Eggs are so versatile and they’re not just for breakfast either. I love putting them atop veggie fritters, salad, or toast and you have yourself a meal that works any time of the day. There are so many ways to cook eggs and it can be tricky to cook them just right. Here are some egg cooking tips perfectly in a variety of ways plus some great recipes to showcase your egg cooking skills.
Egg Cooking Tips
Fried
While any pan is fine for frying an egg, I find that nonstick or cast iron works best. Just a little bit of nonstick spray is all you need; heat the pan to medium and add the egg. If you’ve heated the pan enough the egg should start bubbling lightly. The cook time and method will change based on your preferences – the whites will set in a few minutes and you can decide to flip the egg for an over easy/medium/hard or just leave it sunny side up.
My husband prefers his eggs sunny side up, but once the egg is mostly cooked through, I add a tiny bit of water and cover the pan to let the steam fully cook the whites and “steam over” the yolk. It will almost look like a poached egg at this point. Cook for just about 20-30 seconds to keep the yolk runny and longer if you want it cooked through more. Season with salt and pepper and fresh herbs, if you like.
The tips I just gave are for a standard fried egg, but my personal preference is the “crispy egg” which I follow verbatim using this Smitten Kitchen recipe. The egg will do a lot of sputtering and hissing, but I really love the texture difference between the runny yolk and crunchy underside of the egg white.
Boiled
I just love hardboiled eggs; sure they can be a pain in the butt to peel (tip – don’t use farm fresh eggs here, they are much harder to peel), but you can use them to make deviled eggs, an egg salad, chopped up in a Cobb salad…you get the idea. Here are some tips for achieving the perfect hardboiled egg. It’s super easy (promise) and you’ll never have an egg with a green/brown yolk (because, ew).
Place eggs in a large pan and add cold water at least an inch above the tops of the eggs. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the eggs are boiling, turn off the heat, place the cover on the pan. Let them sit in the water for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs and place them in a bowl of ice water. Once the eggs are cool to the touch, peel them and either prepare the deviled eggs or put them in the fridge until you’re ready.
There are also soft-boiled eggs, which are terrific atop a salad. In this case, put the eggs in the pan, bring the water to a boil and let boil for 5-6 minutes. Run them under cold water and peel when they’re cool to the touch – be careful not to break the eggs open as the inside will be runny.
Scrambled
Whisk together your eggs in a large bowl to aerate them and you can add a splash of dairy and herbs if you’d like. I prefer to cook scrambled eggs in butter (helps them come out fluffier) and on medium-low heat – once the butter is melted in the pan, add the eggs and let them sit until they start to set on the edges. Using a wooden spoon, gently nudge from the edges of the pan toward to center to encourage curds to form. Continue stirring in this manner until they have reached the desired level of doneness.
I don’t like my scrambled eggs gooey, so I heat them for several minutes until just about they look done. Eggs do continue to cook once they’re no longer on the stove, so err on the side of slightly undercooking them. When you sit down to eat them, they’ll be perfect! Season with salt and pepper and more fresh herbs, if you’d like.
Poached
There are so many tips and recipes out there for how to poach an egg, it can seem overwhelming. I’ll be honest – I find them difficult to make but here are some tips that I have found most helpful. Heat a few inches of water in a pot along with a splash of vinegar and bring to an almost simmer. Break the egg into a small bowl (this will make it easier to pour into the water); swirl the water with a spatula so you have a little whirlpool then pour in the egg. It will look a little strange for a while. You can try to nudge the egg together if the swirling water isn’t doing the trick. Let it cook in the water for about 3 minutes then scoop it out using a slotted spoon.
You can either drain it in the spoon or put it on paper towels. Enjoy on buttered toast, as Eggs Benedict, or on top of a plate of salad greens. If these tips didn’t work for you, here’s another blog post with tips for poaching eggs from a while back that you can give a whirl (hehe).
Once you have the basics of these egg cooking tips down, you can graduate to quiche, casseroles, baked eggs, and more advanced styles like a soufflé or eggs baked inside avocados!
© Featured Photo by Olha_Afanasieva from iStockPhoto