Egg sizes

Eggs are sold by weight class, and the classes are not the same everywhere. American recipes assume a US large egg unless they say otherwise. British, Irish and other European recipes usually assume a medium or large egg on their own scale, which runs heavier. For most cooking it does not matter. For baking, where eggs are much of the liquid, it can.

How to do it

When a recipe gives eggs by weight, or when you are swapping sizes:

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl on a kitchen scale and note the weight.
2. Whisk them lightly with a fork.
3. Pour off or add egg until you reach the weight you need. Keep the rest in the fridge for up to 2 days and use it in scrambled eggs.

For one or two eggs in a cake, the size difference is small. For recipes with four or more eggs, such as sponge cakes, custards and meringues, weighing helps.

How to use it

In the US, size is set by the minimum weight of a dozen. In the UK and the EU, including Sweden, each egg is graded by its own weight. Weights include the shell.

Size	US (per egg, average)	UK and EU (per egg)
Small	about 43 g	under 53 g
Medium	about 50 g	53 to 63 g
Large	about 57 g	63 to 73 g
Extra large / very large	about 64 g	73 g and over
Jumbo	about 71 g	not used

So a US large egg is about the same as a UK or EU medium egg. A UK large egg is close to a US extra large.

Out of the shell, a US large egg weighs about 50 g, roughly 30 g of white and 17 to 18 g of yolk.

Common mistakes

• Using UK large eggs in an American recipe calling for six large eggs. You add about 35 to 40 g of extra egg, which can make a cake dense or a custard firm.
• Using cold eggs when a cake recipe wants them at room temperature. Cold eggs can make creamed butter split.
• Guessing for meringues. Egg whites vary even within a size, so weigh them.

In recipes

"2 large eggs" in an American recipe means about 100 g of egg without shells. "2 medium eggs" in a British recipe means about 105 to 115 g. Swedish recipes often just say "2 ägg" without a size.