How To Make A Perfect Fried Egg

We recently showed you how to make the perfect omelet, and we’ve had lots of people respond thanking us for helping them ‘debunk’ the basics.

It seems we’re a nation of proud individuals who don’t want to admit that we can’t do something simple!

But the fact is, unless you come from a family where cooking was at the center of your lives, even basic cooking techniques could have been missed. So it’s really not your fault!

In the same vein, today, we’re going to look at how to fry the perfect egg. Let’s begin!

Your ingredients:

1 tablespoon of fat

1 egg

(for each extra egg, add another tablespoon of fat)

How to make the perfect fried egg:

1) Most people just use any fat they have lying around. There’s the first mistake! You need to choose fats depending on how you like your fried eggs.

2) If you prefer crispy edges on your fried egg, opt for olive oil, ground nut oil or grapeseed oil, all of which have a high smoke point. This allows you to heat the oil to very high temperatures before you release the egg.

3) You can also use bacon grease, which also has a high smoke point, as it’s an ideal way to use up the leftover fat after cooking some bacon.

4) If you prefer softer edges, then butter is great as it packs in flavor, but don’t heat the butter too high as the dairy solids in it will burn.

5) Do not use low smoke point oils, such as sesame oil or pumpkin seed oil.

6) Add your chosen fat into a skillet and heat it (remember, if you’re using butter, don’t use a high heat as you will burn it, and cook for a little longer than times indicated below). Now break your egg into the center of the skillet.

7) Turn the heat down a little and continue to cook the egg. For ‘sunny side up’ egg, tilt the skillet to create ‘pools’ of fat, and use a tablespoon to scoop fat up and drizzle the top of your egg. This stops the bottom from burning whilst the top is still undercooked.

8) For ‘over easy’ egg, wait for about 45 seconds and then use a slotted spoon to turn the egg over for just 15 seconds (adjust to 30 seconds on first side, and 30 seconds over on the other side for ‘over medium’ egg).

9) For ‘over well’ egg, cook on both sides for about a minute each.

Hot tip! 

Always use a slotted spoon to turn as the slots will allow air to get to the underside of your egg, allowing it to be released from the spatula cleanly, instead of sticking to it.

10) After about 1-2 minutes, your egg will be cooked (depending on how runny you like your yolk). Remove using a slotted spoon.

11) Drop your fried egg onto kitchen paper, and allow it to rest for a few seconds so the paper absorbs excess fat. Then remove onto a plate and eat immediately.

Simple when you know how, right??