I know at least one restaurant owner who will audition chefs by having them prepare an egg in front of him. There’s a lot of art to getting eggs right, and you get to know a lot about a chef by watching how they handle their eggs. The dish they choose, the dishes they use, and the quality of the dish they prepare all speak volumes about their cooking ability.
At home, we often don’t have anyone to impress but ourselves. That’s why it’s such a letdown when our over-easy eggs rupture, or when our scrambled eggs turn out to be a flavorless, rubbery mess. My friends who don’t cook much often limit themselves to hard boiling their eggs. While they won’t have to endure failure, they’ll never enjoy the decadence of a poached egg in hollandaise sauce or a wonderfully fresh omelet in their own kitchen.
The truth is, cooking eggs should be simple.
As long as you have the right ingredients and the right tools, you should be able to come out with a flawless dish with each attempt. As far as tools go, your pan is usually the most important part. When it comes to eggs, there’s a world of difference between a high-quality non-stick pan and a cheap cast iron skillet.
You can cook eggs on both, certainly, but you’ll have to spend a lot more time learning how to use and handle one, while the other will cook your eggs perfectly every time with no effort. Whether you’re an occasional at-home cook or your cooking routine involves juggling multiple complex dishes at once, the easier option wins every time.
So what should you use?
Here are some of the very best egg pans on the market today.
We’ll cover both regular non-stick pans as well as some specialty options to make preparing fancy egg dishes a breeze.
– All-Clad 4709 NS R2 18/10 Stainless Steel Nonstick Frying Pan, 9-inch
All-Clad is a legendary American cookware brand, known for their American-made products, fine craftsmanship, and incredible durability. Their innovative products utilize simple engineering in order to deliver industry-leading performance. This might sound a bit sales-ey, but it’s all true. Every pan and pot that All-Clad makes is manufactured entirely in the US, and their products often last for decades.
This particular skillet utilizes a three-layer design that sandwiches aluminum between layers of steel. The stainless steel exterior is durable, tough, and easy to clean, while the aluminum interior conducts heat distribution inside the pan in order to keep an even temperature throughout. This pan heats up fairly quickly and completely evenly. The heat distribution is even on each side meaning you won’t have to worry about one side of your omelet cooking before the other.
A multi-layer nonstick coating helps make cleanup easy and prevents your eggs from sticking as you flip them. It also helps to keep the food quality high. This is one of the most important things to look for in an egg pan. All-Clad has spared no expense here. Their top-of-the-line nonstick coating is more durable at higher temperatures than many of their competitors, and their non-stick coating pan is covered by a limited lifetime warranty. You’ll want to stick to plastic, silicone, or wooden utensils, but the incredibly smooth surface is totally worth the effort. But overall, you won’t have to worry about the food quality.
The biggest downside to this pan is the lack of an insulated handle. Like most other All-Clad products, this pan has a metal handle that’s designed to try to stay cool. Unfortunately, the metal rivets and wide base of the handle do a pretty good job of transferring heat evenly along its shiny shaft. You’ll probably have to use a potholder or a towel to move this pan if you cook with it for more than a few minutes.
If you want a pan for your food that’ll last you for as long as possible, give this All-Clad a chance. You’ll be impressed by the American workmanship that’s gone into its creation.
Who knows? You might be able to hand it down to your kids.
– Calphalon 1948259 Signature Hard Anodized Nonstick Omelet Pan, 10″
While the All-Clad pans above is durable, these are not the most convenient pans in the world. Youll have to use soft utensils and you’ll probably want to hand wash it to increase its longevity.
This Calphalon lets you be lazy.
It’s got a harder non-stick coating that won’t scratch easily, allowing you to use metal spatulas for your food without any problems. It’s also totally dishwasher safe and just as slippery during normal use.
Despite this, Calphalon still offers a limited lifetime warranty with this product. I don’t have as many friends with decades-old Calphalon cookware, but the confidence that they have in their products is somewhat inspiring. If you want a pan that lasts a while, this might be almost as good of a choice.
