- As the developer of Delish's best diner-style scrambled eggs, I set out to find the best way to make soft scrambled eggs.
- I cooked through recipes by three celebrity chefs to find my favorite technique.
- I evaluated each recipe based on the taste and texture of the finished eggs, as well as the ease of making them.
I’ll be honest: I may have perfected my favorite technique for fluffy diner-style eggs, but I'm a novice when it comes to the art of the soft scramble. In search of the ultimate technique, I turned to the experts: celebrity chefs known for their cooking prowess—and in some cases, their expertise with eggs.
I cooked and tasted recipes from three celebrity chefs: Gordon Ramsay, Ina Garten, and Bobby Flay. I evaluated each recipe based on the flavor and texture of the finished eggs, as well as my experience making them. Here’s what I learned, and which celebrity’s eggs I would make again and again.
Method #1: Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay’s soft scrambled eggs are practically in the culinary hall of fame, so naturally, I started there. His technique, which is actually a classical French method called oeufs brouillés, begins with cracking eggs into a pot, not a pan, adding a tablespoon of butter, and placing the pot over high heat. Ramsay cooks the eggs, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds, then takes them off the heat, still stirring, for 10 seconds, and repeats this pattern for 3 minutes more. Right at the end, he stirs in a little crème fraiche and seasons with salt.
I’ll admit that this process felt a little frantic for me. The short, timed intervals and use of high heat, combined with constant stirring, made me feel like I was on a wild hamster wheel of egg scrambling insanity. At the end of the time, I was concerned that the eggs were still too underdone to come off the heat, but I trusted the process and pulled them off as instructed. Indeed, they were perfectly cooked, with a silky texture and rich flavor. I was slightly stunned at how wonderful they were. I would have eaten the whole plate, but I had two more methods to test.
Method #2: Ina Garten
Ina’s approach couldn’t be more different. She starts by whisking eggs and half-and-half in a bowl with salt and pepper, then heating butter in a 10-inch pan on low heat until the butter is almost melted. Then the eggs go in and sit undisturbed until they start to cook on the bottom, which, as she notes, can take 3-5 minutes. Garten then uses a rubber spatula to scrape the cooked egg off the bottom of the pan and fold it into the uncooked egg on top. As the eggs start to get "custardy," she stirs more rapidly.
While she doesn’t give precise timings for when the eggs are done, she says they should come off the heat before they’re fully cooked. She then whisks in cold butter to stop the cooking process. The recipe I was following recommended truffle butter, but in an effort to keep all the tests comparable to one another, I stuck with regular butter.
I found Garten’s eggs to be less rich and silky when compared to Ramsay's. I also noticed small firm bits of egg interspersed among the more custardy texture of the rest. I’m guessing this was from the eggs that were set on the bottom of the pan at the beginning. Overall, I wasn’t a fan of that mix of textures.
I also didn’t like this process as much—letting the eggs hang out on low heat while I stood and waited for the perfect moment to start stirring drove me a little crazy. I found myself second-guessing when to start stirring—and when to take the eggs off the heat.
Method #3: Bobby Flay
Bobby Flay's technique is arguably the most straightforward, although it's not without its quirks. He adds butter and crème fraiche to a cold pan, then whisks eggs and black pepper together in a bowl before pouring them over the dairy in the still-cold pan. He then puts the pan over medium-low heat and stirs constantly until the eggs are "three-quarters" of the way cooked before turning off the heat. He also waits to salt the eggs until this point, claiming that this makes them more silky and smooth.
I have to admit it felt a little strange stirring eggs with lumps of unmelted butter and crème fraiche floating in them. I couldn’t help but feel that they were interfering with the evenness of the cooking, and I was also wondering if they’d distribute evenly among all the eggs by the time the eggs were cooked.
When it came to the finished eggs, the texture of Flay's was similar to Garten's, but without those firmer bits of egg that Ina’s had. They were custardy but not as creamy or silky as Ramsay's—and honestly, even though this recipe used more crème fraiche, I couldn’t really taste it. I’m guessing this was because the flavor was diminished by the cooking process.
Which Celebrity Chef's Scrambled Egg Method Is Best?
Gordon Ramsay's eggs are in the culinary hall of fame for a reason. I wasn’t totally sold before I made them, but I’ll now admit they’re worth every bit of their hype. Between that slight tang of the crème fraiche and the rich, silky texture that was just a cut above the other two, they won without question. I even found that, when all was said and done, I actually preferred the energetic cooking method to the slower processes used by Bobby and Ina. That might say more about me than it does that specific technique—but I’ll let you be the judge there.
