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It’s Time to Start Cooking Your Eggs on a Sheet Pan
by Ali Slagle
• May 6, 2016
• 23 Comments
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!
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.
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
- 12 eggs
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- A little cream or milk
- 1 cup give or so of add ins (optional): shaved asparagus, peas, any veg really, rendered bacon or prosciutto or pancetta, herbs, melty cheese
- 6 rolls or 12 pieces of toast, for serving (optional)
Watch how to make them right here!
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Comments (23)
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6 months ago Kt4
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.
6 months ago Fiddlin'
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?
6 months ago David Nurbin
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.
6 months ago Kt4
maybe use a different milk like coconut?
6 months ago Mark Oviatt
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.
6 months ago David Nurbin
Don'f forget as nigiri sushi
6 months ago Arthur in the Garden!
Interesting! I have been cooking eggs mixtures in cupcake molds for years to make little fritta like meal but will have to try this!
6 months ago Sara
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.
6 months ago Kitchen Tested
I love this idea!!! I recently started cooking runny eggs on a sheet pan (http://kitchen-tested.com...) 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?
6 months ago David Nurbin
A silpat may work better.
6 months ago Ali Slagle
Books Editor and Stylist at Food52.
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!
6 months ago David Nurbin
Yeah, I was afraid of that with the parchment, which is why I thought of the Slipat, but you would probably be right...
6 months ago Jackie K
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..
6 months ago Suzy Shedd
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.
6 months ago Katheryn's Kitchen
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.
about 1 year ago Anne Dykstra
Love the idea. I think I'll make a batch to freeze for a post work out snack! Thx
about 1 year ago wahini
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.
about 1 year ago Kate Kenderish
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.
about 1 year ago Terry pogue
I never saw a temperature given. Did I just miss it?
about 1 year ago Ali Slagle
Books Editor and Stylist at Food52.
300°F. You can see the recipe here: https://food52.com/recipes...
about 1 year ago Stephanie
Oh man, first Sonic ice and now sheet pan omelettes?! You F52ers are on a roll this week!
about 1 year ago laurenlocally
Lauren is Food52's VP of Sales.
I can't wait to try this! Brilliant.
about 1 year ago Kerry
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.
Showing 23 out of 23 comments