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With a few simple, totally doable tips and tricks, you’ll learn how to make the best American scrambled eggs. This everyday food can be good, or — with no extra work — it can be great. Why not make it great?
Why we love this recipe
Scrambled eggs are as simple and satisfying as food gets. They’re a friend you can always count on. A quick, reliable, nutritious meal at any time of day.
Our recipe takes something good and makes it great. These American-style scrambled eggs are:
- Soft without being too soft
- Tender without being too tender
- A little bit fluffy in a light way but not in a spongy way
- Absolutely delicious
And the best part is that it doesn’t take any more work to make great scrambled eggs than it does to make meh ones.
I first published this recipe here in 2020. I’ve since updated the post a bit for clarity, but the recipe remains the same.
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.
- Start with the best-quality eggs you can get your hands on. We have a few more-local, pricier favorites, but something like Pete & Gerry’s is a fantastic option that’s reasonably priced and more widely available.
- You’ll need a couple of tablespoons of really good dairy. I prefer organic heavy cream, but you can use light cream, half and half, or even whole milk if you prefer.
- Here and pretty much everywhere, I like to use cultured butter from grass-fed cows. It sounds fancy but doesn’t have to be. Kerrygold, for example, is available in grocery stores and reasonably priced.
How to make them
Here’s an overview of what you’ll do to level up your American-style scrambled eggs. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- Crack the eggs into a small mixing bowl and pour in the cream. Whisk with a fork until smooth, even, and homogenous.
- Set a heavy nonstick frying pan — 8 to 10 inches wide — over medium-low heat. Add the butter and let it melt and get foamy but not brown.Pour in the eggs when the butter foams. Let them sit undisturbed until you can tell from the edges that the bottom has begun to set.
- As soon as you see this happening, use your spatula to gently pull the edges into the middle. When the eggs set again, repeat the process of pulling from the edges to the middle. You may need to do this once more.
- On the last time, you can break up the eggs a bit if you like and flip any uncooked bits to the underside to cook for a second. Just before you think the eggs are done, pull them off the heat and slide them onto a plate. Their residual heat will finish the cooking.
The question of heat
You may have heard a lot of people screaming things like LOW AND SLOW and DOUBLE BOILER at you from close range when talking scrambled eggs. If you’re a die-hard fan of those super-creamy, French-style scrambled eggs with the tiny curds, you’ll need to use a slightly different method (though no double boiler, and no screaming, I promise).
For great American-style eggs like this, you can just chill out and follow the recipe below.
Add-ins for scrambled eggs
Want to jazz things up a bit without following a fancy recipe? You can add:
- A minced shallot to the butter before adding the eggs
- 1/2 chopped bell or poblano peppers, cherry tomatoes, spinach, kale, mushrooms, or a combination to the butter before adding the eggs
- 1/4 cup of diced ham, crumbled bacon, any kind of cooked sausage, or a combination after adding the eggs
- 1/4 cup of grated extra-sharp cheddar, gruyere, smoked gouda, or mozzarella after adding the eggs
- 2 tablespoons of grated pecorino or parmesan after adding the eggs
- You can swap in bacon fat for the butter
- You can sprinkle in some smoked paprika toward the end of cooking
Expert tips and FAQs
Using a fork allows you to beat the eggs and cream well without incorporating too much air.
Toward the end of cooking, you can lift the pan off the heat a bit to regulate the temperature and prevent them from overcooking at the last minute. This is useful regardless of your stovetop but especially important if you’re cooking on an electric burner, which takes forever to respond to temperature changes.
American scrambled eggs are so quick and easy to make, and they’re at their best when freshly cooked. I don’t recommend making them ahead of time on purpose.
That said, leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for a week and can even be frozen for up to a year and in the fridge overnight. Reheat on medium power in the microwave before serving.
More favorite scrambled egg recipes
- French-style
- Migas
- Greek-inspired breakfast scramble
- With peppers and onions
- Bacon and Gruyere egg bites
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The Best American-style Scrambled Eggs
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs, use the best ones you can get your hands on
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) salted, cultured butter
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Crack eggs into a small mixing bowl and pour in cream.
- With a fork, beat the eggs until the contents of the bowl are an even, creamy yellow, with no visible bits of yolk or white.
- Set a heavy 8- or 10-inch nonstick pan over medium-low heat. Add the butter. When it's melted and foamy, pour in the eggs.
- Let the eggs sit undisturbed just until you can see around the edges that they've set on the underside. Then, in a few gentle motions, use a silicone spatula to pull the edges of the eggs into the center.
- Repeat this process — letting the underside set, and then pulling the edges to the center — once or twice more as needed. You can lift the pan up off the heat a bit to control the temperature so the eggs set without browning.
- Just before you think the eggs are perfectly cooked, remove the pan from the heat. They'll keep cooking a bit with their residual heat and end up just right.
- Slide the eggs onto a plate and serve right away, sprinkled with the salt and pepper.
Notes
- I prefer heavy cream for its richness in tiny quantities, but you can 100% substitute half and half or whole milk if you prefer.
- American scrambled eggs are so quick and easy to make, and they're at their best when freshly cooked. I don't recommend making them ahead of time on purpose.
- That said, leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for a week and can even be frozen for up to a year and in the fridge overnight. Reheat on medium power in the microwave before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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