Maybe you’re on an egg white omelet kick or maybe you just made a dessert that uses a lot of egg whites (angel food cake and meringues, we’re looking at you). It feels wasteful and expensive to throw away those leftover egg yolks. Instead, mix them together and remember this conversion: 1 large egg yolk is typically 1 tablespoon or .54 ounces. According to the USDA, you can store egg yolks in the fridge for up to four days. Stash them there now and make one of our leftover egg yolk ideas later.

#1: Whip Up Caesar Salad Dressing

Meet one of the lowest lift ways to use up extra egg yolks: make a batch of Caesar salad dressing. Food Network Kitchen’s recipe for The Best Caesar Salad (pictured above) is a classic place to start. Looking for creative ideas to use that Caesar dressing? Check out our Caesar Salad Pizza and Chicken Caesar Crouton Cups.

#2: Add an Extra Egg Yolk to Box Cake Mix or Chocolate Chip Cookies

Egg yolks contain moisture and fat, and when you add an extra one to desserts that are easy to tinker with, like box cake mix or your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, it makes for richer results. Chocolate chip cookies will taste chewier, while cake mix will taste moister. Our Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies (pictured above) lean on an extra egg yolk for moisture and chew, as do our Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies.

#3: Make Carbonara

Egg yolks along with a few other tasty ingredients like Parmesan come together to make Carbonara’s silky, rich yellow sauce. If you have leftover egg yolks, you have an excuse to make it for dinner. Check out our recipe for The Best Carbonara (pictured above) or iterate on the classic and make some Spaghetti Squash Carbonara or Carbonara Fried Rice.

#4: Use Them As Egg Wash

Egg wash made from egg yolks instead of whole eggs turns baked goods extra golden brown. See, for example, our Golden Rugelach recipe, Pecan Coconut Pie (pictured above) and Grape Galette with Almond Cream, which are all beautifully burnished.

#5: Bake a Creamy, Custardy Dessert

Egg yolks make for a glossy, smooth, deep yellow custard. If you’re into baking, save your egg yolks and then put them to work in a beautiful custardy dessert like Key Lime Pie, The Best Creme Brulee, Classic Banana Pudding (pictured above) or Pots De Creme.

#6: Mix an Emulsified Sauce

Several classic sauces lean on egg yolks for their thick and creamy consistency, including hollandaise sauce (our Blender Hollandaise, pictured above, is a breeze), aioli and mayonnaise. Make sure you buy pasteurized eggs because you’ll be eating them raw.

#7: Make Ice Cream

Egg yolks (and typically a large number of them) give homemade ice cream recipes their creaminess. If you’re feeling motivated, our Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream, Black Sesame Ice Cream and Sweet Corn Ice Cream (pictured above) recipes will serve as inspiration.

#8: Bake The Tenderest Sugar Cookies

For extra rich sugar cookies that snap but aren’t brittle, add an egg yolk to the dough. Our Red Velvet Sugar Cookies (pictured above), The Best Butter Cookies and Pink Grapefruit Shortbread are great examples of this principle in action.

#9: Stuff Foods with Whole Egg Yolks

You know when you break into a perfectly poached or soft-boiled egg and the yolk runs out, lovely for mopping up with bread or other carbs at hand? Well, you can recreate that effect by gently stuffing whole raw egg yolks into dishes like this Crispy Rice Pancake with Egg Yolk Center, Egg Stuffed Ravioli (pictured above) and Egg Yolk Stuffed Latkes.

#10: Use Egg Yolks as a Rich Binder

Recipes like meatballs and meatloaf commonly call for an egg mixed in to bind (or hold) the mixture together. Egg yolk on its own can work the same way, imparting a much richer flavor. For example, egg yolk binds together the cheesy bacon filling in these Bacon, Egg and Cheese "Toaster Tarts" (pictured above) as does it the cheesy veggie filling in these Bacon Ravioli with Mushrooms.

#11: Cook Some Shepherd’s Pie

Fun fact: egg yolks are commonly mixed into the mashed potatoes crowning shepherd’s pie to help form a beautiful golden crust. If you’re looking for a recipe, check out ours for The Best Shepherd’s Pie (pictured above) and Chicken Shepherd’s Pie. And if you’re making a casserole dish full of baked mashed potatoes, you might want to try mixing in a few egg yolks to achieve the same effect.

#12: Make Eggnog

Eggnog is a very fast way to use up a lot of egg yolks quickly (our Capital Eggnog recipe, for example, uses 12 egg yolks!). Even if it’s not Christmas time, eggnog is a great secret ingredient for baking. It enhances these Eggnog-Cranberry Muffins, this Eggnog Coffee Cake (pictured above) and Eggnog Overnight Toast, to name a few stunner applications.

Related Links:

Our Best Egg Recipes

Our Official List of the Best Food Network Kitchen Desserts

77 Breakfast Recipes That Make It Easy to Rise and Shine