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Picture this. You’re in a restaurant, getting breakfast or brunch with a friend. The server asks you how you’d like your eggs, and proceeds to reel off the options. Scrambled, over-easy, poached, soft-boiled and so, so many more. By the time the server finishes the list, you’ve forgotten what was at the beginning of it. Not to mention, you don’t actually know what half those ways of cooking an egg even are.
Why can’t someone just tell you about the best ways to order an egg? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a comprehensive guide to how to order eggs and different ways to cook eggs, along with instructions for how to cook them in the comfort of your home?
If you frequently find yourself flummoxed in restaurants or bored of the one single way you know how to cook eggs, we’ve got good news for you. We’ve made a guide to teach you everything you need to know about how to cook eggs. Here, we’ll talk about all the different egg cooks you’ve heard of, but might not actually know about. Not only that, but we’ll also go over the basics of how to cook eggs in all these different ways.
And don’t worry. We don’t expect you to be a professional chef, or even an experienced one. With a little knowledge, anyone can cook eggs in any of these ways. All you need is a stovetop, a frying pan or a saucepan and a little determination. If you’ve got these things, you’re more than prepared.
So what are the best ways to cook eggs? Let’s take a look at some tried-and-true favorites.
There are several types of cooked eggs. Cooking is the process of preparing food for eating by heating it up.
Eggs are the unhatched young of several animal species laid by the females. They have been eaten by humans for a long time.
Humans eat bird eggs the most, particularly duck and hen eggs.
The eggs are protected by a hard shell that is usually white or any bright to warm shade of brown. They contain albumen (egg whites) and vitellum (egg yolk).
Inside it, the egg contains all the nutrients needed for a baby chick’s growth. This makes eggs a very rich and healthy food.
The protein can be prepared in several ways and with different methods, such as frying, boiling, and scrambling.
Eggs are to be properly heated and pasteurized (at 140 degrees Fahrenheit) to eliminate the risk of contracting food-borne diseases and illnesses. In this article, we explore various ways eggs can be prepared for eating.
Listed below are some of the many different methods of cooking eggs. The most common types of cooked eggs are boiled, fried, and scrambled eggs.
Several methods of making the eggs are listed and explained under these types.
There are however some other cooking methods that do not fall under boiling, scrambling, or frying. They are explained as well.
This information is useful whether you like to cook food or simply like to eat it.
Types of Boiled Eggs
Boiled eggs are eggs immersed in water and heated. Three (3) types of boiled eggs are: deviled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, and soft-boiled eggs.
1. Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs are hard-boiled eggs with extra ingredients. To make deviled eggs, place uncracked eggs in water and heat them for around twelve to fifteen minutes.
Afterward, let the eggs cool for some time.
When the shells are no longer scalding hot, peel them off the eggs and cut them in half. Using a spoon, separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. At this point, you can mix the egg yolks with any ingredient of your choosing.
Some recommendations include mayonnaise and mustard. After mixing the egg yolks and ingredients of choice, scoop the combination back onto the egg whites and your eggs are ready to be eaten.
2. Hard-Boiled Eggs
Hard-boiled eggs are eggs that have been boiled long enough for the egg whites and yolks to be firm afterward. Unbroken eggs are placed in water and boiled for about ten to fifteen minutes for this firmness to be achieved.
Egg yolks and whites become solid at different temperatures. The whites, which are softer on the outside, get firm before the yolks.
When removed from the heat, the egg shells are very hot so they are left to cool off.
After cooling, the shells of the eggs are peeled. The eggs are easy to eat, whether on their own or as an augmentation to some other dish.
Both the egg whites and egg yolks are very solid when eaten.
3. Soft-boiled Eggs
Another type of boiled egg is the soft-boiled egg. To make them, uncracked eggs are once again placed in water and over fire or heat.
However, the boiling lasts for a shorter period of time: about five to eight minutes.
This is to ensure that while the egg whites are firm and solid, the egg yolks are only lightly cooked so they are neither fully solid nor fully liquid. Eggs cooked this way may be eaten on their own or used to top toasts.
Types of Fried Eggs
Another method of cooking eggs is by frying. A fried egg are made by heating fat (usually oil or butter) and cook the eggs in it.
Five (5) types of fried eggs are explained below: eggs in a basket, over-easy eggs, over-hard eggs, over-medium eggs, and sunny-side-up eggs.
4. Eggs in a Basket
Eggs in a basket are eggs fried in bread. They are also called eggs in a hole, eggs in a frame, eggs in the basket, one-eyed Jacks, or gashouse eggs.
