There are plenty of mistakes to be made when cooking omelets, and we're all guilty of making
them. But once you learn all the ways you're making omelets wrong, you'll be well on your
way to making the best omelet of your life. Use these tips and tricks for the perfect
omelet every time.
You've pulled your ingredients out of the fridge and lined them up on the countertop
like good little soldiers. Then you reach for your trusty frying pan. And here's the
hitch: If it isn't the right size, you're setting yourself up for failure.
The folks at kitchen accessory company Whiskware have this to say:
"Ask any chef [...] and you'll find a pretty tight consensus that crafting the perfect
omelet starts with the right number of eggs and the right size frying pan."
The issue is that using too large of a pan leads to a paper-thin omelet. To avoid winding
up with a wimpy dish, Whiskware recommends sticking with a 7- to 8-inch frying pan.
So, while size may not matter everywhere:
"What's his favorite food?"
"Sandwiches."
"Best friend's name?"
"Probably John."
"Eye color?"
"Dreamy."
"Foot size?"
"Foot size doesn't matter?"
It kinda does when you're cooking omelets. Keep that in mind and grab a pan that will
live up to your, uh, omelet's expectations.
Raise your hand if you had no idea you were supposed to separate your egg whites out when
making an omelet. Apparently, this is an important step to achieving nirvana in omelet form.
To make a "super fluffy, souffléed omelet," you need to give the egg whites some proper
attention. Lifehacker's food and beverage editor Claire Lower, said:
"Whip the whites with [a] pinch of salt until stiff peaks form and incorporate half of the
mixture into the yolks with a whisk. Gently fold in the rest of the whites, spread into
a pan, top with shredded cheese, cover, and cook for three minutes."
The Incredible Egg, the spokes-site for the humble egg itself, explains the logic behind
this separation. The site says that:
"Fat from egg yolk will prevent egg whites from beating properly. When separating eggs,
take care that no yolk gets in the whites."
The site suggests you should separate each egg white into a cup or small bowl before
dropping it into the mixer bowl. Should you get even a speck of yolk in a white, toss
it. Who knew?
Let us preface this by saying it's your life; you do you.
Having said that, there are times when we can benefit from the expertise of others,
and cooking omelets is one such time. Let food writer Karon Liu serve as a cautionary
tale. Once upon a time, he couldn't make an omelet without it devolving into a sort of
strange egg stir-fry.
In a 2014 article for Food Network, though, Liu revealed he finally kicked his too-many-toppings
habit. He said that his best tip for omelet success is:
"[Only using] up to three toppings at 1/3 cup each or 1/2 cup if you're only using two
toppings."
His prior method of tossing in anything in the fridge that struck his fancy turned out
to be a major saboteur. Liu explained:
"Loading your omelet with too much stuff would result in the egg ripping and becoming more
of a scramble."
Liu has one more piece of advice about toppings: Cook them accordingly. In other words, size
up which take longer to cook than others. Sauté ingredients like mushrooms, onion,
bacon, broccoli and bell peppers before you start your eggs.
Liu advised:
"I've had many hotel omelets when I'd bite into the eggs and taste raw mushrooms in the
center. Don't do that."
What's the saying? Two eggs are better than one? Okay, so maybe that's not quite how it
goes. But if you ask any omelet expert, they'll
likely say the same thing.
Take, for example, Lacey Baier, the author at A Sweet Pea Chef. In her pursuit to discover
the perfect egg-to-topping ratio, she pinpointed what she considers to be the ideal number
of eggs to use in an omelet.
She said on her blog:
"We all want to cut breakfast prepping time in half — but making a big omelet and splitting
it is not a good idea. You will end up with scrambled eggs instead of an omelet because
flipping a huge omelet is not easy."
Not to mention, Baier points out, the more eggs you use the more likely it is that some
of those eggs will end up undercooked.
Her advice? Start with two eggs. You can always add another egg white if you want to up your
protein intake. Baier notes that you can, of course, crack a third egg if you're feeling
ravenous.
However, any more than three is overkill and merits a second omelet.
Who among us hasn't whipped up an omelet using whatever ingredients we have on hand in the
fridge?
Whether it's the last few eggs in the carton or leftover steamed broccoli, you can't beat
readily available ingredients for convenience. But just because you have them on hand doesn't
mean they're going to give you a great omelet experience.
In fact, Southern Living believes, quote, "the fresher, the better" should be your rule
of thumb when it comes to making a killer omelet.
The folks at Southern Living said:
"Fresh eggs make a world of difference when it comes to this breakfast staple. If you're
an avid farmers market shopper, you'll be able to see the color difference in straight-from-the-farm
eggs compared to store-bought ones. Fresh, local eggs usually have vibrant, yellow-orange
yolks — and your omelet will be much tastier — and colorful — because of it."
The same logic applies to your omelet's fillings and toppings as well, so be sure to reach
for those farm-fresh eggs and fresh produce next time an omelet craving hits.
