As people tend to hold strong opinions about what makes the best chocolate chip cookie or the ideal shade of toast, there are a wide world of egg opinions. From Julia Child-style French omelets and frizzled eggs to poached and hard-boiled, there are dozens of ways to create your own personal perfect egg recipe (or potentially be at risk for these common egg mistakes).
When it comes to scrambled styles, you can't deny the appeal of fluffy eggs. Whether you prefer a soft scramble or always order yours fully cooked, you can always achieve the fluffiest texture with one secret ingredient that's been sweeping social media. To determine whether this hack does the trick, we ran a recent viral TikTok by Sarah Brekke, our Test Kitchen brand manager.
How to Make Fluffy Scrambled Eggs
In mid-December 2023, private chef Meredith Hayden (aka @wishbonekitchen) shared a TikTok under the premise that her technique will help you get the texture just right.
“I’m going to show you how to make the fluffiest scrambled eggs," she said in her tutorial. "These are not loose and runny, like a French scramble."
Hayden cooks her eggs over low heat, stirring constantly, and removes them from the pan just as they begin to form small curds. Known as a French scramble, the eggs are so lightly cooked that they almost have the texture of a sauce. Continuing to describe her technique, Hayden said, “But they’re also not sad and dry. They’re just cooked through and perfectly pillowy.”
With that teaser—and the easy guide for how to cook eggs that follows—Hayden’s post has gone on to rack up more than 135,000 likes and 400 comments like “the ✨correct✨ way to scramble eggs” and “I made these eggs today, and this was the best scrambled egg I’ve had in my life. Thank you, Ms. Wishbone! 😭”
Wishbone Kitchen’s method is actually the same one that Brekke and the rest of the BHG Test Kitchen swear by, and you need just one extra ingredient: water.
To make the fluffiest scrambled eggs, crack two to three eggs for each person into a bowl, and add a splash. “A good rule of thumb is 1 tablespoon of water per egg when making a scramble,” Brekke says.
The water steams the eggs as they cook, “keeping them moist, light and fluffy,” Hayden adds.
Whisk the eggs until no streaks of the whites are visible, then heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high, and add a couple tablespoons of salted butter.
“To achieve the fluffiest scramble, be sure to use your best nonstick pan,” Brekke says while watching Hayden’s video. “There’s nothing worse than trying to scrape your gorgeous fluffy scrambled eggs off the bottom of your pan and breaking them up in the process."
Once the pan is hot and the butter has melted (but hasn't yet turned to brown butter), pour the egg mixture into the pan. According to Hayden, you should keep a close eye on the edges near the rim of the pan. Once that portion of eggs sets, use a heat-safe spatula to push the cooked egg toward the center of the pan. Repeat this step, gently pushing the eggs from the outside of the pan to the middle until you’ve worked your way around the skillet and see ribbons of eggs forming.
Stir the eggs as little as possible and “don’t go chopping up your eggs in the pan like it’s a pile of ground beef,” Hayden says. “Just push the cooked eggs toward the center of the pan and leave them alone.”
Besides the water, “the other most important thing to take away from her technique is to get the eggs to cook and set in nice large curds by dragging the spatula from the edge of the pan to the center,” Brekke says. “This allows large pieces of set egg to scoot out of the way so that uncooked portions can flow down to the bottom of the pan to do the same. Aggressive stirring or chopping will just break the curds up and deflate any big airy pieces of egg.”
Once the eggs are about 90% cooked, yet still wet and glossy, season with salt (and a few cracks of fresh black pepper, if desired—that’s the Test Kitchen way), then turn off the heat, and cover the pan with a lid for about five minutes.
If you keep the heat on any longer, Brekke explains that the protein molecules in the eggs tighten up more than desired, resulting in firm and dry curds.
“Covering the eggs while slightly underdone and letting them stand allows for the residual heat in the pan to finish cooking the eggs gently, while the trapped steam helps to infuse the eggs with as much moisture as possible,” she says.
How to Make Creamy Scrambled Eggs
Water is what you want to add if you’re aiming for fluffier scrambled eggs—so why do some scrambled egg recipes ask for a splash of milk?
“Milk lends itself to creamy scrambled eggs,” Brekke says. “Eggs made with water tend to have a more eggy flavor and a brighter yellow color, with big fluffy curds. Eggs made with milk will taste a bit more mild, will be a more creamy yellow color, and will have smaller curds.”
To make creamy scrambled eggs, whisk 1 tablespoon of milk per egg into your mixture before adding it to your pan.
With that refresher about how to make the best fluffy or creamy scrambled eggs, mornings are starting to seem much more appealing.
