13 Best Egg Brands, Ranked

At the heart of countless memorable meals, eggs possess an unparalleled versatility that brings joy to our taste buds. Brunch, a delightful fusion of breakfast and lunch, is the best occasion to showcase this perfect protein. From the classic eggs Benedict to mouthwatering scrambled eggs, fried eggs, and casseroles that marry a medley of flavors, these tasty creations elevate the humble egg to new culinary heights. However, the story behind the humble egg is more complex than it may seem.

Our growing awareness of the conditions under which farms raise hens has led to a demand for more humane and environmentally-friendly egg production methods that produce the highest quality eggs. Consequently, there is now a diverse array of egg types, including cage-free, free-range, and pasture-raised options, each reflecting different levels of animal welfare and environmental sustainability. The days of relying solely on traditional white eggs from hens confined to cramped coops are a thing of the past.

Of course, each specified term means something different. For example, cage-free eggs come from hens not confined to cages but may still be housed indoors. Free-range eggs are produced by hens with access to the outdoors, allowing them to roam and engage in natural behaviors. Pasture-raised eggs, often considered the gold standard, come from hens that are given ample outdoor space to forage and roam freely, resulting in a higher quality of life for the animals and a superior nutritional profile for the eggs. Here are the best egg brands, ranked.

Sauder's Eggs, a versatile and comprehensive egg supplier, provides a wide array of egg options to cater to everyone's needs and preferences. The offerings range from traditional white eggs to pasture-raised ones, and almost every variation in between, ensuring that there are options for every shopper's budget and comfort level.

The company's traditional white eggs come from hens that are housed in cages and kept indoors throughout their lives, with access to food and water. There are also cage-free eggs, where the hens are still housed indoors but are allowed to roam without cages. Sauder's Eggs even offers pasture-raised eggs, where the hens are given the opportunity to roam freely in an outdoor setting.

The primary distinction between these various egg options is the degree of freedom and roaming space afforded to the hens during their lifetime. While it may seem unconventional for a company to provide both pasture-raised eggs and the more traditional caged variety, this approach enables Sauder's Eggs to maintain a high degree of flexibility in its product offerings. By catering to different consumer preferences and price points, Sauder's Eggs aims to be the go-to choice for any customer searching for eggs. Even still, white eggs beside pasture-raised ones seem strange to us, and we wish Sauder's Eggs would dedicate to fully pasture-raised eggs.

While some eggs are distinctive for their color shell or yolk, Eggland's Best Eggs is notable for its stamp. By using a stamping machine equipped with food-safe ink, the company can attach its branding right to every egg.

Though egg sales were on the decline between the '60s and '90s, Eggland's Best worked hard to create an egg that would offer more to the consumer. In fact, compared to a typical white egg, you can expect significantly more vitamins A, B12, D, E, and Omega-3. It also offers 19% less cholesterol and even 25% saturated fat. These eggs are so healthy, in fact, several publications have even chosen them as a health food and even superfood.

Like many egg companies, Eggland's Best Eggs do not come from one farm. Rather, they come from a collective of farms spread throughout the country. This way, the eggs that end up in grocery stores are from local farms closer to store shelves rather than in isolated spots across the country, far from the consumer. Eggland's Best Eggs is iconic due to its stamp, but we wish it had more of a commitment to free-range eggs.

Though many companies that produce outstanding eggs have a rather small selection of products, Organic Valley's is quite sizeable. This company has a whole slew of products ranging from milk and butter to meat snacks, and, of course, eggs.

Organic Valley's eggs come in three sizes: medium, large, and extra large. You can also get a carton of egg whites and a pair of egg bites. These eggs come from pens raised following an organic free-range lifestyle. Though the eggs do have more of a yellow yolk color rather than the orange yolk that we see in some of the other brands, they are still delicious eggs.

Plus, with such a large network of farms, when the eggs arrive on your groceries refrigerator shelf, they will be fairly local to you. In fact, the company has mapped out the country into eight different segments: the Northwest, California, Rocky Mountain, Southwest, Midwest, the Great Lakes, Southeast, and Northeast. Within each of these areas, there are several farms producing products for Organic Valley. Even still, as the company is so large, the presence of that small farm feel is more allusion than anything else.

Manchester Farms, the oldest quail-producing company in the United States, has been providing high-quality quail eggs since 1974. What started as a small family-owned business has now grown into a trusted and renowned brand in the food industry. Throughout the 1980s, the company collaborated with various food service providers and retailers to help expand its reach.