To make eggs this way, you need thick and firm slices of bread that would be able to hold eggs in their center.
Cut a hole in your bread slice with a round cookie cutter or the top of a glass.
Spray your pan or skillet with cooking oil and place your bread in it for a few minutes so that it toasts. Put some butter in the hole and let it melt but not brown.
Crack an egg and pour it into the butter-filled hole, moving the egg white around so it gets properly fried.
Then flip the bread and egg over to the other side carefully so as not to break the yolk. Cover the pan and let the eggs cook for a while.
Toast the part of the bread that was cut out (called bread rounds) as well by letting each side brown in the oil. Add black pepper and salt over the bread and egg, as much as you desire.
This delicious breakfast is ready to be served and should be eaten immediately.
5. Over-Easy Eggs
Over-easy eggs are eggs that have soft yolks after being fried. The egg yolks are usually runny after the eggs are done cooking.
To fry eggs, this way, first, spray oil on your pan, or melt some butter in it, and let it heat for a little time.
Crack the eggs into your pan and let the bottom part consisting of the egg whites fry and set for some time, about 2 or 3 minutes over low heat. Then flip the eggs and let the side with the egg yolks cook but only for about 30 seconds.
6. Over-Hard Eggs
Over-hard eggs are made the same way over-easy and over-medium are, only that the time the egg yolks are left cooking differs. This is to achieve different results by frying the yolks to different consistencies.
For over-hard eggs, oil your pan and heat for a few seconds. Crack your eggs into the pan, letting the egg whites set and brown at the edges.
Then flip the eggs over and let the yolks fry until they are all the way cooked and solid.
7. Over-Medium Eggs
Over-medium eggs are fried until the egg whites on both sides are fully cooked, but the yolks are not. After frying the side without yolks until fully cooked, flip your eggs and let the yolks fry a little longer than over-easy eggs but for a shorter time than over-hard eggs.
8. Sunny-Side-Up Eggs
Sunny-side-up eggs are basically over-easy eggs that are not flipped. They have runny, uncooked yolks.
To cook this last type of fried eggs, heat your oil or butter in a pan for a few seconds.
After this, crack your raw eggs onto the pan and let the bottom part fry, cooking thoroughly. Remove the eggs from the pan at this point, without flipping them.
Spray salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Types of Omelets
Eggs fried with fillings folded in them are called omelets. Omelets are made with some techniques used for both scrambling and frying.
Eggs are beaten, as in the making of scrambled eggs, and cooked in heated fat like fried eggs.
Omelets may be made with or without several ingredients like cheese, onions, tomatoes, ham, and sausages. These are called fillings, and in most cases, the fillings need to be cooked before being added to the egg if they are raw.
Six (6) types of omelets are discussed below: basic American omelets, flat omelets, folded omelets, plain omelets, soufflé omelets and stuffed and folded omelets.
9. Basic American Omelet
Basic American-style omelets are seasoned before they are fried but not garnished with fillings yet.
After cooking the top part of the egg like a flat omelet, the egg is flipped. It may be cooked for a while.
This type of omelet may also have its fillings put in the center at this point. The egg is carefully folded and both sides of the folded omelet are allowed to cook properly. Your omelet is ready to be served.
10. Flat Omelet
Flat omelets are made without folding. Eggs are cracked and whipped in a bowl prior to their cooking, with any ingredients of choice.
A pan is greased and heated. The combination of the whisked egg and ingredients is poured into the pan.
The pan may be shaken to let the egg set properly, making it flat like a pancake. When the bottom side is properly cooked, the egg is then flipped over.
The added ingredients are then allowed to fry properly and the egg is served. Frittatas and tortillas are examples of flat or open-faced omelets.
11. Folded Omelet
Folded omelets are both garnished and seasoned when beaten, before being cooked. After the bottom part of the egg sets, the omelet is then folded in the pan and the two sides are allowed to dry and brown.
12. Plain Omelet
Also known as French omelets, plain omelets do not have fillings.
They are made with only the basic ingredients — seasoning and pepper — and occasionally with herbs like chives. Extra ingredients may be added to it to your taste.
A French omelet is usually rolled or folded twice. The eggs are cracked, seasoned, beaten, and poured into a hot, greased pan.
They are then stirred and shaken until the omelet is one flat mass.
If you are using extra ingredients, add them to the egg at one corner and then roll the omelet or fold it over twice. The dish is left to cook for a little longer and then it is ready to serve.
