How to tell if your eggs are still good to eat

Eggs are great to keep on-hand as they’ve super versatile, but sometimes it can go days before you whip up an omelette or last-minute frittata for unexpected guests.

However, if the expiration date on your carton of eggs has passed, don’t throw them out! It turns out, expired eggs are often still good to eat. But no one likes a rotten egg, so if you don’t want to take the risk, the good news is there is a way to test whether your eggs are still okay to use.

To get started, all you have to do is fill a bowl with cold water and place the egg inside. If the egg sinks to the bottom and lays flat on one side, it’s still fresh and good to eat. But if the egg stands upright on the bottom, it’s good, but should be used very soon. And if the egg floats to the top, it’s past its prime and not good for eating — sounds pretty straight forward, right?

The reason this method works so well is that eggshells are porous. Over time air passes through the shell into the egg, which explains why fresh eggs sink to the bottom and older eggs float.

It’s a bit of a no-brainer, but another way to test whether an egg is okay to eat is to crack it onto a clean plate. If the egg has a foul smell, it’s no good. While others claim if you hold up an egg to your ear and shake it and you hear a sloshing sound inside, it’s supposedly gone off. However, if you hear nothing, it’s fine to eat. Although, we’re not too sure how accurate this method is, so we’d recommend either sticking with the egg in the bowl trick or cracking it onto a plate.

What about hard-boiled eggs? Unlike fresh eggs, hard-boiled eggs don’t last as long. This is because when you boil an egg the protective outer layer that coats the shell gets removed, which means the egg becomes more porous — and the older an egg gets, the more air there is in the shell. According to Australian Eggs, hard-boiled eggs can last up to one week in the fridge if they remain in the shell or about five days if peeled. Just make sure you refrigerate the eggs within two hours of cooking.