Quail eggs, while less common than chicken eggs, are a delicious and nutritious alternative. In fact, they offer up to four times the nutritional value, as well as five times the amount of iron and potassium as regular eggs found in most grocery stores. Additionally, they have been known to alleviate symptoms of allergies, including hay fever. You can often find these at your local grocery store. If you're unable to find them, you can always order them online, and if you can't find them, the company even offers delivery straight to your home. Since the eggs can be a little harder to crack, Manchester Farms sells scissors to make the process easier. While we think quail eggs are a fabulous break from the norm, we wish this brand offered a little more diversity.

Eldon Miller started Farmers Hen House in 1997, and though the Amish lifestyle worked at first, the business grew quickly. Mac Miller took over in 2000 to help scale the company to grow from three farms to the 50 farms producing Farmer's Hen House eggs today.

These eggs are free-range and have access to an outdoor pasture during the day, provided the weather is nice. Most friends come from Iowa and Northern Missouri, and many of them are Amish or Mennonite farms. In addition to a pastor, the hens also have access to protection from predators and even dust-bathing areas. And in addition to a free-range environment for the eggs, most farmers can even produce the food required to feed the hands, which helps create a sustainable cycle for the farms. While other egg companies offer several different variations of their eggs, Farmer's Hen House only offers free-range. This lack of diverse offerings is certainly a con in our book.

When you choose to enjoy a plant-based diet, there are just some foods that are a little bit difficult to replicate or replace. And eggs might be the most challenging item of all, that is until JUST Egg came along.

These eggs come in a bottle similar to what you might find in ketchup. From there, you can treat them just as you would with whisked eggs. They are even the right color. By putting them in the pan and scrambling them up, you'll have some of the most delicious eggs, and they even taste pretty convincing, too. It turns out that mung beans make pretty great eggs, even if they are plants. When restaurants offer JUST Egg products on menus, we find that these are some of our favorite dishes to order. Plus, you can also purchase JUST Eggs in grocery stores. For years, they were a little tricky to find, but they are stocked in many more stores today. All that said, even though we love JUST Eggs, we know the idea of eating legumes in place of eggs may not be as appetizing for some.

Many companies offer eggs with different living arrangements between organic, free-range, and cage-free. Nellie's, on the other hand, offers exclusively free-range eggs. This means that the hens are raised with indoor coop space and easy access to the outdoor area. In fact, each of the 40 family farms Nellie's gets its eggs from must subscribe to the Humane Farm Animal Care standards. With all of the care Nellie's takes to ensure that its hens have a free-range lifestyle, we find it peculiar that the family farms still engage in a practice called mild beak trimming and wish this practice was not part of the business plan.

In addition to raw eggs, Nellie's also offers a bag of hard-boiled eggs in either a six or two-pack. Plus, these eggs are also free-range, just like the hard kind you can find. If you're looking for something more substantive, Nellie's also offers sous vide egg bites. Similar in texture to the ones we love at Starbucks, these egg bites contain different flavors but are mostly egg. Plus, it comes in a two-pack, making these the perfect breakfast on the go.

Although they are packaged differently, Nellie's eggs and Pete and Gerry's eggs are actually sister companies. A closer look at the websites of each will reveal that both companies have the same mailing address, and both are committed to the standards put in place by Humane Farm Animal Care. However, it is not immediately obvious that these two are connected to one another. While the differences between the two are few, one certainly stands out. Pete and Gerry's eggs aren't just pasture-raised, they are also organic. But, like Nellie's, Pete and Gerry's practices beak trimming.

This means the biggest difference is in the type of feed the hens eat. While Nellie's eggs have a lot of availability to feed outdoors, and they do get a curated diet, the diet fed to Pete and Gerry's hens is 100% USDA organic certified with the absence of pesticides used in corn and soy production. Additionally, we think the feel of the design of the package also speaks to different types of customers. While Nelly's has a much more playful and childlike feel, Pete and Gerry's has more of a simplistic, clean design.

Born Free has built an entire business around the type of space in which its hens are raised with a significant amount of open space. In fact, each of its types of eggs is either free-range or pasture-raised. The difference between these two designations is just how much space inside and outside the hens have to roam. For both free-range and pasture-raised eggs, Born Free also offers an organic option.  Additionally, the company's packaging is 100% recyclable and in a hybrid material.

