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Short-Order Kitchen

How to Make Eggs on a Griddle

Recipe card
Servings
As many as you need
Prep
2 minutes
Cook
2 to 5 minutes
Method
Griddle
Heat
275–325°F (griddle)
Difficulty
Low
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 1 of the thread The breakfast fundamentals

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • Every style starts the same: griddle at 275 to 325°F. Eggs want low heat.
  • Scrambled: pull them right before they look done. They finish on the plate.
  • Sunny side up: drip hot oil over the whites to cook them without flipping.
  • Over easy is 30 to 45 seconds after the flip. Over medium, 1 minute more. Over hard, 1.5 to 2.
THE RECIPE · HOW TO MAKE EGGS ON A GRIDDLE

Ingredients

You'll need

  • Flat-top griddle
  • Wide spatula
  • Dome or lid (for basted)

Directions

Scrambled

  1. Heat the griddle to 275 to 325°F.
  2. Beat the eggs with a fork and a little water.
  3. Put a pat of butter on the griddle. Pour the eggs slowly onto the butter, then make a well in the middle and let them sit and set up.
  4. Pull them off right before they look done.

Sunny side up

  1. Heat the griddle to 275 to 325°F.
  2. Put 1/2 tbsp oil on the griddle and crack the egg onto it.
  3. As it cooks, pull the whites outward with the tip of the spatula.
  4. Drip hot oil from the griddle over the whites to help them cook.
  5. Cook until the whites are fully set and the yolk is still runny.

Basted

  1. Heat the griddle to 275 to 325°F.
  2. Put 1/2 tbsp oil on the griddle and crack the egg onto it.
  3. Squirt a little water or set an ice cube next to the egg, then cover with a dome or lid.
  4. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, until the whites are set and the thin film over the yolk turns white.

Over easy, medium or hard

  1. Heat the griddle to 275 to 325°F.
  2. Put 1/2 tbsp oil on the griddle and crack the egg onto it.
  3. As it cooks, pull the whites outward with the tip of the spatula and drip hot oil over them.
  4. Flip. Cook 30 to 45 seconds for over easy, 1 minute more for over medium, or 1.5 to 2 minutes for over hard.
Notes Eggs always go on last, after everything else on the griddle is done and moved to the warm side.

wesellis.com/blog/how-to-make-eggs/

Eggs are the first of the breakfast fundamentals because almost every other breakfast on this site ends with "then cook your eggs." This is the page those recipes point to.

Every style here starts the same way: a griddle between 275 and 325°F. That's lower than you'd think, and it's the single biggest fix for rubbery eggs.

Scrambled

Beat them with a fork and a splash of water, pour them slowly onto a pat of melted butter, then push a well into the middle and leave them alone. Stirring constantly gets you small, dry curds. Letting them sit gets you big soft ones.

Heads up

Pull them right before they look done. They keep cooking on the way to the plate, and "looks done on the griddle" becomes "overdone at the table."

Fried, three ways

Sunny side up never gets flipped, so the whites need help. Pull them outward with the tip of the spatula so they spread thin, then spoon a little hot oil from the griddle over the top.

Basted uses steam instead. A squirt of water or an ice cube next to the egg, a dome over the top, and 2 to 3 minutes later the yolk has a thin white veil over it.

Over easy, medium or hard is all about the time after the flip: 30 to 45 seconds, then add a minute for medium, or go 1.5 to 2 minutes for hard.

Tip

Eggs go last. Always. Cook everything else, park it on the warm side of the griddle, then turn the heat down for the eggs.

Once you've got these, put them to work in a Diner-Style Omelet or on top of Sweet Potato Hash.