[Janelle Ward]

I went to boarding school, so I know what bad scrambled eggs are! But if you ever end with watery, maybe grey-looking, scrambled eggs, read on.

There are lots of tips, but you should try these ones from Chowhound first.

1. Free-range farm fresh eggs taste best

In general, fresh eggs cook better and taste better. When you have access to fresh eggs every day, you typically eat them within a couple of days. Store-bought eggs are often weeks, if not months, old by the time they hit the store shelves.

What the chickens eat also affects the taste. The yolks turn a darker orange when they have more nutrients.

2. Turn off the burner

Scrambled eggs cook quickly, so it’s easy to overcook them. Turn off the burner just before you think the eggs are done. The cooking process will continue until the pan cools down or you put the eggs onto plates.

3. Cold eggs slow down cooking times

Allow your eggs to sit out for 20 to 30 minutes before you pour them into the pan. That reduces the temperature spread between the very cold eggs and the hot pan, encouraging a more even cook. Letting the eggs get to room temperature affects their viscosity too and they mix better.

4. The pan makes a big difference

The size of the pan determines how well something is cooked. For example, if you’re scrambling just two or three eggs, but you have a 30cm pan, the outer edges run cooler. You may actually be better served by a 20cm pan if you live alone. That’s a better size for cooking just two or three scrambled eggs at a time.

5. Preheat the pan so the eggs don’t stick

Despite being quick and mostly simple, one element of cooking scrambled eggs has troubled egg fans at least once, if not multiple times, in their cooking lives. The scrambled eggs stick to the pan. Some cooks preheat the pan (and add in some butter or oil). However, starting scrambled eggs with a cold pan is a trick that Gordon Ramsay has mastered, and it’s a skill set that you, as a non-professional chef, may put on your cooking skills bucket list.

6. Keep the heat low

Heat basically breaks apart the proteins in the eggs and then restructures them into a new form – in this case, your scrambled eggs. In the process, the eggs basically kick out the water content, turning the protein into a solid. Cook your eggs on low. The lower heat also means your scrambled eggs keep more of their nutrients.

7. Oil is okay, but butter’s better

Adding some sort of cooking oil or fat to your scrambled eggs is required most of the time, if for no other reason than to prevent them from sticking to the pan. But the oil you add plays a big role in determining whether they’re only not sticky or downright delish in addition to not being sticky. Vegetable oil gets the job done if that’s all you have in your cupboard. But butter adds that certain extra something that only butter can.

Do you have any tips for great scrambled eggs?

[Author]

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