In this highly adaptable, easy recipe, we’ll teach you how to make perfect scrambled eggs. They’re fluffy and delicious, uniform in silky perfection, and most excellent with toast.
If you’ve seen any viral egg scrambling videos on the internet—this recipe is how you achieve that beautiful, fluffy, tender and wobbly egg texture at home!
The Journey to the Perfect Scrambled Eggs
Over the past few years, I’ve been on a journey with scrambled eggs. Perhaps it was all the incessant chatter on jammy yolks over the years, or just the need for a dopamine fix in 2020 with my breakfasts, but I’ve found myself running back into the comforting arms of the scrambled egg again and again.
There are all sorts of different preferences, but in my book, these are fluffy, silky, and delicious every time. I won’t litigate the other consistencies and methods that people enjoy—only offer up this one as the recipe I’ve been using exclusively for the past few years!
I’ve talked about said journey and my methods before in some of our Chinese scrambled egg recipes: one for scrambled eggs with Hunan salted chilies and a Cantonese classic, shrimp with scrambled eggs.
My personal keys to perfect scrambled eggs are:
- High heat (running in opposition to many of the low heat methods out there)—and not waiting too long to stir the eggs, lest things start to veer into omelet territory
- Knowing to turn off the heat a little bit *before* you think the eggs are done
- A good amount of oil
- And of course, cornstarch slurry. No milk or dairy required, just cheap cornstarch and water!
There have been a few viral egg scrambling videos from NYC restaurant spots (like this), and this requires no long brunch wait or plane ticket to enjoy.
Why Cornstarch?
Cornstarch slurry (i.e. a mixture of cornstarch and water) is a thickening agent you’ll find in many of our stir-fry recipes. While the cornstarch-in-eggs technique has made it into America’s cooking consciousness by way of The New York Times (J. Kenji Lopez-Alt saw the technique on Mandy Lee’s food blog, Lady and Pups), it has long been used in Chinese kitchens. The cornstarch keeps the eggs tender, preventing them from setting too quickly and going tough.
We use the technique in our Shrimp and Eggs recipe, as well as the Hong Kong Furong Omelet in our cookbook (a favorite of Sarah’s). Why did it take so long for me to apply it to a regular morning pan of scrambled eggs? Who knows. I was talking about this revelation with my aunt, and she said, “Oh I always add cornstarch.” Sigh. All there is left to do is to make up for lost time!
My Favorite Herby Scrambled Eggs
When eating out for breakfast or brunch, I’ve noticed that restaurants will charge an arm and a leg for herb scrambled eggs.
I decided to devise my own recipe at home with chives, parsley, and dill, and the extra special additions of goat/sheep’s cheese and white truffle oil. It tastes amazing and will make you want to stay at home for brunch every weekend.
(Okay, so the truffle oil is a little bougie—BUT in terms of cost per use, it’s actually not too bad and you can get it on Amazon.)
I also sometimes add just a couple handfuls of baby spinach if I don’t have any herbs on hand, or in addition to the herbs. All variations are excellent.
A Timeline for Cooking Breakfast
I love serving these scrambled eggs with bacon, toast, and a strong cup of tea. But if you’re often flummoxed by how to get all the breakfast elements on the table, take a gander at this timeline for pulling together a lightly festive breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon!
Kaitlin’s patented breakfast timeline for buttered toast, bacon, and eggs!
- 1. Take your butter out so it’s soft for toast
- 2a. If your bacon is frozen: thaw it in a bowl of warm tap water until it thaws enough to pull apart. Meanwhile, prepare the herbs if using, the cornstarch slurry, and beat the eggs.
- 2b. If your bacon isn’t frozen: Start the bacon in a cold skillet over medium heat. While the bacon is cooking, prepare the eggs and the herbs if using and the cornstarch slurry.
- 3. Flip the bacon once, and cook on the other side.
- 4. Get your coffee going or boil a kettle for tea and set your teabags in your mug so they’re ready to go.
- 5. Heat a skillet for your eggs over medium/medium-high heat.
- 6. Start toasting your toast.
- 7. Flip the bacon again, and pour the hot water over your tea. At this point, it should have a solid few minutes to steep.
