Flipping a frying egg without breaking the yolk is not easy.
If you are a beginner, you need some practice before mastering the skill of flipping an egg.
A fried egg without a good appearance (complete yolk) may affect your mood when taking a meal.
Here I am going to show you step by step how to flip an egg without breaking it.
Table of Contents
How To Flip An Egg Without Breaking It
To flip an egg without breaking it, you need a non-stick pan without scratches, a fresh egg, fat (oil, butter, or cooking spray) to grease on the pan surface, and a spatula (can without it as well). Apply sufficient of fat on the pan surface evenly, heat the pan with low temperature, crack the egg into the pan, cook it until the clear liquid turn white and firm, make sure the egg able to move freely on the pan, then slide the spatula under the egg and flip it gently, you could also flip the egg without spatula by just moving the pan only (make sure the pan has a handle) but required a good skill to make it.
Step 1: Get a suitable frying Pan
To successfully fry and flip an egg, the first thing to do is get the right pan.
A non-stick pan, or ceramic pan without or minimal scratches is needed for frying a perfect egg.
A well seasoned cast iron pan is also acceptable.
An egg will more easily stick to a bad quality frying pan and get more easily to break the egg yolk when flipping.
The size of the pan could be at small 7 inches or big 8 inches.
A small 7 inches frying pan can flip one egg, and an 8 inches bigger pan can flip more than one egg in one time.
Suggest to get a pan that has a handle for moving the egg when flipping.
A smaller, lighter, and non-stick pan is convenient for flipping eggs without using a spatula.
Step 2: Pick the fresh egg
My advice is to get a fresh egg for frying a perfect egg with complete yolk.
A long storage egg content is fragile, when you peel the egg, most probably the yolk will scatter on the pan.
A fresh egg has a stronger membrane on the yolk compared to old egg, it is firm and remains in shape when dropped into the pan.
When buying eggs in the market, check the date that is stamped on the egg packaging and ensure the egg still has one month for expiry.
Another way to check the freshness of an egg is to put the egg in a bowl of water, float egg means not fresh.
Step 3: Heat the pan with suitable temperature
Heat the pan and keep it at low temperature, between 144-158° F.
High temperatures will burn through the oil and it will lose nutritional value.
Egg will easily stick to a high temperature pan as well.
Get an infrared thermometer in case you want a better control on the pan temperature.
Step 4: Apply fat on pan
This is part of the important steps of frying a perfect egg.
Before frying an egg, you have to apply a layer of fat on the pan surface.
This step is to avoid the egg stick on the pan, otherwise when the egg sticks on the pan, you will be unable to flip the egg.
The key is the fat evenly distributed on the surface of the pan and making the frying egg able to move freely on the pan surface for flipping.
The fat could be oil, butter, or cooking spray.
Make sure the fat is coat on the entire surface of the pan, including the side pan, this is crucial when you want to flip eggs without spatula.
For a cast iron pan, put more fat compared to a non-stick pan which does not require much.
Step 5: Crack the egg
The recommended way is to crack the egg against a flat surface like a countertop.
Cracking the egg against a ridged surface like the edge of the pan or bowl may end up shards in the frying pan, and it may cause the yolk to break as well.
Gently crack the egg against a flat surface, create crack at the egg shell, using two hands with fingers to separate the egg into two parts.
After that, drop the egg content into the pan.
Avoid dropping the egg content from too high a position as this will break the yolk and splash the oil to the surrounding and may hurt you.
Another safer way is to crack the egg into a bowl and pour the egg into the pan, in case you are afraid of directly cracking the egg into a hot pan.
Don’t use a single hand to crack an egg into a pan unless you are a professional chef.that already practice the technique for a thousand times.
Step 6: Cook the egg
After the egg has been dropped into the hot pan, patiently cook the egg until the runny liquid (albumen) around the yolk turns white colour and firm.
Cooking the egg a little bit longer will make the bottom of the yolk a little more cooked, this will make the yolk less likely to break when flipping.
Then try to swirl the egg by moving the pan.
Make sure the egg breaks away from the pan surface, becomes loose and moves freely.
To make the egg move freely, make sure you use enough fat applied on the pan surface.
Failing to use sufficient fat will cause the egg to stick to the pan.
If the egg sticks to the pan, you won’t be able to do egg flipping.
High temperature also will make the egg stick to the pan, so use low temperature to avoid this.
Step 7: Flip the egg
Flip the egg with spatula
After the egg is cooked for some time with egg white firm, gently slide a spatula under the egg on the fried side.
Lift up the egg from the pan surface.
Tip the spatula slowly until the uncooked corner of the egg touches the pan.
Then lay the egg yolk side down to the pan surface, flipping done!
As long as you are using enough fat on the pan surface, the egg will not stick on the pan, and you will easily slide the spatula under the egg fried side and flip it.
Flip the egg without spatula
You could flip a frying egg with a pan and not use a spatula.
To do this, make sure you are using a pan with a single handle.
After the egg is cooked with firm egg white, ensure the egg is able to move freely on the pan surface. Please use a non-stick pan with sufficient fat.
Hold the pan handle, lift up the pan from the stove, move the pan forward with acceleration, then slow down to let the egg continue to slide forward.
When the egg hits the edge of the pan, it will move upward, use your wrist slightly to nudge the egg and flip it, the egg will gently plop into the other side.
This flipping needs some practice before you are able to master it, you could use a slice of bread as a substitute for egg to practice.
Step 8: Continue Cooking for Minutes After Flipping
After egg flipping is done, let it cook for some time.
To have an over-easy egg (runny yolk), cook it for one minute.
To have a medium easy egg (slightly runny yolk), cook it for two minutes.
To have an over well egg (yolk cooked hard), cook it for more than two minutes.
Once the egg is cooked according to your preferences, transfer it to a plate.
Step 9: Serve the egg
Finally, the egg is ready to serve, enjoy it!
Conclusion
At the beginning you may fail to flip an egg without breaking it, keep practicing the egg flipping skill.
Practice makes you perfect. Don’t give up.