The Absolute Best Way to Make Soft, Creamy Scrambled Eggs, According to Legendary Chef Jacques Pépin

Jacques Pépin + scrambled eggs

Forget the gourmet extravaganzas—sometimes, culinary magic lies in the simplest of recipes, like scrambled eggs. Whether you're feeding a ton of people or just yourself, scrambled eggs are the ultimate crowd-pleaser. They’re not only budget-friendly, but also effortlessly adaptable to whatever ingredients you have on hand.

Scrambled eggs are just one of those simple, classic dishes everyone should know how to make—and who better than to teach us how to make the softest, creamiest scrambled eggs ever than the legendary French chef Jacques Pépin? He went through the technique in an American Masters at Home video on the American Masters PBS YouTube channel. This is now our forever favorite method. 

Related: The Secret Ingredient for Rich, Tender French Toast, According to Legendary Chef Jacques Pépin

How to Make Soft Scrambled Eggs Like Jacques Pépin

At the start of the video he says, “Here’s how to make scrambled eggs my way… the classic way,” he says—which involves a simple trick that he does before cooking to ensure perfectly soft, tender results. Here's how he does it.

1. Make a garnish (or not). “I have a couple of mushrooms and a third of a cup of diced tomato that I had around,” he says. He sautées them for a few minutes to put on top of the finished scrambled eggs. This is completely optional, of course, but it's a great reminder that there are fun, delicious and elegant ways to use up those tiny bits of leftovers in your fridge.

2. Beat the eggs the right way. Pepin cracks 6 eggs into a large bowl. Next he adds salt, pepper and a little bit of chives to the eggs in the bowl and vigorously beats them with a fork: “You don’t want to turn this gently in the middle because it’s like a wet mop… You gotta go from one side to the other side to really break the white.” How do you know when they are beat together well enough? Pepin demonstrates, when raising his fork out of the eggs: “I don’t have any long strings [of white].”

3. Set some aside. Then he reveals his secret, which is done just before cooking the eggs: “The idea here is that you want the creamiest possible eggs so what I do… I’m going to keep a little bit of this, about two tablespoons… to add to it at the end to stop the cooking,” as he shows pouring some of the raw, beaten eggs into a small dish. “I also add a tablespoon of cream,” he adds. “Sometimes people do it in a double boiler,” he explains, but doesn’t find this necessary for his “classic way of doing the scrambled eggs.”

4. Get cooking. To cook the eggs, Pépin starts with “a good tablespoon of butter” in a “sturdy pan,” melting it as he swirls it around. He likes to use a round-bottomed pan (often called a saucier) so that he can easily scrape all the way around the pan as the eggs cook. If you don't have a saucier pan, just pay extra attention to the corners of the pan after you add the eggs.

5. Mind the heat. Next, he pours the eggs into the pan as he stirs them continuously. “If I feel the heat goes too far, I pull it out,” he says, showing how he pulls the pan off the heat if it looks like the eggs are cooking too quickly (since the other key to keeping them soft and tender is cooking them low and slow).

6. Look for the bottom of the pan. “As soon as you see the bottom of the pan, remove from the heat,” he instructs, showing how when the eggs are cooked enough, they start clumping together so you can see the bottom of the pan in spots as you’re stirring.

7. Finish the cooking off the heat. Off the heat, Pepin adds in the reserved raw, beaten eggs and a tablespoon of cream, continuing to stir vigorously, which lightly cooks the last bit of egg added (but less than the rest of the eggs), adding a luscious richness.

8. Eat immediately. This is a dish that won't keep, so make sure whoever is eating is at the table and ready to receive your expertly scrambled eggs. Pépin spoons the sautéed tomatoes and mushrooms on top of the eggs, but some chopped chives or another herb would be a nice garnish too. Some really nice toast would also be a great addition because these eggs are so soft and creamy that you need to eat them with a spoon.

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