The Secret Ingredient For Amazing Scrambled Eggs Is Simply Another Yolk

Eggs are a classic easy breakfast for mornings when you need something a little heartier than buttered toast or cereal with milk. And scrambled eggs are simple, quick, filling, savory, and require only a few ingredients. But you may not know you can make this breakfast staple even heartier with a very simple ingredient: more eggs. More specifically, more egg yolks.

Cooking up scrambled eggs involves cracking and whisking entire eggs, and the end result should ideally be soft and fluffy, but it can easily end up being tasteless and rubbery, especially if you overcook the eggs. In those cases, adding extra pepper or hot sauce can fix a bland taste, but it can't fix an unpleasant texture. Tossing in extra egg yolks addresses both the flavor and texture problems at once. Egg yolks are already more flavorful and creamier than egg whites, which have a rather neutral taste. Just as importantly, extra yolks can keep your scrambled eggs fluffy.

How exactly do scrambled eggs work? Without getting too much into the science of eggs, the cooking process causes proteins inside the eggs to bond together, making the eggs' texture stiffer, per America's Test Kitchen. Egg yolks contain chemicals that can interfere with the protein bonding, partly because of all the extra fat inside the yolks. In short, it's harder to overcook scrambled eggs when you add more yolks. Still, remember to cook the scrambled eggs at medium-low heat because there's no guarantee you won't overcook them.

Depending on how much you're making, you may only need one extra yolk per every three to four eggs. Or you might find that adding even more yolks suits your tastes better, as the result will be even creamier and richer. So if you were to use eight whole eggs for a breakfast that would serve a few people, adding two to three yolks would add an extra creaminess.

So, will adding more egg yolks make your plate of scrambled eggs healthier? In some ways, yes. It's true that yolks contain more fat and cholesterol than the whites. However, yolks more than make up for that with the amount of nutrients they contain. Yolks are great sources of vitamins like vitamin D and vitamin B12, alongside omega-3s and healthy minerals like calcium and iron. Beyond that, the cholesterol in egg yolks isn't quite as unhealthy as we once believed, per Harvard Health. So health-wise, there isn't a downside to adding an extra yolk to your scrambled eggs.

Still, if you're looking for ways to make your scrambled eggs healthier, there are different ways to go about it. Adding cream cheese or cottage cheese are alternative ways to make your eggs creamy without having to use butter. Adding veggies like spinach into the mixture is also a fairly easy way to make your breakfast more nutritious. Simply toss the spinach in with the scrambled eggs midway through the brief cooking time.