Where Alton Brown leads, we shall follow. So when the Good Eats creator slash Iron Chef
America commentator slash best-selling cookbook author says we're messing up an important
part of the omelet-making process, we take note.
Not surprisingly, Brown is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to whipping up this delectable
dish — but it's one particular piece of advice he offers that is low-key brilliant.
He said in Food Network Magazine that you should:
"Heat your pan empty for a few minutes before adding the butter. Even a nonstick surface
is pocked with microscopic pores that eggs can fill and grab hold of. Heat expands the
metal, squeezing these openings shut."
Mind blown, right?
You should have your sauté pan over medium to high heat. You'll also need to set aside
10 seconds after you begin cooking the eggs to let your omelet sit untouched to develop
a proper outer crust.
"I really like my omelet to not be too cooked, and it just comes out and it's not too brown
on top. You know and actually these are even a little too brown for my taste."
But when all is said and done, Brown said, quote, "Your patience will be rewarded."
To some of us, butter is butter is butter. It's all good and we'll take extra, please
and thank you.
"Every time you taste something that's delicious beyond imagining. And you say what is in this?
The answer is always going to be butter."
However — and this may sound like sacrilege — there is such a thing as using the wrong
butter. Such is the case when making an omelet. Domestic goddess Martha Stewart deemed it
so.
In a 1997 issue of Martha Stewart Living, the maven made it clear that certain types
of butter are undesirable for omelets because they're prone to burning. Stewart said:
"Use clarified butter, which does not burn as quickly as salted or unsalted butter. If
you do use regular butter, watch carefully to keep it from burning."
Just think of clarified butter as liquid gold. As in, not only is it worth its weight in
gold in the culinary world, but it quite literally looks like the molten precious metal, too.
Although you're likely most familiar with seeing it used as a dipping sauce for lobster
and other high-priced crustaceans, clarified butter boasts tons of versatility in the kitchen
due to its very high smoke point — and that's why this beautiful butterfat, void of milk
solids, is ideal for making omelets.
An omelet's most winning trait — besides taste, of course — could arguably be that
it's relatively quick and easy to create. Whether you were hungry before you started
making it, or the smell of it cooking kicked your hunger into overdrive, you're always
grateful that you can churn out an omelet in no time.
But here's the thing: If you really want it to be the best omelet it can be, you're going
to need to practice a bit of restraint.
"I've come to a decision. This one is the clear winner."
"Yes!"
"Spatch five!"
Most of us presumably cook an omelet until the eggs are cooked all the way through. And
while this seems like a sound approach, BBC Food recommends a different route. They said:
"[You should] remove the pan from the heat, while the egg is still slightly runny in the
middle. The residual heat will cook the egg [...]"
Residual heat for the win.
When you slide into a booth at IHOP and order an omelet, you know that what comes out of
that kitchen is going to be a light-as-air blanket of eggs hugging cheese and other delicious
fillings.
On more than one occasion, you may even have wondered how the breakfast chain managed to
make their omelet so gosh darn fluffy. Well, friends, as you suspected, IHOP has a secret
ingredient. What you probably didn't expect is that their secret ingredient is pancake
batter. It really is a house of pancakes.
The Daily Mail revealed:
"By adding a small amount of pancake batter to its eggs, IHOP accomplishes a few things.
One, it adds some structure to the eggs, making them a little more sturdy and filling. Two,
the extra moisture leads to a fluffier overall product. And three, it adds just the slightest
amount of tasty pancake flavor to the mix."
This means that somewhere along the way, someone in IHOP's kitchen did some serious outside-of-the-box
— or better yet, inside of the pancake box — thinking when cooking an omelet, and the
result is a dish that is delightful and distinctive in equal measure.
Moral of the story? Don't be afraid to experiment while endeavoring to create the perfect omelet,
because you might just stumble upon your own very special star ingredient.
Betcha didn't realize so much went into making an omelet, huh? While cooking an omelet is
an art form, let it be said that getting too lost in the inner workings of making an omelet
can have effects just as disastrous as ignoring all of the advice cataloged here.
The Pioneer Woman's blog said as much, so it must be true.
In an article on Drummond's popular site in 2016, food blogger Erica Lea confessed that
her first few attempts at making omelets turned out to be a disaster. She could pinpoint her
main issues easily enough: Too much milk in her eggs, too much filling, and trying to
make her omelets look fancy enough for a diner table.
Yet, it took her a hot minute to connect the dots. She said:
"I finally realized that I was overcomplicating things. So I simplified my process, and suddenly
my omelet game improved immensely."
Lea's pared down but winning method entails two eggs with a little salt — well-whisked
with a fork — a decent gob of butter — and a handful of cheese paired with a few precooked
fillings like mushroom and bacon, and a carefully timed fold. That's pretty much it.
The moral of the story? When in doubt, keep it simple.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Mashed videos about cooking
tips are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss
a single one.