If egg whites, powdered have turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use them with confidence and how to choose them, cook them, store them, what to substitute, and 5 recipes to try them in.

What is egg whites, powdered?

Powdered egg white is egg white that has been pasteurized and spray-dried into a fine, pale powder. It is pure dried albumen with nothing added, so a spoonful rehydrated with water behaves like fresh white, foam and all.

Bakers reach for it for two reasons. It is shelf-stable, so there is no carton to use up, and because it is pasteurized it makes raw or barely-cooked recipes safe, which matters for icings and no-bake fillings.

For how the protein actually whips, see the egg whites page and the /recipes/eggs hub.

Reconstituting and Using It

The working ratio is about 2 teaspoons of powder whisked into 2 tablespoons of warm water to equal one fresh egg white. Let it sit a few minutes and stir again so the powder fully dissolves before you whip.

Reconstituted whites beat into a stable meringue and pipe into royal icing that dries hard for decorating cookies and gingerbread. Because the powder is pasteurized, this is the safe way to make those when the icing never gets cooked.

It also lifts no-bake desserts that lean on raw white, like the filling in this Key Lime Pie-Low Fat or the aerated layer in a Double Chocolate French Silk Pie. For a lighter set, fold it into a Chile Chocolate Mousse.

Getting a Good Foam

The grease rule still applies. Fat from a dirty bowl or any stray yolk will flatten the foam, so start with a clean glass or metal bowl.

Underhydrating is the common slip. If the powder has not fully dissolved you get gritty whites that never reach full volume, so always rest the mixture and whisk out any lumps first.

Some products are whole dried whites; others are blended with a little stabilizer and behave more like meringue powder. Check the label, because the sweetened blends change how much extra sugar a recipe needs.

Substitutes

The most direct swap is fresh egg white itself, where one white replaces the reconstituted equivalent and the pasteurization is the only thing you give up.

Meringue powder is the close cousin: dried whites already cut with sugar and stabilizer, ideal when you specifically want royal icing.

For a vegan foam, aquafaba whips like white, using about 3 tablespoons of chickpea brine per white, though it is not heat-pasteurized.

Buying and Storing

Look for it with baking supplies or cake-decorating gear rather than the dairy case, sold in cans or pouches.

Sealed and kept cool and dry, the powder lasts a year or more, well past the printed date as long as it stays away from moisture and odors.

Once opened, press the air out and reseal it tightly. Clumping is the first sign it has taken on humidity. Reconstituted whites are perishable like fresh ones, so refrigerate any extra and use it within a couple of days.

Quick facts

In Chinese

蛋清，粉末

British (UK) term

Egg whites, powdered

en français

les blancs d'œufs en poudre

en español

claras de huevo, en polvo

Recipes using egg whites, powdered

There are 5 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 5 recipes