Entertaining

It’s Time to Start Cooking Your Eggs on a Sheet Pan

May  6, 2016

We’ve been told cooking our eggs in the oven will render them rubbery, suspected that scrambling is the simplest of methods, and figured that sticking an egg in a bagel was the coolest. But someone—not I!—has been holding out.

I found the idea after one of those lurid, late nights—on Pinterest (never had one?): This photo pin shows some fairly dry eggs where the yolks and whites aren’t totally amalgamated. But more importantly, the eggs are on a sheet pan.

This is the way to make egg sandwiches for a crowd, said the post written by Keri, a blogger and mom of 2 boys and 5 cats from Winter Park, Florida. Whisk eggs, pour into a greased pan, bake, and shout “how easy is that!” Egg sandwiches made of dainty egg squares!

Take that, tartines. Photo by James Ransom

But as I learned from making these eggs—three times just this week—Keri, too, was holding out on us. What she doesn’t say is that you can add other ingredients to these eggs as you would to a frittata, and the egg sheet becomes only a bit thicker but full of all the other stuff you typically try to teeter on your sandwich. And if cooked lower and slower, the eggs come up creamy and hardly resembling plastic. Amanda called them custardy.

Suddenly, that you can make egg sandwiches for a crowd doesn’t seem the most exciting aspect. That you have a blanket of eggs to bend to your meals is what really got me talking.

Shop the Story

These are my new favorite way to make eggs, because they are one bowl (and okay okay, also one sheet pan), they’re ready in 10 minutes, they keep—and they keep on giving.

Here are just the first ways I'll eat Sheet Pan Eggs:

  • Sandwiched, clearly
  • An open-faced tartine with greens and things
  • Squared and served on their own on a breakfast buffet spread
  • Cut into rounds for biscuits or English muffins
  • Chopped in breakfast burritos
  • Rectangled to slide into breakfast tacos
  • Maybe stuffed and rolled like an omelet, but might not be as delicate as I'd want
  • Chopped up for fried rice
  • Sliced for a noodle salad (a tamago or tofu stand in)
  • Scattered on top of ramen (also like tamago or tofu)
  • The protein in a green salad
  • Cubed and folded into saag
  • Layered in a sandwich like you would salami
  • Instead of hard boiled for egg salad
  • Finely diced to put over vegetables, like here

Watch how to make them right here!

Listen Now

Join The Sandwich Universe co-hosts (and longtime BFFs) Molly Baz and Declan Bond as they dive deep into beloved, iconic sandwiches.

Listen Now

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Kt4
    Kt4
  • Fiddlin'
    Fiddlin'
  • Mark Oviatt
    Mark Oviatt
  • David Nurbin
    David Nurbin
  • Arthur in the Garden!
    Arthur in the Garden!
Editor/writer/stylist. Author of I Dream of Dinner (so You Don't Have To). Last name rhymes with bagel.

23 Comments

Kt4 January 20, 2017
I do something like this to make an omelet roll.... instead of adding milk, I mix in 4oz cream cheese and pour into a jelly roll-sized sheet pan lined with parchment then bake. Immediately after taking out of the oven, I cover with omelet stuff [i.e. spread dijon, ham, shred swiss] then roll starting on a longside.
 
Fiddlin' January 18, 2017
Do we have to add cream - I'm all about cream but am doing a 21 day cleanse with no dairy. Is the cream necessary? If so any alternatives to use instead?
 
David N. January 18, 2017
From a baking standpoint, milk is to add moisture, you may be able to sub for a water, maybe with a little oil to make up for the fat content also added. You could possibly try omitting it, as well.
 
Kt4 January 20, 2017
maybe use a different milk like coconut?
 
Mark O. January 18, 2017
I take it this is for your standard Home 1/2 sheet pan not the commercial full sheet pan? I imagine cut in half for a 1/4 sheet pan? BTW - Glad your sheet pans don't look any better than mine.
 
David N. January 18, 2017
Don'f forget as nigiri sushi
 
Arthur I. January 18, 2017
Interesting! I have been cooking eggs mixtures in cupcake molds for years to make little fritta like meal but will have to try this!
 
Sara January 18, 2017
How does freezing these in sandwiches go? I really need good grab-and-go breakfasts so making sandwiches on a Sunday for the week would be a HUGE help.
 
Kitchen T. January 18, 2017
I love this idea!!! I recently started cooking runny eggs on a sheet pan (http://kitchen-tested.com/2017/01/12/sheet-pan-broccoli-hash-eggs/) but this takes it to another level. My kids will love it! I wonder if you can cook these eggs on parchment paper to help with getting them out of the pan?
 
David N. January 18, 2017
A silpat may work better.
 
Ali S. January 18, 2017
I've tried both and both are a little sticky (pun intended) because the eggs float below the parchment/silpat, essentially enveloping it in eggs. If you have better lucky with it, though, do let me know!
 
David N. January 18, 2017
Yeah, I was afraid of that with the parchment, which is why I thought of the Slipat, but you would probably be right...
 
Jackie K. January 18, 2017
We cook eggs like this for breakfast sandwiches at our shop. We line the sheet pan with plastic wrap and brush on melted butter. It takes a little practice to handle the wrap properly, but it's worth taking the time..
 
Suzy S. January 18, 2017
I'm a bit baffled by the "OMG, this is totally a revelation," tone of this post. Faith Durand covered this (and pancakes on a sheet pan, too -- awesome) in her Not Your Mother's Casserole cookbook. Which was published in 2010.
 
Katheryn's K. January 18, 2017
It might not be a revelation to you, but it was to me. Great idea when you have 4 kids and their friends in the house for breakfast.
 
Anne D. May 15, 2016
Love the idea. I think I'll make a batch to freeze for a post work out snack! Thx
 
wahini May 15, 2016
I make fried eggs on a sheet pan with n the oven. Just put the pan in the oven to heat it, add a slick of oil--or butter or oil and butter--crack the eggs onto the pan. And bake then until they look done. You can flip then if you want but I never bother. You can add seasonings, herbs, a sprinkle of cheese, or whatever strikes your fancy. I use an oven that heats only to 450F and that works great. To avoid (much) clean up, I line the sheet pan with non-stick foil. You can make scrambled eggs in the same way. You can even make omelette--although I prefer doing those on my waffle maker.
 
Kate K. May 16, 2016
I was just staying in an Airbnb rental with one sheet pan to its name (and some scary, deeply scratched teflon fry pans). Doing fried eggs like this made for much better mornings. We had luck just heating the pan under the broiler for a few minutes, letting a couple pats of butter melt and dropping the eggs on, then sticking back under the broiler for a couple of minutes. We did mushrooms on the same pan a couple of times, just giving them a bit of a head start, and it was great.
 
Terry P. May 15, 2016
I never saw a temperature given. Did I just miss it?
 
Ali S. May 15, 2016
300°F. You can see the recipe here: https://food52.com/recipes/53458-sheet-pan-eggs
 
Stephanie May 6, 2016
Oh man, first Sonic ice and now sheet pan omelettes?! You F52ers are on a roll this week!
 
laurenlocally May 6, 2016
I can't wait to try this! Brilliant.
 
Kerry May 6, 2016
What a great idea! I will be trying for my freezer breakfast sandwiches. I typically used a muffin tray with an egg in it with the yolk slightly beaten. I'm not a huge fan of scrambled eggs, but this looks like it is worth a try.