Extra-Creamy Scrambled Eggs

Extra-Creamy Scrambled Eggs
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Total Time
5 minutes
Rating
4(6,903)
Notes
Read community notes

Adding a small amount of a starchy slurry to scrambled eggs — a technique learned from Mandy Lee of the food blog Lady & Pups — prevents them from setting up too firmly, resulting in eggs that stay tender and moist, whether you like them soft-, medium- or hard-scrambled. Potato or tapioca starch is active at slightly lower temperatures than cornstarch and will produce a slightly more tender scramble, but cornstarch works just fine if it’s what you’ve got on hand. Make sure your skillet is at just the right temperature by heating a tablespoon of water in the skillet and waiting for it to evaporate. For creamier eggs, you can replace the water with milk or half-and-half.

Featured in: This Is How You Get the Best Scrambled Eggs

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Ingredients

Yield:2 servings
  • 2teaspoons potato starch, tapioca starch or cornstarch
  • 4tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch cubes
  • 4eggs (see Tip)
  • Pinch of kosher salt
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 servings)

337 calories; 31 grams fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 11 grams protein; 184 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a medium bowl, whisk together starch with 1½ tablespoons water until no lumps remain. Add half the butter cubes to starch mixture. Add eggs and salt, and whisk, breaking up any cubes of butter that have stuck together, until the eggs are frothy and homogenous. (There will still be solid chunks of butter in the eggs.)

  2. Step 2

    Set your serving plate near the stovetop. Heat 1 tablespoon water in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high, swirling gently until the water evaporates, leaving behind only a few small droplets. Immediately add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and swirl vigorously until the butter is mostly melted and foamy but not brown, about 10 seconds.

  3. Step 3

    Immediately add the egg mixture and cook, pushing and folding the eggs with a spatula, until they are slightly less cooked than you’d like them, about 1 to 2 minutes, depending on doneness. More vigorous stirring will result in finer, softer curds, while more leisurely stirring will result in larger, fluffier curds. Immediately transfer to the serving plate, and serve.

Tip
  • If cooking fewer eggs or more, adjust pan size accordingly, and note that cooking time in Step 3 can vary significantly, needing as little as 15 to 30 seconds for 2 eggs, or as long as 3 to 4 minutes for 8 eggs.

Ratings

4 out of 5
6,903 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Ignore the reviewers who didn’t actually make this recipe and touted their own homemade concoctions. This recipe is fantastic.

A professional chef who developed the recipe, and has made it hundreds of times to perfect it, publishes the recipe. Forty percent of the comments are from people who didn’t try the recipe and say it’s all pointless; throw the protein on a fire like when I was 7 they say, and push it around with a stick and it’s every bit as good. Insufferable. I’ve been doing sous vide eggs and these are much better and quicker. Thanks Kenji.

I’m all for technique and soft eggs but this is far more work than necessary to get soft creamy curds; I heat a pan on low, throw some butter in, whip my eggs with a fork in a bowl off to the side with some salt, slide into pan and with soft spatula simply push around and around on low heat till perfectly soft creamy set and serve immediately with fresh cracked pepper. Restaurant quality creamy.

Tried this technique, and the result was as advertised — beautiful scrambled eggs. And it’s not complicated or fussy. I find myself wishing this website could screen out comments from people who didn’t actually try the recipes.

I think the point of this recipe is that it's only a couple minutes of cooking time at higher heat (while still getting the creamy texture) for weekdays when you don't have as much time to cook the eggs low and slow.

Kenji does it again. These eggs are incredible. I cooked them without telling my wife and tried to play it off like it was just a good batch. They are so good, she caught on. If you don’t want to use this much butter, use less butter.

Tried this for lunch. Man is there a lot of butter for the amount of eggs it makes. Pros:VERY DECADENT, great taste. Cons: a little too rich for my taste. Verdict: very tasty but probably won't make again unless I'm trying to gain weight for a hypothetical wrestling tournament due to how rich they are.

Like so many NYT Food recipes where I have all the ingredients on hand, I had to try it this morning. I believe in respecting the recipe and making it as described before I make adjustments. I made it as described but halved it for just me. I used a well seasoned cast iron pan. The eggs were fluffy, creamy and delicious, just like I imagine royalty get from their 5-Star chefs. I'll play with it now to reduce the amount of butter to protect my arteries like a Weight Watchers chef.

