Eggs: Opportunities Abound for the Culinary ‘Swiss Army Knife’
This episode is brought to you by the American Egg Board.
Eggs remain a well-rounded, multi-functional staple of every kitchen, whether for industrial product formulators or at-home chefs. Consumers understand that seeing eggs on the ingredient list often translates to a product featuring simplicity with numerous attributes and health benefits. Nelson Serrano-Bahri, director of Innovation for the American Egg Board, discusses the various ways eggs are being used in products and offers additional opportunities for companies to put this “Swiss Army knife” of the ingredient world to good use.
This episode is sponsored by the American Egg Board (AEB). Learn more about AEB.
Food Processing: We’re hearing more nowadays about a return to “whole foods.” What’s driving that shift today?
Nelson Serrano-Bahri: People are looking at ingredient statements a lot more closely, thinking about protein and nutrient density, added sugars and artificial ingredients, and how processed the product is. They want foods that fit their lifestyles but also feel more real and trustworthy. The opportunity is to make processed foods feel more connected to whole food nutrition and recognizable ingredients. The question is no longer, “Can I make this product?” The question has become, “Can we make it in a way that consumers understand, feel good about it and still love to eat it?”
FP: Where do eggs fit into that movement, and why do they resonate so strongly with consumers?
NS: When a consumer sees eggs on a label, they understand what that ingredient is and what it contributes: richness, color, texture, structure, and nutrition. The combination of familiarity, approachability, and relevance is why eggs continue to resonate with most consumers. Eggs are identified in current federal Dietary Guidelines as a nutrient-dense, whole-food protein option, and American Egg Board resources show that egg products can contribute nutrition, sensory quality, and clean-label familiarity across food and beverage applications.
FP: What makes eggs so hard to replace when it comes to performance and formulation?
NS: Honestly, I call them the Swiss Army knife of ingredients in a kitchen, because the whites contribute structure, aeration, binding and protein, while the yolks contribute richness, color, emulsion and a beautiful, creamy eating quality. Together, the whole egg can help with moisture, tenderness, flavor development and overall product integrity. This is why replacing eggs is often much more complicated than it first appears. A replacement may be able to copy one function or another, but then you still have to recover other functions in other ways. Suddenly, to replace one ingredient, you’re creating a system of ingredients to try to rebuild what the egg was already doing perfectly well naturally.
FP: How are brands using eggs to meet clean-label expectations while still delivering on taste, texture and overall product performance?
NS: Eggs allow manufacturers to lean into familiar ingredients while still getting serious technical performance. For brands, eggs can become part of the clean-label solution, not because the product becomes simplistic, but because the formulation can become more understandable without sacrificing performance. I think the biggest opportunity is to stop seeing eggs only through the lens of breakfast. Breakfast will always matter, and it is super important, but eggs have so much more room to play across the food industry. Eggs can bring high-quality protein, functionality and a whole-food connection, really helping products be executed in the right way while providing consumers with the right sensory experience and format.
We also have an opportunity to look more intentionally at the whole egg, including the yolk. For years, a lot of protein innovation has focused on the whites alone. Egg whites are incredibly valuable, but the yolk is the powerhouse. The yolk brings functionality, flavor, emulsion, color and nutrient density. There is a lot of innovation possible when we stop separating the nutrition story from the culinary story.
FP: Looking ahead, where are the biggest opportunities for eggs?
NS: Eggs are being reimagined in ways that go far beyond the breakfast plate. We are exploring eggs in protein beverages and powdered drink mixes where they can contribute protein in new formats. We’re also looking at high-protein frozen desserts where eggs can help with both nutrition and an indulgent, creamy experience. We are thinking about sauces, custards, foams and culinary toppings that can bring flavor and functionality into beverages and prepared foods. Snacking, also, is huge, and portable eating occasions are really big too.
Products that can give consumers the nutrition of an egg in a format that fits their day, not just their breakfast routine, are another huge opportunity that we’re looking into. The future becomes really interesting because the egg does not have to lose its identity to become innovative. We do not have to disguise it in any way. We can use everything consumers already love and trust about eggs, and apply that to entirely new locations, formats and experiences.
The American Egg Board’s Eggcelerator Lab describes its mission as putting eggs in front of consumers in new ways, and we publicly highlight innovation in products such as grab-and-go formats, egg-based cereal and beverage-focused development. A good example of this is cake. In a cake system, eggs can help with aeration, structure, emulsification, moisture, color and flavor development. If you take the eggs out, you may need several different ingredients to rebuild all of those qualities. Even then, the finished product may not provide the same eating experience.
Sauces and dressings are another good example. Egg yolks can create a stable emulsion while also delivering richness and creamy mouthfeel. That one familiar ingredient can help do the work that otherwise might require a more complicated stabilizer or emulsification system. Frozen desserts are another interesting space. Eggs can help support creaminess, richness and texture while giving the product a more recognizable ingredient story. Then there are prepared foods such as egg bites, patties, handheld meals or savory fillings. Eggs can provide protein, structure, binding and flavor all from one ingredient.
And I go back to the Swiss Army knife analogy that I mentioned. This can work the very same way in industrial food processing. Egg products have documented functional applications in bakery, sauces, dressings, frozen foods and prepared foods, with functions ranging from moisture retention and aeration to emulsification, texture, and crystallization control. So really, just one ingredient, just that one egg, is a whole functional system wrapped into one.