How Hot Should Your Pan Be When Frying Eggs?

Fried eggs are a simple, versatile dish capable of enhancing breakfast and dinner alike. But they can also come with many pitfalls, so ironing out your cooking technique is important to yield no-stress eggs without fail. One of the enduring questions about the best ways to fry eggs is what temperature the pan should be before you start cooking, so Food Republic spoke to Marissa Stevens, recipe developer and food blogger at Pinch and Swirl to get her expert opinion on the matter.

According to Stevens, the answer depends on the style of fried egg you're aiming for. "For crispy-bottomed eggs with set whites and a runny yolk (like a good sunny-side up), medium to medium-low heat is the sweet spot," she said. "Too hot and the whites bubble up and get lacy in a bad way — undercooked in some spots, tough in others." However, she continued, "If you're cooking over-easy or over-medium, you can go a touch higher with the heat since you'll be flipping the egg anyway."

Not knowing the difference between styles is a common mistake when cooking fried eggs that can lead to disaster. Whether you're ordering at a restaurant or cooking at home, it's important to know the difference between sunny-side up and over-easy, and that's doubly true if you're cooking for others. The last thing you want to do is give someone who hates runny eggs a mouthful of oozing yolk. 

To ensure the pan is at the right temperature, Marissa Stevens uses a simple test. "Drop in a small bit of butter and watch what it does," she said. "If it melts quickly and sizzles softly without browning or smoking, your pan's ready. If it just sits there, the pan's too cool. If it turns brown right away or spits, turn the heat down and let it cool for a minute before adding the egg." The sweet spot, according to Stevens, is somewhere in between. "I heat the pan just enough to make a small knob of butter foam and sizzle gently, but not brown." 

A similar, non-dairy alternative is the water test, in which you heat a pan on medium-high, then get some water on your fingers and flick it at the pan. You're not looking for it to evaporate immediately, but rather bead up and start moving around. Then you can lower the heat to medium-low, wait a minute for the pan to cool, and start cooking.

Just like pan temperature is important, an equally important fried egg cooking hack is making sure the eggs are the right temperature before cracking them. Letting your eggs come to room temperature makes it easier for the egg whites to fully cook without the yolk going over. And if you find the eggs sticking to the pan, don't panic and don't try to get the spatula under them. A gentle tap or two of the pan handle should help get eggs unstuck from the pan.