Fried Eggs: What's the Difference? + Fried Eggs Over-Hard Recipe (2024)

There are so many ways to cook fried eggs. Sunny-side-up, over-easy, over-medium, over-hard. But do you know the difference? Which is theperfect fried eggfor you?

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Sunny-side up, over easy, over medium, over hard….. there are so many options for fried eggs. Do you know the difference? I had no idea until recently, but knowing the difference will definitely make it easier to order eggs when we are out for breakfast!

For me, I almost always go with scrambled eggs. It’s safe and hard to mess up and I know I’ll be getting exactly what I want. But when we are at home, I like to experiment a little more with and trydifferent waysofcooking eggs.

Various Waysto Fry an Egg

Sunny-Side-Up

An egg that is done “sunny-side-up” means that the egg is never flipped. The yolk (sun) is left completely intact and stays mostly uncooked. The white of the egg is cooked most of the way through and usually is left with just a little bit of sheen to it. This seems to be one of the most popular ways to fry an egg. If you do a search online for fried eggs almost all of the photos and recipes are for a sunny-side-up egg.

Eggs Over-Easy

Similar to sunny-side up, when you make fried eggs over-easy, you want the yolk to barely get cooked. It should still be very runny and intact. The only real difference betweensunny sideup andover-easy eggsis that an egg made over-easy is flipped once while being cooked. This means theegg whitegets cooked a bit more and usually doesn’t have that sheen to it.

Eggs Over-Medium

As we get further in the descriptions, the eggs get cooked a little more. Over-medium eggsare cooked the same as over-easy because they are flipped while frying, but are just cooked a bit longer. The yolk in an over-medium fried egg is only slightly runny.

Eggs Over-Hard

Personally, this is the only way I will eat a fried egg. When it’s cooked over hard, the yolk is cooked completely through, similar tohard-boiled eggswith afirm yolk. As with the others, the egg is flipped while it is cooked, and it is done longer. Both theegg whiteand yolk are cooked until they are considered done and nothing is raw. You oftentimes will getcrispy edgesto your fried eggs when you cook them over-hard.

My only drawback to fried eggs is the fact that I don’t like egg whites on their own, which is why I prefer to break the yolk when I make my fried eggs. I also can’t stand arunny yolk. It reminds me too much of a raw egg and totally grosses me out! I couldn’t ever eat an egg sunny-side-up or over-easy because of the texture ofrunny eggs. That’s why, in this recipe, I am showing you how to make a fried egg over-hard because I do have to eat this food after I make it and this is myfavorite wayto make a fried egg! We like to serve fried eggs withseasoned potatoes,avocado toast, orcrispy baconin the air fryer.

Best Equipment for Fried Eggs

No matter which way you choose to make a fried egg, make sure to use anonstick skilletor grease the pan well. Eggs will stick really badly to thebottom of the pan. I love mynon-stick panfrom Caraway Home. It’s thetype of panI always dreamed of… nonstick, cleans easily, and looks nice, too! If you don’t have a goodnon-stick skillet, anothergreat choiceis awell-seasoned cast-iron skillet.

You’ll want to use afrying panwith a small edge to it to hold the egg in. And don’t forget the turner or spatula. I find having one that’s very thin and made of silicone, works best.

​How to Test Eggs for Freshness

There are a variety of ways to testfresh eggsto see if they truly are fresh. Theeasy wayis by smelling them. I always say, especially with food, if it doesn’t smell right, don’t eat it!

Thesimplest wayto test if you have thefreshest eggsis by floating them in water. Use asmall bowlor small glass cup and fill it with water. Place alarge eggin and see what happens. If the egg sinks to the bottom, turns sideways, and stays there, you have agreat eggbecause it is very fresh. An egg that sinks, but then starts to float up a bit, lays at an angle, or stands up on the bottom of the glass, is only about 1-2 weeks old and still agood eggto consume. For an egg that doesn’t touch the bottom or thetop of the eggis at the top of the water, it’s too old and needs to be tossed out.

Fried Eggs Over Hard Step by Step

Ingredients

• 1 tspolive oil(orvegetable oil)
• 2eggs
• salt andblack pepper(to taste)

Preparation

Heat asauté panovermedium heatand add the oil until it’s warm. You need enough oil to make athin layerin the pan.

Crack the eggs into the pan with thehot oil. If you want the yolk broken, do that now. If not, leave the egg as it is.

Sprinkle the egg with salt andblack pepper.

After a few minutes, once the eggs start to set, flip and cook the other side.

The amount of time you let theegg cookwill determine the doneness of the yolk. Take the eggs off the heat when they hit your desired doneness.

Recipe

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