How to crack an egg easily when you don’t have full use of your hands is almost impossible without a pretty solid cooking hack. Losing function in your hands can be caused by a number of different conditions – for Dre, it is multiple sclerosis. While there are exercises he does to try to keep his hands as mobile as possible, he as also had to come up with hacks to continue doing the things he loves. He loves to cook, and without full use of his hands, the act of cracking an egg suddenly becomes a challenge that might make you simply want to throw in the towel (kitchen towel, of course.)

Fear not. Cooking with Dre is here with an incredibly simple cooking hack that makes the act of cracking an egg with limited mobility a feat that can definitely be overcome.

The Challenges of Cracking an Egg with Multiple Sclerosis

There are a couple of challenges that Dre experiences when working on what most see as a simple, rote task such as cracking an egg. His multiple sclerosis has caused his right hand to not fully function. While he can grip or hold things with it, the fingers in his right hand don’t have the motor function to perform more intricate tasks. When your hand doesn’t function, cracking an egg is an intricate task.

He also has neuropathy in his hands, which means that he can’t feel how much pressure he is applying to an egg when he is cracking it. If you’ve ever applied too much pressure to an egg when you’ve tried to crack it, you know that this often results in egg shells going into the egg yolk and white. Now think about if your fingers can’t feel that shell that you’re trying to dig out of the egg in the bowl. It’s a hot mess at that point!

Needless to say, Dre realized if he was going to continue cooking and save his energy – a valuable commodity for MS – he was going to have to figure out a way to crack an egg easily.

The first thing he did was teach himself to crack an egg one handed. It works, and he can do it, but more often than not he ends up having to dig shells out of the egg white. We’ve already mentioned, cooking with MS means conserving your energy, because MS takes up lots of energy. Even the simple act of digging egg shell out of a yoke burns into an already depleted energy bank. On top of that, he can’t feel the egg shells, so it’s not an easy task.

The next tactic he tried was to drop the egg into a bowl and cracking it that way. This method does get the egg cracked, but has the same limitations as cracking the egg one handed.

How to Crack an Egg Easily

The last method he has come up with is a winner! Dre realized that he has enough functionality in his right hand to hold the egg in his palm. With his left hand, he uses the dull side of a butter knife to strike the egg in the center. Once the egg has been cracked he can pull the shell apart and release the egg into the bowl.

Check out this video of How to Crack and Egg Easily

This method to crack an egg easily allows him to control the amount of pressure he applies to the egg. It also gives him control of the size of the split in the egg shell so he can pull the shell apart.

If you’ve found yourself struggling with cracking an egg due to different physical challenges, give this a try, and let us know how it works!

Here’s the kicker. Even if you are fully abled and don’t have some of the physical challenges that come with Multiple Sclerosis or other disabilities, this method of cracking an egg is incredibly useful. We hope you’ll give it a try and let us know how it works as well.

Happy Cooking, Everyone!

Please visit our Resources page if you are interested in finding some of the tools and gadgets Dre uses to make cooking accessible while combatting MS.