2 Minute Egg Wash Recipe (2024)

Egg wash is the perfect finishing touch to take your baked goods to the next level. While a recipe for whisking egg wash might seem overly simple because it only takes 2 minutes to prepare, the secret to creating a beautiful golden-brown finish on your pastries, bread, or pies is in your egg wash's egg-to-water ratio.

Hi hi! Just popping in to share a 'recipe' for something that I use in a bunch of my baking - egg wash!

While a recipe for egg wash might seem super simple, I often get asked about how to make egg wash, how to store it, and good egg wash substitutes, so I thought that I would pop all the relevant information in one place for you!

I use egg wash for pie recipes, to help the salt on my pretzel recipe stick, and for giving homemade burger buns that beautiful golden brown finish.

What is Egg Wash?

Egg wash is a mix of beaten whole egg and water (or milk or cream), which is used to brush onto the top of baked goods before baking. The purpose of egg wash is to provide a nice golden brown, shiny finish on your baking. I use this egg wash for pie crust, or this also makes a great egg wash for bread recipes.

For most applications, egg wash is purely aesthetic, although I often use it to help adhere raw sugar on my pies and it is helpful for sealing a pie crust if you are making a blind baked pie crust for something like a lemon meringue pie.

How to make Egg Wash

While there isn't really a need for an egg wash recipe here, the ratio that I usually go for when I make egg wash is One whole egg, whisked with 1 Tablespoon of cool water. I just mix them together well with a fork or a whisk in a small bowl or a container that I can add a lid to, then use to finish my dough or baking as needed.

The one tip I have here is to make sure that your egg wash is super well combined so that it is nice and smooth when you brush it onto your baked goods. I like to give it a really good whisk, then re-stir it quickly before using if it has been sitting for a while.

If you have any stringy bits in the egg when you crack it into your bowl or container, fish those out first.

Is Egg Wash Necessary?

Like I said above - egg wash is an optional step. If you are really short on eggs, you can skip it, or see the section down below on egg was substitutes. If you also only have an egg yolk or egg white leftover this will work too, but will have varying results - egg white will give a more clear shine, while egg yolk only will give a slightly darker finish.

I prefer to use a whole egg combined with water, but use what you have on hand! Make sure if you do skip it, you pay attention to bake time - if a recipe uses an egg wash then it will likely brown quicker. You don't want to dry out whatever you are making so just keep this in mind.

How to Store

Egg wash will keep, stored in the fridge in an airtight container, for up to three days. I know a lot of people have dogs who love eggs too so give them the leftover. However if I know I am making a recipe which will need egg wash in the coming days, I just pop it into the fridge, or into the compost if I know I will not be using it again.

Make sure that if you re-use your egg wash that you give it a good whisk to make sure that it is fully combined before using.

Egg Wash Substitutes

My regular egg wash recipe is just egg and water, but here are a few alternatives:

• Whole egg and milk or cream. Has a very similar outcome to egg and water, but will give you a slightly lighter golden color on your baked goods.
• Whole egg only. Whisked whole egg will also work for an egg wash with no additional liquid added - this will give you a deep golden brown color.
• Egg Yolk Only. Again, if you only have an egg yolk on hand it will work fine, I would mix it with a little water first.
• Egg white only. This will give you more of a clear shiny finish rather than a more golden brown one.
• Milk or cream. If you don't have any eggs, or you can't be bothered making an egg wash, brushing your baking with milk or cream before it goes into the oven works great too. This technique is often used in scone recipes.
• Plant based milk. If you are after a dairy or egg free 'egg wash', plant based milk will work in a pinch - this would be my last choice as it has much less protein in it than egg or milk / cream, but if it's all you have, it should be ok!
• Butter. I use butter to brush my garlic knots before they go into the oven - as you can see in the images in the post, they come out of the oven much more matte than if you had have used an egg wash recipe such as in my small batch dinner roll recipe.

Print

Key Ingredients

• Egg White
• Egg Yolk

Reader Interactions