What's The Actual Difference Between A Fried Egg And Over-Easy?

When the waiter at your local diner asks how you'd like your eggs, you likely know the answer right away. But do you really know the intricacies of all the different ways you can get your eggs cooked? It's easy to put fried and over-easy into the same category, but these two actually have a couple distinctions that can make all the difference in the final taste and texture of your meal.

Not to be confused with sunny-side up eggs, which pretty much sit static in the pan until they're done cooking, both fried and over-easy versions get flipped. However, you can start to glean their differences from their names. Over-easy eggs are more straightforwardly cooked in any kind of fat, and depending on what you use, this can significantly alter the texture of your breakfast. Fried eggs, on the other hand, are intentionally made with one delicious type of fat: bacon grease. This variation may not be commonplace everywhere (as over-easy, medium, and hard are all sometimes just lumped together as fried), but in some families (particularly in the South), you may see this tasty distinction.

While there are a couple of cooking fats you can use to fry eggs, bacon grease is the number one choice for maximum tastiness. Plus, you'll likely end up with tiny pieces of the meat in your eggs, which will majorly amp up their flavor and add texture. To make them this way, you'll first want to cook your bacon on the stove, and remove the crispy strips without draining the pan. Then crack your eggs right on top of the existing grease and make them like you normally would — flipping when the whites are mostly set. If you don't want to go quite this hard with your fat, you can also use butter, which will still place your eggs under the fried umbrella.

For a lighter and more versatile (but arguably less exciting) option, make your eggs over-easy. Your fat choices are broader here, as you can go with an oil like olive or avocado, or even an oil-based cooking spray. This means you won't end up with quite as rich of a breakfast, and it will have a smoother texture. However, you can still jazz up your eggs by adding some panko, which will create beautifully crispy golden edges. Or, to give them the umami flavor they deserve, top them off with charred scallions instead. And when you don't want to dunk your whole meal in bacon grease, but you do still want a delicious texture, deploy a little crispy garlic in the pan under your eggs.