The first thing I ever learned to cook, around age eight, was scrambled eggs, and I learned it the way most people do: Crack a few eggs in a bowl, add milk, salt, and pepper, and cook over medium heat in a buttered skillet until they start to set, then rake them up to form curds. This is a perfectly respectable method, but it’s not how to make perfect scrambled eggs. And once you make them properly, you’ll find that humble scrambled eggs can become pretty sublime.
How to Make Perfect Scrambled Eggs.
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First tip: Use a saucepan, not a skillet. Cooking the eggs in a narrower vessel makes them cook more slowly, which gives you insurance against overcooking.
How to Make Perfect Scrambled Eggs
Crack three eggs into your pan and add a knob of butter—anywhere from half a tablespoon to a tablespoon, depending on how rich you feel. Do not add milk! Milk does nothing good for scrambled eggs—it merely stretches them to feed more people. If you can afford the three eggs, skip the milk. And don’t season the eggs until they’re finished cooking, because the salt can draw water out of the whites and make them watery.
The “how to make perfect scrambled eggs” setup.
Set the pot over high heat. Using a fork, quickly whisk the eggs, which will form an emulsion with the butter. They will start to look creamy.
The earliest cooking stage. Looking good…
Take the pan off the heat, still whisking. The eggs will still cook, and begin to transform from a liquid to a solid. You might find it easier to use a spatula at this point. Continue stirring. Repeat this process, going on and off the heat, until the eggs are almost done to your liking.
Constant stirring produces smaller curds. Almost done.
When the eggs are almost ready, whisk in a bit more butter for flavor. You want the eggs wet, but not runny.
Off the heat and done.
And that’s how to make perfect scrambled eggs! They may not look like the eggs you grew up eating or what you typically see on your diner breakfast plate, but give them a try. We think you’ll like them.
Garnish them with fresh herbs (chives, mint, parsley) if you’d like. Enjoy!
Do you have any tips for how to make perfect scrambled eggs? Let us know!
This post was first published in 2014 and has been updated.
Amy Traverso
Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee magazine and co-host of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with WGBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.
