We investigated the effect of salt, sugar, and hydrolyzed egg yolk protein (HEY) on yolk's rheological properties, thermal behavior, and microstructure for a better understanding of their gelation inhibition mechanism. Salted yolk samples had the highest yield stress, followed by HEY and sugared yolk samples. With the addition of salt, the yolk's denaturation temperature and amount of free water significantly increased. Conversely, sugar and HEY had no significant impact on the thermal behavior of yolk components. Different additives caused pronounced differences in yolk's microstructure. The addition of salt resulted in dissociation of proteins and a concomitant increase in the number of small particles. Sugar and HEY presumably interacted with proteins and rearranged them into stable clusters. Freezing time also impacted the rheological, thermal, and microstructural properties of yolk in the presence of the additives. With prolonged freezing time, the tendency to undergo gelation increased. The salted yolk sample had significantly increased amount of non-freezable water, while no changes were observed in sugared and HEY yolk samples. The size and clustering of the particles varied during prolonged freezing. Interestingly, frozen-thawed yolks with additives regained their fluidity during refrigeration. Overall, salt, sugar and HEY effectively inhibited gelation, albeit, through different mechanistic processes.