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Want to fry a perfect sunny side up egg? I’ve got everything you need to know with these 5 simple steps. The key is using a well-seasoned cast iron skillet or a nonstick pan and cooking over low heat.
How To Cook Sunny Side Up Eggs Perfectly!
Many recipes tell you to add a bit of water and a lid to create steam to cook the top of the egg. I find that’s not necessary and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up with a rubbery egg. A lid is okay at the very end of the cook time if you’d like the top of yolk to be just slightly cooked. Otherwise, just cook the egg until the egg turns a solid white leaving the yolk nice and runny.
Sunny Side Up Eggs vs Over Easy, Medium, and Hard
Fried eggs are a great way to start the day. 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 and is not flipped while cooking. The top looks like a beautiful little sun that's facing upward!
Over easy is my favorite way to eat fried eggs! They are cooked first on one side, then flipped and cooked lightly and flipped back again. The egg white is fully cooked, but the yolk is nice and runny.
Over medium is cooked much the same way as over easy eggs, but they are cooked a bit longer. The yolk is mostly 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 mean 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.
Sunny Side Up Egg Ingredients
- Fresh eggs - the fresher the eggs, the better. Fresh eggs will have a beautiful yolk that will rise above the white.
- A pat of butter - Use regular salted butter
- Salt and pepper - Just a sprinkle for a bit of flavor.
Best pan for frying eggs
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. Be certain you add enough butter to help prevent the egg from sticking.
No matter the pan, fried eggs are best cooked over low to medium-low heat.
How to Make Sunny Side Up Eggs
- Heat a pan over low heat
- When pan is warm, add ½ tablespoon of butter. Allow butter to melt and get bubbly, but not brown.
- 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
Tips for making Eggs Sunny Side Up
- Heat pan over low heat. This creates a more even heat in the pan and a low heat won't cook your egg too quickly.
- 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 become just slightly crispy around the edges.
- Cook just until the egg white has fully cooked - about 2-3 minutes.
- Cook just one or two eggs at a time and make certain eggs don't touch each other. Don't overcrowd the pan.
- If you want the white over the yolk to cook a bit, cover the pan while cooking.
- Wipe out pan between each batch of eggs if cooking multiple batches.
- Serve immediately.
Sunny Side Up Egg FAQs
These two types of eggs are very similar. They both have a runny yolk, but the sunny side up egg is not flipped while cooking. The over easy egg is flipped cooking both sides of the egg.
The amount of time to cook will vary depending on your stovetop and the pan you are using. The egg should be ready in 2-4 minutes.
You want the whites of a sunny side egg to be fully cooked. The yolk will remain runny.
The USDA recommends fully cooking both the white and the yolk. If you are worried about consuming an undercooked yolk, you could use pasteurized eggs, or if you raise chickens, choose fresh, uncracked eggs.
Ways to serve Sunny Side Up Eggs
I like my sunny side up eggs served alongside dishes that can mop up that delicious runny yolk! Some of my favorites include
- English muffin
- Toasted wheat bread
- Pancakes
- Oven roasted potatoes
- Country potatoes
- Homemade breakfast sausage
More delicious egg recipes
If you like to use an air fryer, check out how to make air fryer eggs!
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 sure to check out all my delicious breakfast recipes!
Eggs Sunny Side Up
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. Slide egg out of the pan onto a plate and serve hot.
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 become crispy around the edges
- Cook just until the egg white has fully cooked - about 2-3 minutes
- Cook just one or two eggs at a time and make certain eggs don't touch each other. Don't overcrowd the pan.
- If you like the white on top of the yolk cooked just a bit more, add a lid to the pan while cooking.
- Wipe out pan between each batch of eggs if cooking multiple batches
- Serve immediately
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.
Valentina says
What a great tutorial! Sunny side up is my favorite egg preparation. 🙂 ~Valentina
David @ Spiced says
I love that photo of each style of cooked egg side-by-side...by side...by side! Very helpful. I do enjoy a good sunny side up egg...thanks for sharing these tips!
Kathy says
Thank you!!!