How many egg whites equal one whole egg in baking?

Answer 1

An egg from a domestic fowl (common hen or chicken) or duck is 30-40% yolk and 60-70% white (albumen) by weight. For baking purposes we do not usually need great precision, so we can assume the same proportions by volume.

The albumen is mostly protein and water, and the yolk is an emulsion of fat, protein and water, so if no yolk is used a little replacement fat or oil should be added as a substitute, and more egg white used in proportion to the amount of yolks left out.

If a recipe requires N eggs an equivalent is roughly = 1.3 x N of egg whites plus about N teaspoons oil.

The more eggs a recipe has, and the bigger the proportion of overall ingredients they are, the more rough this approximation will be, as it makes quite a few assumptions.

For simple cakes it may work, but probably not for the very egg rich Choux pastry (profiteroles, chocolate eclairs etc). Also the flavour will be less rich.

Answer 2

2 egg whites = 1 egg