The Only Hack You Need To Remove Shell Pieces From Your Cracked Eggs

We've all been there: that dreaded moment when you're knee deep in whipping up your favorite chocolate cake recipe. You go to crack your eggs into a bowl, ready to be whisked, only to see that little pieces of egg shell have made their way in too. Often, the situation becomes quite the mess to try to fish out those annoying tiny egg shell bits. Let's face it — some days we just don't have the best egg-cracking luck.

Whatever the case — whether you're baking a cake, cooking homemade lobster and asparagus omelets with sour cream and chives as an impressive breakfast feat, or just frying an egg, it's never a good feeling when pieces of cracked shell end up in your pan or mixing bowl. To make matters worse, it seems that whenever this happens, it is virtually impossible to fish out the small shards of cracked egg with a spoon or your fingers. It is as if the shell pieces will do anything to stay attached to the eggs.

Luckily, we have a tried-and-true method to remove your shell pieces with ease if (and when) this happens. To remove cracked egg shell shards and prevent them from getting in the way of enjoying your recipe, simply use a leftover broken shell half to scoop up any shards of cracked eggs that have gotten into the mix.

To fish out any pieces of cracked egg shell when preparing eggs over-easy or scrambled up for brunch, use a leftover broken shell half as a handy scoop. You'll find that the sharp edge of the leftover shell acts both as a knife to break through the gooey egg white and yolk and as a magnetizing shovel to spoon up those shells. Why? Seemingly magic, but as we know, like attracts like. The broken shell attracts and clings its broken egg shell bit counterparts, almost in a way too good to be true.

When trying your hand at this method, it's important to make sure you choose a leftover egg shell half that has a smooth, clean edge (and is not breaking into pieces itself) to avoid transferring any further shell to your pan as you scoop. If all you have is a leftover shell that's breaking into bits, you can try breaking off the cracked part to expose a new, clean yet jagged edge to serve as your egg shell retrieving spoon.

Once you try using a broken egg shell to fish out any cracked egg bits, you'll be amazed you never knew this trick sooner. However, with knowledge comes power, and it also could be helpful to own up to the fact that you may be cracking eggs all wrong.

To avoid little pieces of shell in your eggs in the first place, crack your egg lightly against a flat surface. Then, use your fingers to apply gentle pressure to the small fault line in the egg to result in a clean broken egg without any shell pieces. 

Alternatively, when you crack an egg on the edge of a bowl (as many of us often do), it pushes little bits of cracked eggs towards the inside of the egg, making transferring cracked shell bits to your food more likely. By cracking your egg against a flat table, counter, or cutting board, the shell stays on the outside and little cracked bits of shell carried along with the egg are minimized.