Can You Use Medium Eggs Instead of Large?

Worked Example: Recipe Calls for 3 Large Eggs

Our egg size converter rescales by weight, using 68g for a large egg and 58g for a medium egg (in shell). For a recipe written for 3 large eggs:

• Total egg weight needed: 3 × 68g = 204g
• Medium eggs to match: 204g ÷ 58g = 3.52
• Rounded to a whole egg: 4 medium eggs

It works the same way in reverse. A recipe written for 4 medium eggs: 4 × 58g = 232g; 232g ÷ 68g = 3.41, which rounds to 3 large eggs. That is why the two directions land on the same swap: 3 large for 4 medium, or 4 medium for 3 large.

Quick Conversion Table

For any other quantity, or to swap in small or very large eggs too, use the egg size converter directly.

When to Weigh Instead of Count

Whole-egg counting is fine for most baking, cakes, muffins, quick breads, where a few grams either way barely changes the result. For recipes that depend on an exact amount of egg, meringues, macarons, hollandaise, custards, weigh the cracked egg instead of counting shells, because shell thickness varies and the in-shell weight is not what actually goes into the bowl.

Our egg size substitution calculator works from the egg liquid (white plus yolk), not the shell: about 57g of liquid per large egg and about 50g per medium egg. Matched by liquid weight, that same 3-large-egg recipe looks slightly different:

• Egg liquid needed: 3 × 57g = 171g
• Medium eggs to match: 171g ÷ 50g = 3.42 → 3 medium eggs
• 3 medium eggs supply 3 × 50g = 150g, which is 21g short of 171g
• Compensate with about 20ml of extra liquid (21g ÷ 1.03 egg-liquid density)

So the whole-egg method says use 4 medium eggs; the weighed-liquid method says use 3 medium eggs plus a splash of extra liquid. Both get you close, but for recipes where egg volume controls structure, the weighed method is the more accurate one.