Fry

The Ultimate Cheesy, Eggy Breakfast Requires Only Two Ingredients

November 29, 2015

You might've thought there wasn't another way to cook eggs—or a strategy lazier than ordering an egg and cheese. You might've also thought you couldn't possibly be hungry after your Thanksgiving feast.

But here we are, with empty bellies and fridges and no desire to eat another leftover.

Attempt #1 of cheese-crusted eggs. Looks pretty good, huh? They're that easy.

Do you have eggs? Do you have any sort of cheese that can melt? Then we'd strongly suggest you say sayonara to the typical fried eggs and make something just as simple to make but a whole lot snazzier: Cheese-Crusted Eggs, also known as Frico Eggs.

Melt cheese, fry eggs in cheese. Duh. Photo by Rocky Luten

MelissaHM introduced us to this method for essentially swapping oil for cheese (!) over on the Hotline. She learned the "recipe" from her brother: Melt shreds in a pan, then fry the eggs in the cheese's oil. The cheese serves as a boat for the eggs, so the whole combo glides easily off the pan—no prying pot-stuck eggs while trying to preserve yolks. We've tried this with Parmesan and cheddar and found both to work and taste just great.

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Need we repeat: This is crispy-melty cheese stuck to fried eggs—there's no doubt it's going to be good.

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Sue
    Sue
  • Maria Hunt
    Maria Hunt
  • Lindsay Schraw
    Lindsay Schraw
  • delicia.sampson.7
    delicia.sampson.7
  • Rosa Lee Gibbons
    Rosa Lee Gibbons
Editor/writer/stylist. Author of I Dream of Dinner (so You Don't Have To). Last name rhymes with bagel.

8 Comments

Sue April 26, 2017
I've made this with comte and with double gloucester. Both were absolutely delicious. Used a cast iron pan with no problems whatsoever.
 
Maria H. April 13, 2016
I'd try this recipe with montasio, the white Italian cheese used in authentic frico. It gets a nice crust but releases a pleasung amount of oil too.
 
Lindsay S. December 12, 2015
I used aged gouda in my cast iron over medium heat and found the cheese stuck to the pan terribly. Not sure if it was too much heat, wrong kind of skillet, or wrong kind of cheese. Any ideas?
 
Ali S. December 13, 2015
Hm! I admit I haven't tried gouda, but I wonder: How long did it take your cheese to melt? I wonder if you had to keep the cheese and egg on the pan for too long to get the egg cooked through. If you think that was the case, it might be worth trying to broil the mixture after the cheese melts so the egg cooks through quicker. The other thing is gouda has a lower fat content than, say, cheddar, so that might have contributed to the sticking problem.
 
delicia.sampson.7 December 7, 2015
Do you have to have a non stick pan?
 
Ali S. December 7, 2015
Not necessarily—others have had good luck with a cast iron pan: https://food52.com/hotline/30134-a-question-about-a-recipe-cheese-crusted-eggs
 
Rosa L. December 6, 2015
Since I live alone this looked like a great easy dish. I just tried it and it just too much fat to eat by itself...for me, at least. Although it was very good. Maybe with a piece of toast or some fruit next time.
 
Ashley S. December 6, 2015
I came across this recipe while thumbing through my Facebook newsfeed this morning. Less than an hour later, I can say it's quite delicious! I made mine with mozzarella.