Egg recipes to use up a dozen eggs

By John Walker · Backyard chicken keeper in Dallas, Texas since 2017

Egg recipes to use up a dozen eggs are what every keeper needs in spring, when the hens are laying faster than the household can eat. A dozen eggs is a lot to use in a day, but it is easy when the recipe is built around eggs rather than using one or two as an ingredient. A frittata uses eight eggs, a quiche uses six, and a baked custard uses six more, so two recipes can clear a dozen eggs in one evening. This guide gives practical recipes that use six to twelve eggs at once, with tips on storage, freezing, and sharing the surplus.

Egg recipes to use up a dozen eggs: the best starting points

Egg recipes to use up a dozen eggs work best when the eggs are the main ingredient, not a small part of the dish. A frittata, which is an Italian open omelette cooked in a pan and finished in the oven, uses eight eggs and any vegetables, cheese, or leftover meat you have.

A quiche uses six eggs with cream and cheese in a pastry case, and it keeps well in the fridge for days. A baked egg custard uses six eggs with milk and sugar, and it is a simple dessert that uses a lot of eggs at once.

The trick is to plan two egg-heavy dishes for the same day. A frittata for lunch and a quiche for dinner, for example, uses fourteen eggs between them, which clears more than a dozen. Or make a large frittata and a batch of custard, and freeze half of each for later. The recipes below are all simple, they use everyday ingredients, and they are forgiving, which matters when you are cooking with a glut of eggs.

Frittata: the eight-egg answer

A frittata is the fastest way to use eight eggs. Beat eight eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt, and add a splash of milk if you like. Fry chopped onion, peppers, courgette, or any leftover vegetables in an oven-proof pan, pour the eggs over them, and add grated cheese on top.

Cook on a low heat until the edges set, then put the pan under the grill or in the oven until the top is firm and golden.

A frittata takes about twenty minutes from start to finish, and it serves four people. It is good hot or cold, so you can eat half for lunch and keep half for the next day. It also freezes well in slices, so you can make two frittatas at once and freeze one for a busy day. The vegetables can be anything you have, which makes it a good way to use up garden produce as well as eggs.

Recipe	Eggs used	Time	Serves
Frittata	8	20 minutes	4
Quiche	6	45 minutes	6
Baked custard	6	45 minutes	6
Spanish tortilla	6	30 minutes	4
Breakfast casserole	10	50 minutes	8
Egg fried rice	4	15 minutes	4

Quiche: six eggs in a pastry case

A quiche uses six eggs, and it is one of the best ways to use a dozen eggs when you make two at once. Make or buy a pastry case, and fill it with cooked bacon, ham, or vegetables, plus grated cheese.

Beat six eggs with a cup of cream or milk, pour the mix over the filling, and bake in a moderate oven until the filling is set and the top is golden. A quiche takes about forty-five minutes to bake, and it serves six people.

Quiche keeps in the fridge for three or four days, and it freezes well in slices. It is good for lunch, for a picnic, or for a light dinner with a salad. You can vary the filling with whatever you have: mushrooms and cheese, spinach and feta, or smoked salmon and dill. The eggs are the same in each case, and the quiche is a reliable way to use six eggs at a time.

Baked custard and egg-rich desserts

Baked custard uses six eggs, and it is a simple dessert that uses a lot of eggs at once. Beat six eggs with sugar and a little vanilla, add warm milk, pour the mix into a baking dish, and bake in a water bath in a moderate oven until it is just set.

A water bath is a larger dish filled with hot water, and it stops the custard from curdling. Baked custard takes about forty-five minutes, and it serves six people.

Other egg-rich desserts include a pavlova, which uses six egg whites, and a lemon curd, which uses four yolks and two whole eggs. If you make a pavlova, use the leftover yolks for custard or for mayonnaise, so no egg is wasted. A sponge cake uses four to six eggs, and a batch of Yorkshire puddings uses four eggs. The point is that desserts are a good way to use eggs, and they are popular with the whole household.

Egg fried rice and other savoury dishes

Egg fried rice uses four eggs, and it is a quick dinner that uses up leftover rice as well as eggs. Beat the eggs, fry them in a hot pan, and set them aside. Fry chopped vegetables and cold rice in the same pan, add the egg back in, and season with soy sauce.

It takes about fifteen minutes, and it serves four people. A Spanish tortilla, which is a thick potato omelette, uses six eggs and is a good lunch dish.

Other savoury dishes that use a lot of eggs include a strata, which is a bread and egg bake that uses eight eggs and stale bread, and a breakfast casserole, which uses ten eggs with sausage, cheese, and bread, and which can be made the night before and baked in the morning. Both are good for a weekend brunch, and both freeze well in portions.

Baking with a dozen eggs

Baking is a good way to use eggs, because most cakes, muffins, and biscuits use eggs, and a batch of baking can use six eggs at once. A sponge cake uses four to six eggs, a batch of muffins uses two eggs, and a batch of brownies uses three eggs.

If you bake a cake, a batch of muffins, and a batch of brownies in one afternoon, you will have used eleven eggs, which is nearly a dozen.

Baked goods also freeze well, so you can bake in bulk and freeze the results for later. Wrap cakes and muffins well, label them with the date, and use them within a few months. If you have a lot of egg whites left over, make meringues, which use only whites and sugar, and which keep well in a dry tin for a week.

What to do with eggs you cannot cook

If you cannot cook all the surplus, there are other options. Freeze the eggs: crack them, beat them lightly, and freeze them in portions of two or three, and they will keep for up to a year. Give eggs to neighbours, friends, and family, because a dozen fresh eggs is a welcome gift, and it builds goodwill.

Sell them if your local rules allow it, and check the rules first, because some places need a licence or a label.

You can also feed cooked eggs back to the chickens, although that should be a small share of their diet. Scrambled eggs are a good protein treat, but do not feed raw eggs, because that can teach hens to eat their own eggs. And do not throw eggs away if you can help it, because a fresh egg is a valuable food, and there is always someone who will be glad of it.

A dozen eggs is easy to use when the recipe is built around eggs rather than using one or two as an ingredient. A frittata uses eight, a quiche uses six, and a baked custard uses six more, so two dishes can clear a dozen eggs in one evening. Cook in bulk, freeze the extra in portions, and share what you cannot use with neighbours or friends. And if the glut keeps coming, freeze the eggs raw in portions of two or three, so you have a supply for winter. A spring glut is a good problem to have, and these recipes make it easy to enjoy.

Sources: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, shell eggs from farm to table and University of Georgia Extension, freezing eggs.

Related tools and guides

For more on the same topic, see How to Freeze Fresh Eggs. You can also browse the full list in our guides hub.

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