The eggs are surprisingly light in your hand and feel almost too delicate, but don’t be fooled by their strength of flavor: Quail eggs aren’t necessarily an easy swap-in for chicken eggs. Since all breeds’ eggs vary in weight and size, it’s not as straightforward of an exchange as simply guessing the number.
For example, what do you think would happen if you guessed wrong on the yield and ended up under-egging your batter? Visualizing this contrast explain the nuances behind each breed’s eggs, from the tiny button quail to the larger jumbo Coturnix varieties. And why you should of never guess when measuring out a recipe.
How to Cook with Quail Eggs
Most backyard keepers begin with Coturnix quail because they are popular in quail world. They yield an egg averaging between 9-10 grams, which is about one-fifth the weight of a large chicken egg. This means about five Coturnix eggs provides as much volume as one typical egg for baking or scrambling. A lot of cracking, yes, but since whites-to-yolk ratio is higher, the dishes come out more creamy and deeply colored then a dish made from only big chicken eggs.
For those reasons, their yolks are popular among chefs, though there is differences depending on strain. The chart below gives some idea of how much size varies within Coturnix family. The Jumbo strains approach 14 grams, while the smaller Tuxedo strains stick around 9ish.
Why does it matter? When you’re pickling, or canning or whatever, you want things to cook evenly… And different-sized eggs won’t do that. If you’ve got both mature jumbos and tiny babies mixed together in same jar, some will get over-cooked, and others runny. Sort them by weight first if you want your pickles to look professional.
From left are dark speckled brown California quail shells and creamy white bobwhite shells. These shell designs is not for show; they are camouflage, developed naturaly over ages to hide hens’ eggs in their native environments from predators.
However, regardless of breed (if you feed them well), the inside of any chicken’s egg will be good quality. Did You Know? Egg size varies with hen age. Young hens begin small and lay some irregular, thin-shelled, occasionally odd-shaped six-gram eggs, says infographic. Once a hen matures; between ten and sixteen weeks old, and enters her prime laying period, the eggs weighs in more consistently and stabilize in size and shape. At around nine to twelve months of age, hens reach full egg size, though egg-laying frequency begin to drop.
Which brings me back to the topic at hand, this aging will explain how your initial batch of quail eggs may appear different than your next (and later) batches after several months. It’s expected. It is normal.
However, if you’re hatching, egg size is also very important, with optimal hatch rates occurring around middle-sized eggs which weigh between nine and twelve grams. Unusually large or small eggs will be less likely to hatch, as they’ll either have too thin of shells or improperly developed yolks. Knowing the average weight of your flock can also act as an early indicator of any health problems, since a drastic reduction in size often indicates heat stress or nutritional deficiency long before you’ll notice lethargy in birds themselves.
Always use a digital kitchen scale when replacing chicken eggs to eliminate all guess work. Instead of counting individual quails’ eggs, simply break some open in a bowl till the scale displays the desired amount (if it says ‘100g‘ of egg liquid, for example, then that’s what you’ve got). This method automatically accounts for hen’s age and breed, giving you accurate results without having to look up conversion charts.
Quail eggs are a treat. They have a strong flavour that deserves to be respected. Using them well in recipes can turn even the simplest dish into something special. So next time you grab that bunch of colourful treasure, don’t forget: their small size conceals a potent punch in the kitchen.