Step by step directions on how to perfectly fry over medium eggs. These eggs are perfect for breakfast or brunch or anytime you want a fried egg.
There's no need to go out to a restaurant for breakfast when you can cook your own eggs perfectly right at home in just a few quick minutes.

Fried Eggs
There's just nothing easier or more perfect than a fried egg. But knowing exactly how to fry an egg to your liking can sometimes be a bit tricky.
There are four main types of fried eggs; sunny side up, over easy, over medium and over hard. Everyone seems to have their favorite type of fried egg.
A sunny side up egg is an egg that isn't flipped. It's only cooked from the bottom side up. The top looks like a beautiful little sun that's facing upward!
Over easy is my favorite way to eat fried eggs! They are flipped part-way through the cooking process. The white is fully cooked, but the yolk is nice and runny.
Over medium is cooked the same way as over easy eggs, but they are cooked a bit longer. The yolk is partially cooked through but is still a bit runny in the center.
There's a range on how cooked the yolk should be on an over medium egg - from cooked on the sides with a runny, jammy custardy center all the way to just a slight amount of runny yolk.
Over hard eggs means there is no runny yolk. You can still have a bit of just slightly undercooked yolk or you can make certain every bit of the yolk is fully cooked through.
Cook up a delicious batch of country potatoes to serve with your favorite style of egg.
Type of Pan
In order to cook really good fried eggs, you do want a good pan. The best is a well-seasoned cast iron skillet or a non-stick skillet.
Stainless steel pans will work as long as you keep the heat low. Sometimes stainless steel pans will cause the egg to stick to the pan.
No matter the pan, fried eggs are best cooked over low heat.
Eggs
Fresh eggs are the best eggs to use for fried eggs. The egg is taking center stage here, so the better the egg, the better the fried egg!
I use my farm fresh eggs from my chickens. Purchased eggs are fine too, just try to find the freshest ones possible.
Step by step directions
- Heat a pan over low heat
- When pan is warm, add a ½ tablespoon of butter. Allow butter to melt and get bubbly.
- Crack egg into pan over melted butter
- Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper
- Cook over low heat until most of the white has set
- Carefully flip egg over and cook for 1-2 minutes
- Flip egg back to original side up and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes more
- Remove egg from pan and place on plate
Fried egg tips
- Heat pan over low heat. This creates a more even heat in the pan.
- Use butter or olive oil or rendered bacon grease
- Cook over low heat. If the heat is too high, the white of the egg will overcook before the yolk has a chance to cook.
- Use a thin spatula to slide under the egg
- Cook just one or two eggs at a time. Don't overcrowd the pan.
- Wipe out pan between each batch of eggs if cooking multiple batches
Frequently asked questions
Once the egg has been flipped back over to its original side, cook the egg for another 1-2 minutes. You can gently press the center of the egg with your finger to test how done the yolk is.
If it feels too wiggly, cook for another minute.
All three are fried eggs. The difference is how runny the yolk is in each egg. Over easy is the runniest, over hard is cooked through and over medium falls between over easy and over hard cooked.
Serving suggestions
Round out your breakfast by serving your over medium eggs with
Or serve on avocado toast or on an English muffin sandwich.
More egg dishes
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop
Be certain to check out all my breakfast recipes!
Over Medium Eggs
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon butter
- 1 egg
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Heat a pan over low heat
- When pan is warm, add a ½ tablespoon of butter. Allow butter to melt and get bubbly.½ tablespoon butter
- Crack egg into pan over melted butter1 egg
- Sprinkle with a bit of salt and peppersalt, pepper
- Cook over low heat until most of the white has set
- Carefully flip egg over and cook for 1-2 minutes
- Flip egg back to original side up and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes more
- Remove egg from pan and place on plate
Notes
- Heat pan over low heat. This creates a more even heat in the pan.
- Use butter or olive oil or rendered bacon grease
- Cook over low heat. If the heat is too high, the white of the egg will overcook before the yolk has a chance to cook.
- Use a thin spatula to slide under the egg
- Cook just one or two eggs at a time. Don't overcrowd the pan.
- Wipe out pan between each batch of eggs if cooking multiple batches
Nutritional Disclaimer:
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. To obtain the most precise nutritional information in a provided recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the exact ingredients you are using when preparing the recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
denise says
A couple years ago I ordered an over easy egg with my order at a specialized buckwheat pancake restaurant. When I received my plate, I saw the most perfect egg. Sounds cheesy, but I bragged about that one egg...until now!!! I had and all ready continue to make my eggs look like that one perfect egg!
Thank you so much!!!!
Kathy says
Oh gosh!!! That's a lot to live up to! I'm so glad you've found your perfect egg! 🙂
David @ Spiced says
You are the queen of fried eggs, Kathy! These posts are perfect for cooking everyone's eggs to perfection. Now I'm thinking I should open a short-order breakfast cafe! 🙂
Kathy says
Next thing you'll be saying is "Order Up!" 🙂