy recipes using at least half a dozen eggs to preservation methods, there’s a lot of things your family can do to solve this problem.
We’ve found the best egg recipes, preservation techniques, and creative uses for eggs. Enjoy!
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How to use Extra Eggs from your Backyard Chickens
One of our favorite ways to use an abundance of eggs is by cooking them into a favorite recipe to be shared with family and friends. That’s one of the best reasons to raise chickens after all, is for the joy of eating fresh eggs!
The following recipes use a lot of excess eggs and make wonderful breakfast dishes, lunch, dinner, and dessert!
Recipes That Use Up Extra Eggs (Half a Dozen Eggs or MORE!)
Egg Salad
Egg Count: Infinite
We love to make a big batch of egg salad on the weekend and use it for quick lunches throughout the week.
Deviled Eggs
Egg Count: Infinite
Deviled eggs are always a popular hit at parties, or just for the fun of it! This recipe is amazing, definitely worth a try.
Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
Egg Count: 1 dozen eggs
A easy, sure-to-be-a-hit casserole that’s also doubles as a freezer meal! It’s a great way to use up an extra carton of eggs.
Taco Egg Breakfast Muffins
Egg Count: 1 dozen eggs
Taco-flavored breakfast? Nobody’s gonna complain about that one!
Breakfast Enchilada Bake
Egg Count: 1 dozen eggs
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I’d happily serve this any time of the day! I bet it would freeze well too!
12-Yolk Pound Cake
Egg Count: 1 dozen eggs
Reserve your egg whites and when you’re done making this pound cake, bake an angel food cake! (Unless you really have a lot of eggs and want to use 2 dozen eggs to make both. I’ll never tell.)
Angel Food Cake
Egg Count: 1 dozen eggs
Angel Food Cake is a sweet way to down a dozen eggs in one crack. Homemade is so much tastier than store bought and super impressive if you have guests.
Perfect White Cake
Egg Count: 9
If you’re going to bake a white cake from scratch, this white cake recipe is a winner! (Unless you don’t have a lot of eggs on hand.)
Everything Cheesy Potato & Egg Bake
Egg Count: 8+ eggs
This ones a great way to use up extra mashed potatoes and extra eggs. Plus cheese & bacon?! How bad could it be?
Berry French Toast Casserole
Egg Count: 8 eggs
Make-ahead summertime french toast casserole loaded with fresh berries! All you have to do is pop it in the oven in the morning and bake away. Spend that time sipping your coffee on the front porch watching the chickens scratch around instead of making breakfast.
Flourless Chocolate Torte
Egg Count: 8 eggs
A decadent chocolate desert that you can even serve to your gluten-free friends that is sure to be hit even with folks who love their gluten!
Make Ice Cream
Egg Count: 6 eggs
Who doesn’t love ice cream? A good custard contains a lot of eggs in the base. You can even whip up several differently flavored batches to use up several dozen eggs at once if you have an ice cream maker! This is a family favorite and we love to gift the homemade ice cream to friends and family when they need a cheer up!
Huevos Rancheros Breakfast Nachos
Egg Count: 6+ eggs
Um… I’m pretty sure I would eat this any time of the day, not just for breakfast. But these nachos are surely a great incentive to roll out of bed. The nice thing about this kind of recipe is if you have extra eggs you need to use, just crack on another one.
Quiche
Egg Count: 6 eggs
Quiche is a great thing to make when you have too many eggs in the fridge. Why not make a whole bunch of quiche and freeze them for quick meals throughout the week?
Frittata
Egg Count: 8 eggs
Kinda like a crustless quiche, frittata bakes up more quickly and is perfect for a quick breakfast or even weeknight meal. And the flavor combinations are endless!
Egg Noodles
Egg Count: 3+ eggs
One of the most delicious ways to use lots of extra eggs is to make egg noodles. When we have lots of eggs to spare we like to make a big batch of egg noodles and dry some to use next time!
Drying pasta is easy with a pasta drying rack, and you can store them for a long time. There’s really nothing better than fresh pasta, and it’s a fun culinary project to make with the kids!
How to Preserve Extra Eggs for Later
Pickled Eggs
Egg Count: Infinite
People have been pickling eggs for centuries. It’s a wonderful method of preservation, although maybe a little weird the first time you try it!
Freezing Eggs
Egg Count: Infinite
Did you know you can preserve eggs by freezing them? The wonderful website Salt in my Coffee shows you just how to do it! Freezing is a great option because you can pull them out for an easy breakfast or delicious meal in the winter, when eggs are more scarce.
Lemon Curd
Egg Count: 11 eggs
Yep. You can even preserve lemon curd! I think this might just be the one of the most tasty ways to preserve extra eggs!
Dehydrated Eggs
Egg Count: Infinite
Dehydration is a great way to preserve extra eggs. If you already have a dehydrator it’s easy as pie, and if you don’t, you should definitely look into getting one, there are thousands of uses for them!
Looking for EVEN MORE RECIPES? Check out our ULTIMATE GUIDE with over 200 recipes that use at least 4 eggs!
From breakfast, dinner, dessert, tacos, breads, salads, quiche, frittatas, more preservation ideas, even drinks, you’ll be through that basket of eggs in no time!
From breakfast, dinner, dessert, tacos, breads, salads, quiche, frittatas, more preservation ideas, even drinks, you’ll be through that basket of eggs in no time!
Creative Uses for Lots of Eggs
Feed them back to the birds
If your refrigerator is truly overflowing with eggs and cooking them up or preserving them is not an option, you can feed them back to the chickens.
Some chicken keepers may find this to be horrible, but chickens eat their own eggs in nature, it’s a great source of nutrients, and if you include the shell, calcium too!
When we have way too many eggs to eat in a reasonable amount of time, we hard boil a dozen of them and crush them with a potato masher, shell and all. The snack is fed back to the birds and boosts their health while freeing up space in the fridge.
Feed them to the dog
Dogs love eggs, and they’re a very healthy treat! Eggs can help improve your dog’s skin and coat, making it extra shiny! We like to crack a raw egg into our dog’s food every morning and evening. She loves the extra treat!
Sell the eggs
Put up a nice fresh eggs signin front of your house to sell eggs to all who drive by. Or you can sell them to friends and family, or take them into work and offer them to your co-workers.
You may be surprised how easy it is to sell your extra eggs, people just love that farm fresh taste!
Gift them to your loved ones
When we have an abundance of eggs we love to give them to family and friends. We bring cartons full of eggs along to dinner parties, drop them on porches, and use them as a way to show love and thanks to those we love.
We also love to give them to our neighbors! The best way to keep the peace with your neighbors is to supply them with farm fresh eggs! We drop off cartons of eggs on our neighbor’s porch several times a year to show our neighborly love!
Give them to a local food pantry
Some food pantries accept fresh eggs, and some don’t, it all depends on where you live! It’s worth a shot to call up your local food pantry and ask if they will take your eggs. You’ll feel so good helping out your neighbors, and they’ll be so grateful for the highly nutritious fresh eggs.
We hope you found at least a few ways to use up those extra eggs from your backyard chickens. Enjoy your egg bounty while it lasts!
Want to keep reading? You may be interested in reading our post about issues with farm fresh eggs:What’s the Deal with Farm Fresh Eggs?