Not all supermarkets in the country carry Born Free eggs, so these eggs can be a little on the harder side to find. We wish the market would expand a bit more. Still, many grocery stores in the Eastern part of the United States will offer Born Free eggs. While these are a great pick for pasture and free-range eggs, thankfully, there are also plenty of other delicious options in the grocery store that also give hens plenty of room in which to roam.

Utopihen Farms is committed to offering high-quality, sustainable egg products from passionate family farms focused on maintaining exceptional and environmentally-friendly farming practices. The brand collaborates with small-scale family farms to ensure the highest animal welfare and sustainability standards. While many farms limit their offerings to pasture-raised and organic pasture-raised eggs, Utopihen Farms sells four distinct types of pasture-raised eggs: traditional, organic, duck, and soy-free.

We really appreciate the two standout offerings from Utopihen Farms soy-free and duck eggs. When you purchase soy-free pasture-raised eggs, you'll receive eggs from hens that have been raised without soy in their diets. These hens are given the freedom to roam outdoors in pastures, absorbing ample amounts of vitamin D from sunlight. The absence of soy in their diets leads to an even higher concentration of vitamin D in the eggs, providing additional health benefits to you. Utopihen Farms' duck eggs offers a unique culinary experience, featuring an ultra-rich, creamy texture that is high in protein. The eggs' harder shells contribute to a longer shelf life, allowing you to store them in your refrigerator for an extended period without compromising their quality. This diverse selection of pasture-raised egg options showcases Utopihen Farms' dedication to satisfying a wide range of customer preferences while maintaining a strong commitment to sustainable and ethical farming practices.

Vital Farms now has over 300 small family farms contributing to the overall company; it began with one husband and wife team and their small farm. These farms offer pasture-raised, organic pasture-raised, and true blue eggs. Other than their color, these blue eggs are really no different than other pasture-raised eggs. However, there is another kind of egg Vital Farms is now offering. You'll find these at Whole Foods Market, and they are called Restorative Eggs. These eggs come from hens that are raised through regenerative agricultural practices. This means that the company is establishing procedures that can eventually be certified as part of regenerative agriculture. They aren't truly regenerative eggs yet, but Vital Farms is working through the process of establishing these practices on its family farms.

One of the cooler features of Vital Farms is that you can actually take a look at the farm from which your eggs came. On the side of each container, you'll find a name of a farm, and by going to the website, you can see a 360-degree view of the pasture. The videos even tell you when they were filmed. We really enjoy this feature but wish these videos were actually live cameras.

Some farms are on the way to becoming certified regenerative organic, but the Alexandra Family Farm in Crescent City is already there. This farm covering over 800 acres, is run by the Alexandre family and 89 employees.

Here, egg-laying hens get to poke around the grasses side by side with the cows grazing over the same land. Other companies offer a few different kinds of eggs, but the Alexandre Family Farm only produces one. These pasture-raised hens lay eggs that are gathered each day to produce a deliciously organic egg experience. Plus, the chicken coops used for the nest area are actually mobile and get moved twice each week. These mobile coops ensure that chickens always have fresh green grass and plenty of varieties of plants to enjoy. This also leads to eggs that are bigger in size with an amber yolk and have a nice amount of protein. The practice of creating an environment where everything works in harmony is such an ideal way of raising hens and gathering their eggs.

If you've ever wondered where your eggs come from, you may also be concerned with the well-being of those egg-laying hens. The brand's name plays off of this by addressing many people's most prominent concern: Are the hens happy and well taken care of?

Happy Egg Co offers eggs from hens that have eight or more acres on which to roam freely. Their diet consists of feed, grass, and bugs; as a result, the yoke you get from a happy egg has an orange or even an amber color. If you're more used to a yellow yoke, the color will be a little off-putting at first, but the flavor can't be beaten, and it's what really sets these eggs apart, making. There are four different kinds of eggs offered through Happy Egg Co: heritage, organic, free range, and vitamin plus.

The first type of egg offered by the company was free-range. And that's where the company stakes its claim; spelling out how the hens are cared for when it comes to the difference between free-range and a typical, stinky coop environment. The heritage eggs are the ones with the bright amber yolk color. The eggs come from Arkansas and Missouri in the Ozark Woodland areas. There, the farms have large barn doors that are open every day until dusk. This gives the hands eight hours of free roam time, should they want it, and all of these factors add up to make this our top egg brand.

Static Media owns and operates Tasting Table and Mashed.