Yes, the Color of Your Egg Yolk Matters — Here’s What It Means

It can be jarring to crack an egg and see a bright orange yolk instead of the expected pale yellow, or vice versa. Americans eat on average nearly 300 eggs a year, making it likely you’ll stare down an unusual (for you) shade of yolk at some point.

While poultry researchers note that an orange yolk isn’t necessarily better than a yellow one, the shade can indicate how the hen might have been raised. We tapped four poultry experts to explain what’s behind the spectrum of egg yolk shades, and what each one means.

Related: A User’s Guide to Every Egg Carton Label, From Grades to ‘Pasture-Raised’

What colors can egg yolks be?

There are a lot of possibilities when it comes to egg yolk color. “Egg yolk color can range anywhere from almost white to a blood-red color,” says Richard Blatchford, PhD, a poultry researcher and associate specialist in Cooperative Extension: Small to Industry Scale Poultry at the UC Davis Department of Animal Science. “But the extremes are pretty rare to see.”

Grocery store eggs usually have a bright yellow or pale orange yolk, but there are variations within these colors, he says.

Poultry experts and farmers even keep track of yolk color. The DSM Yolk Color Fan is a 16-scale color index that distinguishes yolk color and is widely used in the poultry industry. Under the scale, each number corresponds with a different shade. Number one, for example, is a pale yellow, while 16 is a deep shade of orange. “People really tend to like the rich, dark-colored yolks,” says Blatchford.

Related: 30 Egg Recipes for Breakfast and Beyond

What influences the color of an egg yolk?

There are a lot of factors that can influence the egg yolk color a hen produces, and most of it comes down to diet, says Sunoh Che, DVM, PhD, assistant professor of poultry management at University of Maryland. These are the biggest factors, according to experts:

• The composition of the hen’s feed: The amount of yellow-orange carotenoids [plant pigments], like lutein from alfalfa meal and zeaxanthin from marigold flower extract, “significantly affects yolk color,” says Che.

• The amount of corn in the feed: Corn can influence how yellow a yolk is, says Blatchford. “Hens that make grocery store eggs are usually fed a corn-based diet,” he says. “That’s why most of our grocery store eggs are a yellow color, but not really bright.”

• Xanthophyll content: Xanthophyll is a yellow compound that influences egg yolk color, says Hillary Ayers, family and consumer sciences agent with University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Orange County. “Xanthophyll is found throughout the world, but is commonly found in leaves and grain,” she says. “Not all plant material is equal when it comes to containing xanthophyll — some have higher concentrations and different types.” The type of xanthophyll-containing plants a chicken eats can influence the color of the yolks, she says.

• Access to a fresh pasture: “Hens with access to fresh grass and pasture tend to produce eggs with more vibrant yolk colors,” says Che. That’s because these hens generally have a more varied diet with sources of protein from bugs and carotenoids and xanthophyll from plants.

Related: 4 Ways to Tell if Your Eggs Have Gone Bad

What does the color of your egg yolk mean?

The color of your egg yolk can suggest a few things about the hen that laid the egg. Again, a lot has to do with what the hen ate. “A hen’s diet is highly specialized, and most egg farms employ animal nutrition specialists to oversee those diets,” says Jen Houchins, PhD, RD, director of nutrition research at The American Egg Board’s Egg Nutrition Center. “Egg-laying hens are fed a high-quality, nutritionally balanced diet of feed, typically made up mostly of corn or other grains, soybean meal, vitamins, and minerals in order to produce quality eggs.” But the exact ingredients in the diet may vary based on what crops end up in the feed, she says.

Here’s what the shade of your egg yolk might mean:

• Pale yellow: This color suggests the hen had a diet heavy in wheat, barley, or white cornmeal, says Houchins.

• Bright yellow: A bright yellow or yellow-orange yolk usually suggests that the hen ate a lot of corn and/or alfalfa meal, per Houchins.

• Orange: A few factors can explain an orange yolk. “This color can be achieved by adding marigold petals or red pepper to the chicken feed,” says Houchins, noting that artificial color additives are not allowed in the U.S. “A deeper orange color may also reflect a diet that includes foraging, where hens can access different plants and insects whose pigments can impact color,” she adds.

Another influence might be the season in which the egg was laid. “In the spring and summer, the hens might be outside more,” says Blatchford. That can raise the odds of foraging, leading to a more orange yolk.

A hen’s age may also play a role in yolk color, although that’s still up for debate. “The relationship between hen age and yolk color is not straightforward,” says Che. “While some studies indicate that older hens produce darker yolks, others show more complex patterns.”

Are orange egg yolks more nutritious?

Yolk color doesn’t necessarily indicate that the egg is more nutritious. “The nutritional content of eggs — including fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K — depends more on the hen’s diet, health, breed, age, and environment than on yolk color,” says Che. “Pasture-raised hens often produce eggs with higher levels of nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins due to their diverse diet, not the intensity of yolk color.”

That said, yolk color can indicate how much carotenoids are in the egg, says Houchins. Carotenoids are linked with good eye health, along with a lowered risk of cancer, diabetes, and bodily inflammation. “Most egg yolks in the U.S. are bright yellow or yellow-orange due to the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, that typically come from the corn in the hens’ diet,” says Houchins. Generally, deeper orange egg yolks suggest a higher concentration of carotenoids. “Beyond carotenoids, though, yolk color does not indicate a more or less nutritious egg,” she says.

Ayers agrees. “No matter the color of the yolk, the nutritional value is the same. “[Eggs are a] nutrient-dense food that contains high amounts of vitamin A, D, E, K, as well as other essential nutrients,” she says.

Related: Your Questions About Double-Yolk Eggs, Answered

Do orange egg yolks taste better?

The answer is likely yes. The varied bug- and plant-rich diet of pasture-raised hens tends to result in a richer and more flavorful egg yolk. With that said, you can’t know from looking at an egg yolk that a hen was pasture-raised.

“The best tasting eggs come from happy hens that get to forage free-range on grass, bugs, and vegetable scraps,” says F&W senior food editor Breana Killeen, who raises egg-laying hens at Killeen Crossroads Farm in Shelburne, Vermont. “Chicken feed can create yolks with an orange color, but the flavor doesn’t compare to yolks from chickens that are actually foraging.”

Your best bet for flavorful eggs? Buy ones labeled pasture-raised, directly from a farmers market or farmer if you can. 

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