13. Soufflé Omelet
The egg yolks and egg whites are separated in the making of soufflé omelets. The egg whites are first beaten until they are thick and in stiff peaks.
The egg yolks are then beaten in a separate vessel with about a quarter of the whisked whites.
Seasoning is added at this stage after the mixture becomes fluffy.
The remaining egg whites are then beaten into this mixture and swiftly poured into the hot greased pan. Any ingredient of choice may be added in.
The omelet may be covered with a lid and left to cook for some time or put into the oven to cook briefly. The end result should be light and fluffy, a bright brown color.
14. Stuffed and Folded Omelet
Stuffed and folded omelets are made in the manner of flat omelets. They are seasoned but not garnished, then cooked in a greased pan for a little while.
Then the fillings of choice are poured onto the center of the egg and it is folded.
Types of Scrambled Eggs
Eggs are scrambled when they are fried after both yolks and whites are beaten and seasoned. You may add milk and extra ingredients added to garnish the dish.
The two (2) types of scrambled eggs are hard and soft scrambled eggs.
15. Hard Scrambled Eggs
To make hard scrambled eggs, pour your whisked and seasoned eggs into the greased pan. Let the eggs cook very well on both sides and then serve. The final result is dry.
16. Soft Scrambled Eggs
Soft scrambled eggs are cooked for a lesser amount of time and on a lower heat than hard scrambled ones. They are fairly moist when removed from the fire.
If cooked for too long, they end up as hard scrambled eggs.
Other Methods of Cooking Eggs
Several other techniques are used in the cooking of eggs. Other methods of cooking eggs are listed and explained below.
17. Baked Eggs
Also referred to as shirred eggs, baked eggs are cooked by dry heat, without directly exposing them to a flame. This is usually done by means of an oven, and the eggs are baked in a ramekin (a small dish with a flat base for baking).
To cook a baked egg, first, preheat your oven to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease your ramekin with butter and fill about two-thirds of it with other ingredients, like spinach, tomato, cream, or any other ingredient of your choice.
Break your egg into the ramekin and season the combination. Let the dish cook for a while until the egg whites set and are cooked all through.
The ideal time is about 12 to 15 minutes, and the yolk should still be quite runny. The baked egg, ready to be eaten, is usually served in the ramekin.
18. Basted Eggs
Basting is a technique used in cooking to keep a food item, mostly meat, moist while it is being cooked.
To baste the food, juice or fat is poured over it while it is cooking. Basted eggs can be made in several ways.
One simple way to make basted eggs is to fry the unbeaten eggs in melted butter and keep scooping the butter on the egg. This way, only the bottom part of the eggs is thoroughly cooked because the egg is not flipped.
The top part is only slightly cooked with the hot butter while the bottom fries until it is solid.
The yolks are still runny and the egg is moist at the top. This egg is cooked in the style of over-easy eggs.
19. Coddled Eggs
To coddle an egg is to cook it in the water below boiling point. To use this method of cooking eggs, techniques resembling poaching and shirring are used.
Coddled eggs are made by boiling the eggs in the manner of soft-boiled eggs as well.
Like a poached egg, coddled eggs are soft boiled and steamed in boiling water, only that eggs are coddled by cracking them in a special vessel (like shirred or baked eggs) called a coddler and then placing the coddler in boiling water.
Because coddlers are usually expensive, they can be substituted for Mason jars or egg cups. Butter, bacon or ham, chives, heavy cream, salt, and ground pepper are ingredients used in making coddled eggs.
Grease the inner part of the coddler, jar, or cup with melted butter. Pour water into your saucepan or pot, enough to reach slightly below the rim of the vessels to be used. Boil this water and prepare your bacon or ham and chives.
Into each vessel, add heavy cream and the prepared ingredients (bacon or ham and chives).
Crack an egg into each of your vessels, seasoning it with salt and pepper. Cover the vessels and place them in the boiling water.
Turn down the heat of your stove a little and leave it on for about 7 to 10 minutes. Turn the heat off; the egg whites should be set and the egg yolks soft.
If you would prefer your yolks more set, let the coddled eggs sit for a little while after removing them from the fire with the lids of the vessels on.
20. Pickled Eggs
Pickled eggs are hard-boiled eggs cured in beet juice, vinegar, or brine to preserve them for consumption at a much later time. The pickled eggs may be cooked with several sets of ingredients.
The first step in making pickled eggs is removing the egg shells and placing the naked eggs at the bottom of a clean jar or lidded container.
