How to Make Eggs: Choose the Yolk, Then the Method

Every way of cooking an egg comes down to one choice you make before the pan is hot. What should the yolk be like when you cut into it? Answer that, and the method and the dish follow.

What are the different ways to make eggs?

The main ways to make eggs are frying, scrambling, boiling, poaching, making an omelet and baking or steaming. They differ in two things: whether the yolk stays whole or gets mixed in, and how firm it ends up. Choose the yolk you want first, then the method.

That gives four yolks to choose from:

• Runny: the yolk flows when you break it. Fried sunny side up or over easy, poached, or soft-boiled.
• Jammy: thick and soft, holds its shape but isn’t dry. Boiled a little longer than soft.
• Set: firm all the way through. Hard-boiled, or fried over hard.
• Mixed: yolk and white beaten together. Scrambled, omelet, frittata, steamed egg.

I build Today’s Mealow, so for this post I asked it for a light brunch for one, with the location set to downtown Seattle. It suggested a garden salad, grilled salmon and a turkey sandwich from places nearby. Not one egg dish.

I didn’t mind. Eggs are the brunch I can make at home without much effort, so going out is a chance to eat something I wouldn’t cook. I’d take the grilled salmon and save the eggs for tomorrow.

How do you make eggs with a runny yolk?

For a runny yolk, fry the egg without flipping it (sunny side up), flip it only briefly (over easy), poach it in simmering water, or soft-boil it in its shell. All four set the white while the yolk stays liquid. Use gentle heat so the white cooks before the yolk does.

Fried: sunny side up and over easy

Melt a little butter or oil in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat. Crack the egg in and leave it. For sunny side up, cook until the white is set and opaque, and cover the pan for the last part if the top of the white stays clear. For over easy, slide a spatula under the egg, flip it, and give it a few seconds on the second side before you take it off.

Poached

Bring a pot of water to a gentle simmer, with small bubbles rather than a rolling boil. Crack the egg into a small cup first, then tip it into the water. Fresh eggs hold together best, and some cooks add a splash of vinegar to help the white set. Lift the egg out with a slotted spoon when the white is firm and the yolk still wobbles.

Soft-boiled

Lower the egg into water that’s already boiling. A large egg straight from the fridge needs about six minutes for a runny yolk. Move it to cold water to stop the cooking, then crack the top off and eat it with a spoon.

Egg dishes with a runny yolk:

• Sunny side up eggs on buttered toast
• Over easy eggs with hash browns
• Eggs Benedict: poached eggs and ham on an English muffin with hollandaise
• A poached egg on avocado toast
• Soft-boiled eggs with strips of toast for dipping
• Shakshuka: eggs cooked in a spiced tomato and pepper sauce
• Huevos rancheros: fried eggs on tortillas with salsa
• Croque madame: a ham and cheese toastie with a fried egg on top
• Bibimbap topped with a fried egg

How do you make jammy and hard-boiled eggs?

For jammy or hard-boiled eggs, lower the eggs into boiling water and cook them longer than soft-boiled. Around seven minutes gives a jammy yolk; around ten to twelve gives a fully set one. Then cool them in cold water. The only difference between the two is time.

Stoves and egg sizes vary, so treat those times as a starting point and adjust after your first batch. Cooling the eggs in cold water stops the yolk from cooking further and makes them easier to peel. Eggs that have been in the fridge a week or more tend to peel more cleanly than very fresh ones.

Egg dishes with a jammy yolk:

• Ramen with a halved soft egg on top
• Jammy eggs on a grain bowl
• Scotch eggs: a boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat and breadcrumbs, then fried

Egg dishes with a set yolk:

• Deviled eggs
• An egg salad sandwich
• Cobb salad with chopped hard-boiled egg
• Over hard eggs in a bacon, egg and cheese roll

How do you make eggs with the yolk mixed in?

To mix the yolk in, beat the eggs first, then scramble them, cook them flat as an omelet or frittata, or steam them. Scrambled eggs are stirred as they set. An omelet is cooked in one layer and folded. A frittata is thicker and finishes in the oven.

Scrambled

Whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt. Melt butter in a pan over low heat, pour the eggs in, and push them slowly from the edges toward the middle with a spatula. Take the pan off the heat while they still look a little wet. They keep cooking on the plate.

Omelet

Whisk the eggs and pour them into a buttered pan over medium heat. As the edges set, pull them in and tilt the pan so the runny egg flows into the gaps. When the top is almost set, add a filling such as cheese, ham or sautéed mushrooms to one half and fold the other half over it.

Steamed

Chinese steamed egg is eggs beaten with water or stock, poured into a bowl, and steamed over low heat until it sets like a soft custard. Covering the bowl stops water from dripping onto the surface.

Egg dishes with the yolk mixed in:

• Soft scrambled eggs on toast
• A cheese and ham omelet
• A vegetable frittata, sliced like a cake
• Quiche: eggs and cream baked in a pastry case
• Tamagoyaki: a sweet Japanese omelet rolled in layers
• Tomato and egg stir-fry over rice
• Egg fried rice
• Egg drop soup
• Chinese steamed egg with soy sauce and scallions
• A breakfast burrito with scrambled egg, cheese and salsa

Scrambled egg also turns up as a late night snack, folded into a tortilla. That one’s in the late night snack list.

Which egg dish should I make today?

Choose an egg dish by the yolk you want and the time you have. A runny yolk with toast or rice is the quickest meal. Boiled eggs suit making ahead. Mixed-yolk dishes like an omelet or fried rice turn eggs into a full meal with whatever else is in the fridge.

Say it’s a weekday morning and you want something to dip toast into. That makes the yolk runny. You don’t want to watch a pot of water, so poached and soft-boiled are out. That leaves fried, and with a slice of ham and some cheese on hand, it becomes a croque madame.

On an evening, the same question sorts dinner. Want a set yolk you can make ahead? Boil a batch, and tomorrow’s lunch is an egg salad sandwich. Want everything mixed into one pan? Leftover rice makes it egg fried rice. For a side of crisp potatoes with fried eggs, the guide to dicing a potato covers the cut.

Not in the mood to cook eggs at all? Today’s Mealow asks six questions, from the meal to how you’re feeling, then picks 3 dishes from real places near you.

Pick a brunch for me

Still stuck between two egg dishes? Spin a random food generator and see which one you hope it lands on.