I've recently been ditching olive oil and butter for one simple ingredient that adds so much flavour to fried eggs. By Angela Patrone, Senior Lifestyle Reporter. I am a big fan of eggs, and my favourite way to cook them is to scramble them with a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt. However, while they are far from the most exciting choice, I've been craving a fried egg recently. To add flavour to fried eggs, I've previously cooked them with pickle juice brine, paprika seasoning and classic basil pesto, but there is another ingredient I wanted to experiment with. It turns out infusing fried eggs with a bright new flavour is as simple as switching your cooking fat from olive oil or butter to sesame oil.
I've seen many chefs online speak about the added flavour sesame oil gives fried eggs. After cooking eggs with this ingredient, I found that sesame oil not only crisps your fried eggs to perfection but also acts as a seasoning, adding warm nuttiness, a distinct tang, and a light fruity flavour.
Choosing the Right Sesame Oil
Sesame oil exists in several varieties, so pick your bottle wisely. I opted for a fairly dark toasted sesame oil, which I picked up from Sainsbury's. The main difference among sesame oils is how much the seeds are toasted before they're turned into oil. The more heavily toasted versions of this Asian staple offer deeper, more intense flavour profiles and are darker in colour.
How to Make Fried Eggs in Sesame Oil
For this method, I start by heating half a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil in a small nonstick frying pan over medium-low heat until it shimmers. If you're looking for a stronger sesame flavour, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds into the pan once the oil is hot, then add your egg, and sprinkle even more seeds on top. On the other hand, another option is to blend the sesame oil with a neutral oil to achieve a less intense flavour.
When the whites start to form, I cover the pan with a lid. I fry the egg with a lid on for two minutes to get sunny-side up results. For eggs I'm frying, I like to keep them in the fridge for at least an hour before cooking. I find that this makes the yolk creamy and runny without overcooking, which is essential for a perfect fried egg. Before adding the egg to the pan, I like to crack it into a bowl first. This way, you not only get an intact yolk and a shell-free crack every time, but you also place the egg exactly where you want it in the pan.
Once the egg is in the pan, I make sure the whites have started to cook, then cover the pan for two minutes to let the steam cook the yolk. A lid is the key to this cooking method; it ensures the egg cooks evenly. The lid traps the heat and steam from the egg and helps it cook on both the bottom and the top. Without a lid, the bottom cooks too quickly and the top takes longer, so you're more likely to end up with an overcooked, hard egg white by the time the yolk is done.