- 8. Cook the eggs using our recipe for perfect scrambled eggs!
- 9. Your toast will be ready at the same time as the eggs. Pat the bacon on a paper towel (or don’t).
- 10. Finish your tea or coffee with milk, serve everything, and enjoy your breakfast!
Get the person who is not good at cooking to make the coffee, do another round of toast if needed, set the table, lay out butter, jam, hot sauce, ketchup, etc. and if that’s not enough to do—hang out for moral support while all of this is happening!
(Sidebar from my trips to London over the years is I’ve become incredibly fond of buttered marmite toast. It’s like having a hit of salty umami soy sauce on it!)
How to Make Perfect Scrambled Eggs
Below, I have photos for both plain scrambled eggs, and the herby version. I’ll put the photos side-by-side, like this:
Crack your eggs into a bowl, and beat with a fork, chopsticks, or whisk until large and small bubbles have formed and the whites are totally incorporated with the yolks. Season with salt and black pepper, if using. If you’re making the herby goat cheese eggs, add the parsley, dill, chives, goat cheese, and the spinach and truffle oil, if using.
Make a cornstarch slurry by combining the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water. You’ll want to add this right before you’re ready to cook the eggs.
Heat a nonstick or well-seasoned skillet over medium-high heat until it feels warm when you hover your hand over the pan. Not so confident? start with medium heat.
If you want to enjoy toast with your eggs, now is the time to get it into the toaster. If you want sausage or bacon, they should be very nearly done by this point. That way, you’ll have no delays in serving your breakfast!
Add the oil to the pan. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the eggs, and add them to the pan.
They should bubble slightly around the edges. Start to push the eggs around with a rubber spatula, scraping from the bottom of the pan so no egg sticks. You don’t want to delay this step, or they may brown. As you push the eggs around, layers of egg will cook and pile on top of each other, creating a fluffy effect. As the egg cooks further, you can fold it on top of itself.
When the eggs are still a bit wobbly-looking in places but mostly cooked, turn off the heat. Give one or two final stirs to combine, turning over any remaining raw egg patches to make sure they touch the residual heat of the pan. If you like your eggs a little wobbly at the edges, skip that last step.
Transfer to a serving plate, and the eggs will continue to cook in the minutes before you eat, taking on the perfect consistency!
Looking for more authentic recipes? Subscribe to our email list and be sure to follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube!
Recipe
How to Make Perfect Scrambled Eggs
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Black pepper (optional, to taste)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon oil (whatever you use for cooking is fine!)
Optional additions for Herby Goat Cheese Scrambled Eggs:
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped dill
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
- 3 1-inch/2.5cm cubes of sheep/goat cheese (we love this one from Meredith Dairy; break them up into smaller chunks with your fork)
- 1 handful chopped baby spinach (optional)
- ½-1 teaspoon truffle oil (optional, to taste)
Instructions
- Crack your eggs into a bowl, and beat with a fork, chopsticks, or whisk until large and small bubbles have formed and the whites are totally incorporated with the yolks. Season with salt and black pepper, if using. If you’re making the herby goat cheese eggs, add the parsley, dill, chives, goat cheese, and the spinach and truffle oil, if using.
- Make a cornstarch slurry by combining the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water. You’ll want to add this right before you’re ready to cook the eggs.
- Heat a nonstick or well-seasoned skillet over medium-high heat until it feels warm when you hover your hand over the pan. If you’re not so confident, start with medium heat.
- Add the oil to the pan. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the eggs, and add them to the pan. They should bubble slightly around the edges. Start to push the eggs around with a rubber spatula, scraping from the bottom of the pan so no egg sticks. Don't delay, or they may brown. As you push the eggs around, layers of egg will cook and pile on top of each other, creating a fluffy effect. As the egg cooks further, you can fold it on top of itself.
- When the eggs are still a bit wobbly-looking in places but mostly cooked, turn off the heat. Give one or two final stirs to combine, turning over any remaining raw egg patches to make sure they touch the residual heat of the pan. If you like your eggs a little wobbly at the edges, skip that last step. Transfer to a serving plate, and the eggs will continue to cook in the minutes before you eat, taking on the perfect consistency!