The Calphalon pans are made out of anodized aluminum, which is hard, easy to clean, and conducts heat fantastically. It’s not as attractive as a stainless steel pan, however, and it absolutely will not work on an induction range (the All-Clad will). It’s a bit heavier than you might expect, too.
Like the All-Clad, this nonstick pan has a metal handle. This works great in the oven (the Calphalon is oven safe to 500 degrees), but you’ll have to use a potholder to move it around on the stove.
If you want an absolutely effortless pan to cook your eggs in, this Calphalon has you covered. You don’t need to use special utensils or even hand wash it.
All you have to do is throw it on the range and crack open a couple of eggs. You’ll be making great food dishes in no time.
– RSVP International Endurance Egg Poacher
I’m a big fan of poached eggs. Without a special tool, however, they’re a massive pain to prepare. This tool allows you to poach eggs easily and effortlessly. I’ve picked out two of the best tools for doing so here. While the Demeyere is only available in a 4-egg variant, the RSVP International comes in 1, 4, and 6 egg versions. Both the Demeyere and the RSVP sets are made out of very similar steel alloys. In practice, there’s basically no difference between 18/10 and 18/8 stainless.
These tools are incredibly simple.
Basically, you fill a lower compartment with water, throw them on the stove, and crack an egg into each of the cups on the top. When your water boils, you set a timer and turn down your heat. When the timer goes off, you remove the egg cups and pour out your poached eggs. It’s really that easy.
All of these devices work on induction cooktops, and they all feature non-stick egg cups. The RSVP is dishwasher safe, although you only really need to rinse these off after use. You’re not putting anything other than boiling water in the lower compartment and the removable egg cups are incredibly easy to clean in the sink.
If you’re a fan of poached eggs, getting one of these machines is a must. The only question is which one to get. If you’ve got a big family or really like eggs, the 6-cup RSVP is the obvious choice, while the 1-cup RSVP is similarly the best choice for very small households. If you’re in between, however, there’s an argument to be made for both. Personally, I’d go with the dishwasher-safe RSVP, but the choice is yours on what pan to get.
– Flamekiss Ceramic Nonstick 3-Cup Egg Cooker
If you’re always ruining your over-easy eggs because they cook together and get hard to flip, this pan is for you. First of all, it’s easy to get around with this pan. It’s a brilliantly designed pan with a ceramic nonstick coat that’s safe to use with metal utensils. The pan features three inlaid cups that are about the size of a small pancake. This lets you either cook multiple pancakes with ease or deliver perfect, round eggs without worrying about them running together.
These nonstick pan are surprisingly versatile. You can get them to do anything basically. You can cook sausage, small burgers, and other meats in the little cups, or even poach an egg with a little bit of practice. When it comes to their stated purpose (eggs and pancakes), they’re absolutely brilliant. You might want two pans for the versatility it possesses.
I’d also like to think that I’m a well-practiced chef and I think that my eggs are better and more reliable when I use one of these. Best of all, I don’t have to pay anywhere near as much attention as I cook, freeing up my mind (and hands!) for other tasks.
If you want to get on to cooking multiple eggs easily or make single-serving portions of scrambled eggs, this fry pan is an excellent choice. You’ll find plenty of other uses for it, too.
Even if you’re an avid cook, you might be surprised at how much easier it is to use one of these instead of your normal non-stick pan. So you need to make sure of buying this pan.
The Best Pan For Cooking Eggs
The right tool for the job depends on the job. If I was poaching eggs to serve over English muffins, I would certainly use one of the egg poachers above, while I would use the Flamekiss pans in order to put over-easy eggs on those same muffins. For omelets, scrambled eggs, and more versatile cooking, even for fried eggs I’d go with one of the non-stick pans at the top of the page.
The All-Clad fry pan is much prettier and has the weight of a legendary American brand behind it, while the Calphalon is easier to care for and delivers similar heat. No matter what your kitchen and household are like, you’ll be able to use these products to simplify your morning routine and easily cook killer eggs with a minimum of effort.
