I Discovered the Secret Ingredient for the World's Best Scrambled Eggs

Jennifer Causey

I am one of those odd people who does not like to eat eggs unless they have been blended. So, when it comes to cooking them, I am not the person you should consider an expert when it comes to hard boiled or soft boiled, fried or over easy, poached or coddled or shirred. But you can bet your bottom dollar I am the woman to call about scrambled.

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Since scrambled is the way I most often eat my eggs, I'm really good at it. And as such, I have tried every possible added ingredient to help the eggs have their best texture and flavor, from plain old water to milk of every percentage from skim to whole. I've whisked in heavy cream, olive oil, melted butter, ghee, and bacon fat. Many of these result in perfectly edible and enjoyable scrambled eggs. But nothing has made for as consistently perfect a scrambled egg cooking and eating experience as this one ingredient.

The secret ingredient for the world's best scrambled eggs

You ready?

Frozen grated butter.

Not the butter melting in the pan when you pour the eggs in… no, no, no. I'm talking tiny bits of still-super-cold butter mixed into the eggs before you add them to the pan.

Here's all you do: For every two eggs you're cooking, grate about ½ tablespoon off a frozen stick of butter right into the blended raw eggs before cooking. I use a microplane for this, but you can use any grater you have. It doesn't matter if the grated butter is in very small pieces or slightly larger.

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Why does frozen butter make scrambled eggs so delicious?

There is some science behind this: The frozen butter doesn't melt in the warming eggs too fast, so instead of making them greasy the way melted butter or other fats do, the butter emulsifies into the eggs as they cook and you stir, making the eggs richer in flavor and with a lovely tender texture. The added fat prevents your eggs from getting rubbery, even if you cook them dry or hard. And if you are serving a crowd, this trick helps keep the eggs tender even if you have to hold them in a warm oven or over a double boiler for a bit before serving.

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More tips for incredible scrambled eggs

I cook my scrambled eggs over medium-low heat in a large nonstick skillet, with a small amount of melted butter or ghee (just enough to slick the pan), and I keep them moving with a heat-proof silicone spatula.

Stirring fairly constantly is key, since if you let them sit, the butter won't emulsify. Instead, it will melt and create little pockets of butter that can make your eggs go greasy. This is especially important if you use a large size grater and have bigger pieces of butter.

Season with salt and pepper to taste after the eggs are fully cooked, so that the salt doesn't draw out moisture from the eggs while they are cooking and the pepper doesn't burn or get acrid on the pan surface. Serve hot or hold in a 200° oven or over a double boiler for up to 30 minutes.