We’re not cooking or food safety experts by any means, so always make sure to listen to the pros’ directions above ours! This is just how we go about cooking eggs in stainless steel without sticking, and it works beautifully for us. This post contains affiliate links which may lead to a commission if purchased. This comes at no extra cost to you. Thanks!
I wish it didn’t take me this long to realize that cooking eggs in stainless steel without sticking is this easy. I was on the “nonstick pan” train for years, under some misconstrued notion that it’s easier to cook eggs in nonstick pans. (I mean, who can resist those infomercials with sunny-side up floating magically across the pan?) I knew that nonstick pans aren’t great for our health, and I was very aware that nonstick pans don’t last very long at all. However, the thought of smelly, brown, burnt eggs stuck to the pan after cooking eggs in stainless steel kept me in the zombie “nonstick pan” line. That is, it did until now.
Why We Tried Cooking Eggs In Stainless Steel
Ian and I have always been conscious about eating healthily, but we recently decided to get more serious about using healthy products in our kitchen, as well. Sure, nonstick pans swear up and down that they’re perfectly safe as long as the nonstick finish is not flaking off. This may be well and true, but every set of nonstick pans we’ve owned has started peeling eventually — be it in a year for the cheap ones, or 3 years for the “fancy” sets. (This cookware set is the most recent nonstick one we owned.) Therefore, they don’t stay safe for long. Types of cookware that we have considered include the following.
Types of Cookware
Speaking of the toxicity in nonstick pans, many bird owners have witnessed the death of their in-home pets due to nonstick pans. How? By leaving a nonstick pan on the stove to heat up without anything in it, the chemicals in the nonstick coating are released in to the air. It may not be enough for us to read the effects on our own systems, but the poison in the air can kill a bird in minutes. If that doesn’t speak to the toxicity of nonstick pans, Teflon or not, I don’t know what does.
It’s All In The Cookware Temperature
Now, let’s switch to a more positive note! Cooking eggs in stainless steel is so much easier than I ever imagined possible. And no, it doesn’t have to do with adding copious amounts of oil or butter to the pan. Ever noticed how stainless steel pots reviews online can have drastically different testimonials regarding sticking, depending on the reviewer? This is because cooking eggs in stainless steel without sticking all depends on the cooking method, not the amount of fat used.
Sure, some fat is required when cooking eggs in stainless steel. But I use no more butter for 8 eggs than I would use on a single piece of toast. So it’s really pretty negligible, and you shouldn’t be afraid of butter, anyway! As someone who eats 3500+ calories a day, I can assure you that lack of exercise is far more dangerous to your health than a tiny sliver of butter in your eggs. But, that’s a topic for a different post.
Let’s break down the steps I use for cooking eggs in stainless steel without any sticking whatsoever.
Steps I Use for Cooking Eggs In Stainless Steel Without Sticking
- Pre-heat the stainless steel pan on medium-high heat.
- Use the water test to determine if the pan is at the right temperature. The water should not sizzle, but form a bead that glides across the surface of the stainless steel pan. Make sure to dump the water out before adding fat.
- Add fat. I use about 1/2 TBS of butter for 6-8 eggs.
- Allow the fat to heat up for 5-10 seconds.
- Pour in pre-scrambled eggs.
- Turn down heat to medium
- Allow the eggs to cook for 5-10 seconds without stirring
- Gently stir scrambled eggs until cooked through, preventing any egg from sitting on the bottom for too long.
- Pour onto plate, season, and enjoy!
That’s it! The key to cooking eggs in stainless steel without sticking lies in pre-heating the pan to the right temperature. Remember how the droplet of water would glide across the surface of the pan without evaporating? That’s because if the pan is hot (but not too hot) a tiny layer of air is formed between the water and the pan. (Read up on the Leidenfrost effect for more details on this phenomenon.) The same thing happens with your food, and therefore prevents sticking.
I didn’t believe cooking eggs in stainless steel without sticking was this easy until I gave it a try. After years and years of stinky, burned scrambled eggs in stainless steel pans, I somehow nailed this technique on the first try! In fact, this technique works even better than nonstick pans do. Nonstick pans are notorious for beginning to stick after a few months of use, and we were having the scrape the heck out of ours by the end. (Of course, this is horrible for the nonstick coating, too!)
Do You Have To Season Stainless Steel Cookware To Prevent Sticking?
I have heard of people seasoning their stainless steel pans to prevent sticking, like one would season a cast iron skillet. I can’t think of any reason that this would be a bad step to take. But it is more work, and I never did it. I first tried this technique for cooking eggs in stainless steel without sticking on a brand-new, once-washed, never-seasoned pan, and it worked like a charm. It’s been working ever since. If you want to season your stainless steel pan, go for it! I just never took that step, personally.
The Factor That Makes Cooking Eggs In Stainless Steel Easy
When push comes to shove, cooking eggs in stainless steel pans is all about the appropriate temperature. As long as the stainless steel cookware is not too cool or too hot before food is added (and there is an appropriate amount of fat), there is no reason that scrambled eggs should stick. I don’t know why this is such a secret in the home cooking community, but I hope it won’t be one much longer!
Below is the exact set of cookware that we used in this post. Have you ever tried cooking eggs in stainless steel? How did it go for you?