Making creamy scrambled eggs requires nothing more than a good whisk and... eggs. Zero butter. Even in the pan. If you whisk till foamy, pour into pan and continually move around with a rubber spatula under medium-low heat, things will turn out beautifully.

These were the exact right fluffiness. I think the corn starch and the perfectly hot pan technique is a great idea. If you wanted to use a little less butter, you probably could be ok, but it's really good with the butter. I made two eggs-- cut the recipe in half and it worked. (I also added a few chopped onions at the end if anyone is interested)

Good eggs! I doubled the recipe. Corn starch added no flavor. Served with English muffins to wife and kids. Plates cleaned! I think a lot of reviewers are missing the point; it's a technique to get fluffy eggs, quickly. Like many of the reviewers, my usual eggs use only salt and butter, and turn out nicely, but I need low heat and constant stirring. At larger quantities that can be 15 minutes. This recipe gives me more grace, with quicker cook time.

Just made these and they are *stupid* good 10/10 beautiful

OK, I tried the recipe. I did use a little less butter, but otherwise faithfully followed. I, too, have been making eggs for multiple decades, and in my experience, this technique produces scrambled eggs that are at least a couple of steps above the norm, with less time/effort than the very-low-heat method. For those of you who are set in your egg technique, please move along -- nothing to see here (and no need to comment). But for those open to improvement, I say give this a try.

For some reason this recipe is getting a lot of negative attention about being "too much work" but honestly it took me less than 5 minutes and they were the best scrambled eggs I've ever had. I finished them in the time it took for my bagel to toast!

Completely agree with Michael. Of course everyone thinks they already know how to make the best scrambled eggs - it's just scrambled eggs! But seriously, make eggs this way and you will be a convert. Amazing texture! And really, stop leaving reviews if you haven't even made the recipe. Not helpful.

Wow …. I followed the recipe exactly, just doubled so that it would be enough for the whole family. It was swimming in butter and had a super weird off-putting taste, I assume from the cornstarch? We each ate a bite and then the rest was tossed.

Worked JUST as written and I snazzed it up a bit with a sprinkling of finely sliced spring onions and a handful of grated Gruyère added at the same time as the eggs. Delicious! Thanks Kenji!👍🏼

I tried this recipe, following instructions to the letter. Yum. Best scrambled eggs I've ever made. Yes, it's a lot of butter, but I don't make scrambled eggs for myself very often, so I'll take the extra fat and calories that make this recipe a winner.

I used cornstarch and it does make a difference: the eggs are more moist and tender than if you didn’t use cornstarch. I replaced water with half-and-half, and reduced the amount to 2 tbsp of butter (for 4 eggs) instead of the full 4 tbsp and it was still a little too buttery for my tastes. I think you can get away with less… I should have left the eggs cook for a few seconds longer because they were still a little too moist for my liking. Bad judgment call on my end.

These are by far the greasiest eggs I've ever had. Cut the amount of butter in half.

Saw his video last night. Made the eggs just now and…WOW. Scrambled eggs are my favorite thing in the world. But I suck at making them the way I like: creamy and fluffy with big curds. Who knew the secret was a corn starch slurry! Love it!

Delicious. If you want a recipe for low cal/low fat scrambled eggs, whisk a few and cook them in a drop of olive oil. If you want soft, creamy eggs, make these. This was fast and couldn’t be easier. No need to look at the recipe if making again and easily scales down for one or up for many. I won’t eat them every day, but I’ll eat them again!

Fabulous! I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you chef!

These are fantastic. And they hold well if you are waiting for something else to finish cooking.

These are the best scrambled eggs ever. Thanks Kenji

Bit involved for eggs but man are the results worth it. Genuinely creamy and eggy.

Cornstarch isn’t necessary. Neither is tapioca starch. No milk either. Makes the eggs watery. Just whisk those eggs with salt and pepper and pour in pan with melted butter and then follow recipe. Done and done.

It is almost like eating a stick of butter. If you frequently eat buttery foods or want to splurge on a buttery food, this is likely totally okay. But it was just a bit too much butter. I do appreciate the starch and feel like it would still be delicious with a little less butter. Man, I’ve typed butter about 1000 times

Quickly fry 12 shrimp then add them to the bowl of scrambled eggs. 150g or 12 large Shrimps ¼ tsp Salt ¼ tsp White pepper ¼ tsp Sugar ½ tsp Sesame oil ½ tsp Cooking wine

Following instructions to a tee led to perfect eggs for two. Great on an egg sandwich.

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