The Best Way To Tell If Your Eggs Have Gone Bad

Guy Fieri might hate eggs, but light and fluffy scrambled eggs are a staple of our diet, especially at breakfast. But what's the best way to tell if your eggs have gone bad? 

We've all been there. A craving for egg salad or an omelet strikes, but the only carton of eggs in your fridge was bought several weeks ago, and deciphering the numbers on your egg carton can feel near impossible. So what can you do, short of cooking the eggs, eating them, and seeing how badly your stomach aches in a few hours? Luckily there are a couple of ways to do it that won't put you in gastrointestinal distress. 

The first way to tell if your eggs are still fresh is also the easiest, because it doesn't require you to crack an egg (which can also save you money if it turns out your eggs are, in fact, fresh). All you need to do is put your uncracked, uncooked egg in a bowl of cold water. If it sinks and lays flat or stands on its end, your egg is fresh enough to eat. If your egg floats, however, it's likely gone bad (via Wonder How To). 

That's because as eggs age, their porous shells let in air — the more air inside, the older the egg is, and the likelier it is to float to the surface of the water. 

Another way to test if your eggs are fresh is to crack the egg onto a flat plate (via Help With Cooking). If the egg is fresh, the whites will be thick and semi-cloudy, and the yolk will be convex. A bad egg will have a flat yolk and watery, runny whites. Bad eggs may also have an unpleasant odor. If your egg spreads out over the plate thinly and has a funky smell, don't cook with it.