What you see: Bubbles in the yolk of a just-cracked egg.
What it is: Air bubbles that snuck in during cracking.
Eat or toss: Eat! The egg is fine.
If you find bubbles in the yolk of your just-cracked egg and everything otherwise looks normal, don’t worry. It’s probably your fault, and it’s all fine.
So, this was my egg, and when I saw those bubbles, I admit that my anxious brain immediately wondered whether some bacteria were in the egg yolk, expelling gasses that were collecting in yolky bubbles.
But when I shared this image with Deana R. Jones, director of the U.S. National Poultry Research Center, she was unconcerned. Most likely, she said, when I cracked the egg, I pierced the membrane around the yolk a tiny bit, enabling air to sneak in and form those bubbles, which likely expanded due to the heat of cooking. Then, as the egg cooked in the pan, the heat seared that pierced area shut, effectively trapping the air. So, bubbles.
The problem, you see, is my technique. Despite my best efforts, I’m prone to occasionally breaking yolks on the way to the pan, so this all tracks.
To further set our minds at ease, Jones explained why she wasn’t worried about food safety in this scenario:
“See how the yolk’s a consistent color? It’s not like it’s a splotchy color that would lead us to say ‘Oh, there’s microbial growth in there and it’s producing a gas,” she said, noting that a bacteria’s byproducts often lead to chemical changes that cause colors to shift. “It wouldn’t be that nice vibrant color.”
