A viral cooking tip suggests using pickle juice and water instead of oil or butter when frying eggs, delivering a salty, tangy finish without the need to flip the egg. Angela Patrone, a Senior Lifestyle Reporter for Reach, tested the method after seeing it on TikTok user @dansgoodside's clip.
How the pickle juice method works
In the video, @dansgoodside added pickle juice after frying the eggs until three-quarters cooked. Pickle juice typically contains water, vinegar, salt and spices, with common additions like garlic, dill, sugar, mustard seeds and peppercorns. The tangy liquid can also flavour marinades, dressings and sauces.
Angela initially found the idea peculiar but realised it made sense, as it adds a salty, tangy taste without overwhelming the eggs. She abandoned oil and butter entirely, starting the frying process with water instead.
Step-by-step frying technique
She placed her frying pan on the hob over medium heat, cracked the egg into a small bowl first to avoid shell fragments, then added the egg to the pan. Once the egg began to set, she added a tablespoon of water and immediately covered the pan with a lid, allowing steam to cook the top of the egg. After 30 seconds, she poured in a tablespoon of pickle juice and tilted the pan to coat the egg and pan surface.
Adding the juice too early can make the whites firmer. The egg was served on buttered sourdough, and no extra salt was needed. The flavour was more subtle than expected, with gentle hints of mustard and vinegar, and the pickle taste was more noticeable in the whites than the yolk. A small drizzle of brine before serving can boost the flavour.
Testing Lakeland's Only Pan
Angela used Lakeland's Only Pan, a non-stick multi-functional pan with eight potential uses, priced at £59.99 and including a stainless steel steamer basket and silicone turner. It outperformed a previous pan that needed more oil for eggs. However, one customer noted it "does not work with all induction hobs", commenting: "We bought one of these pans, hoping to use it with our induction hob, but it doesn't work." Lakeland advised rotating the pan on the hob, explaining that "it may be that the magnet in the hob is hitting a small part of the aluminium through the stainless steel mesh".