Boil and cook your ingredients, including diluted vinegar, to make the pickling liquid. After letting it cool down, pour the pickling liquid into the jar.
The amount added should completely cover the eggs. Tightly seal the jar and refrigerate the eggs for weeks or months, however long you want.
Pickled eggs are usually ready for consumption after a few days.
However, the longer they are left in the pickling liquid, the more the liquid seeps into them. The egg whites end up turning fuchsia pink and depending on the amount of time left in the pickling liquid, the yolks may change color as well.
21. Poached Eggs
Poaching is a method of cooking food, eggs inclusive, that involves letting the food simmer in a small amount of liquid. Poached eggs are made by slowly boiling eggs that have been cracked but not whisked at low temperatures.
To cook poached eggs, crack your raw eggs into a bowl while boiling a pan of water at low temperature. As the water begins to bubble a little, pour the eggs in, letting it float and cook for about five minutes.
Carefully remove the eggs from the pot or saucepan. Your egg whites should be set and well cooked; the egg yolks should still be a little runny.
Poached eggs may be eaten immediately or refrigerated in cold water for a few hours.
22. Sous Vide Eggs
Sous vide is the French phrase for “under vacuum”. It is a method of cooking that features vacuum-sealing food in say a glass jar or plastic pouch and cooking it in a water bath, under controlled temperatures, for a longer time than it is usually cooked.
This cooking method called sous vide is also known as temperature long time cooking.
To make eggs in this very slow manner, or any other food you wish to make like this, a sous vide cooker will be used. Vacuum-sealing is not required for making eggs.
First, fill a pot or saucepan with water and place the immersion circulator inside it.
An immersion circulator is a device placed in a bath or pot of water to heat and circulate the water at the same time. It makes the sous vide process faster but it is not required.
The immersion circulator as a standalone device may be used in place of or as a more affordable substitute for a sous vide machine. Sous vide machines on their own do not require the use of extra devices like the immersion circulator as they can clamp on and adjust to the size of your pot.
You can control the outcome you want from this method of cooking eggs by adjusting the temperature. Set the water to boil to a higher temperature if you want your whites firmly set, or to a lower temperature if you want medium-set whites.
Then lower your un-cracked eggs into the water bath and let them cook for about one hour at 145 to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove your eggs and place them in an ice bath to cool for a while if you are not eating them immediately.
The egg yolks are usually still runny when the eggs are peeled. Sous vide eggs can be transferred into storage containers or egg crates and placed in a refrigerator for no more than a week if you wish to eat them much later.
23. Steam-Basted Eggs
The last type of cooked eggs to be discussed in this article is steam-basted eggs.
Eggs are steam-basted when water is added to baste the frying eggs instead of oil or butter. This can be seen as another method of basting eggs.
Making eggs this way starts off quite the same as making basted eggs. Grease your pan with oil or butter and heat shortly.
Then crack the eggs into the pan to fry. The bottom part fries more thoroughly.
To keep the top part of the eggs, which consists of the egg yolks, moist but not uncooked, scoop a little water onto it. This way, the yolks are cooked by slight steaming.
In the end, the egg whites are well set and fried thoroughly at the bottom. The top part is moist and the egg yolks are runny.
FAQs
What are the five types of fried eggs?
The five types of fried eggs discussed herein are: eggs in a basket, over-easy eggs, over-hard eggs, over-medium eggs, and sunny-side-up eggs.
What are the 4 types of boiled eggs?
The types of boiled eggs we have looked at are deviled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, and soft-boiled eggs. However, sous vide eggs may be considered a type of boiled eggs, making it 4 types of boiled eggs.
What are the 7 basic ways of cooking an egg?
7 basic ways of cooking an egg include boiling, frying, scrambling, baking (or shirring), coddling, poaching, and basting.
Conclusion
Eggs are a very popular food, a rich source of protein frequently eaten by humans. There are various methods of cooking eggs, and this delicious food item is used as an important food item in the making of custards, desserts, and various baked goods.
The types of cooked eggs are listed and explained above. These types involve various methods of cooking and how they are applied in many different ways or styles to make eggs as a standalone, main, or supporting dish.
Eggs are very versatile and many methods used in cooking them are easy, straightforward, and fast (as eggs do not usually take long to cook). Simple methods include boiling eggs, making folded omelets, and frying eggs sunny side up.
From making these simply cooked egg variations to trying the easy style of eggs in a basket, or the more precise methods of poaching or making sous vide eggs, this article helps give you an idea of what type of cooked eggs to make the next time you want to spice up your breakfast menu!
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