Fried, scrambled, over easy, sunny side up, poached, boiled — there are dozens of ways to cook an egg, each with a different texture and flavor. And from this humble egg comes a big challenge for the home cook: What’s the best way to cook an egg and get consistent results every time? In our experience, there’s nothing like making eggs on a griddle.

Griddles have a few qualities that set it apart from your standard set of kitchen fry pans, and makes it easier to hit the exact levels of doneness that can turn ordinary eggs into extraordinary culinary delights.

That’s why we’ve put together this guide for how to make eggs on a griddle: To share our expert insights into the whys and hows of cooking eggs on a griddle surface, as well as a handful of recipes and meal ideas that will perfectly complement your perfectly cooked eggs.

Why Cook Eggs On A Griddle?

But couldn’t you make eggs just as well in a pan on the stovetop?

Not quite, and here’s why: The thick, flat cooking surface offered by a griddle like our Traeger Flatrock has more even heat distribution, an easier-to-work-with cooking surface, and gives you more space to maneuver your eggs while cooking them.

Together, those three qualities make it about a hundred times easier to get perfectly cooked eggs on a griddle rather than in a pan. But let’s examine how each affects your final egg product more closely.

Heat Distribution

Evenly cooked eggs require evenly distributed heat — and it doesn’t get more even than the heat provided by the Flatrock’s three U-shaped burners. These ensure that the entire griddling surface is kept at a dead steady, even temperature without any cool or hot spots that can mess up your cooking. Crack as many eggs as you want on the griddle surface, and they’ll all cook at precisely the same rate.

Flat Surface

The sloping sides of a standard saute pan are great for working with sauces and liquids, but the flat surface of a griddle is so much easier to use when cooking eggs. Why? Because there’s nothing to get between your spatula and the eggs, it becomes incredibly easy to flip them quickly and accurately.

Cooking Space

Even the biggest saute pan is no match for the cooking space offered by a griddle. The Flatrock, for example, has a cooking surface of 594 square inches — more than enough space to cook two dozen eggs or strips of bacon at a time, or about a dozen medium-sized pancakes at a go. That means all your food will be cooked simultaneously, making it easy to plate up a hot and fresh breakfast with minimal effort and wait time.

Preparing The Griddle For Cooking Eggs

Each style of eggs you can cook will require a slightly different preparation of your grill — mainly a different temperature you preheat it to. Then there’s the matter of choosing an oil that will either lend its own flavor to the eggs, or leave them with a more neutral flavor.

Preheat The Griddle

As you’ll see in the next section on different ways to cook eggs on the griddle, a medium heat is perfect for almost every style of eggs. This gives you the highest degree of control over how quickly your eggs are cooking, while offering an efficient way to cook many eggs simultaneously. Aim for about 300 to 350ºF as a starting point, and then adjust as necessary if you’re going on to cook bacon, ham, or other breakfast meats.

Choose And Add Grease To The Griddle

A well-seasoned griddle is one that has a thin layer of oil on it, making it easy to flip eggs without any sticking or burning.

Choose an oil with a smoke point above 350ºF, like sunflower, canola, or vegetable oil; they’re all fairly neutral in flavor. If you’d like to add more flavor to your eggs, adding a small pat of butter on top of a thin layer of oil will maximize your eggs’ deliciousness.

Six Different Ways To Cook Eggs On The Griddle

Eggs truly are a magical food. With each variation in temperature and cooking style, their flavors and textures transform, from the springy chew of a fried egg to the silky runnyness of over-easy eggs.

To really understand how to cook exactly the style of eggs you’re looking for, you’ll need to know a little bit more about how eggs work in the first place — and that comes down to their proteins.

Harold McGee, in his marvelous book On Food and Cooking, explains what happens when you cook an egg:

“Proteins in a raw egg mostly remain compact and separate from one another… When we heat the egg, proteins unfold, tangle with each other, and become a moist solid.”

Fried eggs, the timeless breakfast classic, are all about simplicity and unbeatable flavor. Booking them on a griddle not only ensures a flawless, golden edge but also imparts a hint of smokiness, elevating your breakfast game to a whole new level. Try them out yourselves by making our Flat Top Fried Eggs in an easy 20 minutes.

Sunny Side Up

Sunny side up eggs might be the easiest to cook because they don’t require flipping — just a lid to cover the eggs with.

For sunny side up eggs, you’ll want your griddle on medium heat (about 300 to 350ºF). Add oil or butter to your griddle surface, and carefully crack each egg onto it, dropping them onto the hot surface from a low height to prevent unwanted spreading.

Cook the eggs for about two minutes (until you see the whites start to set), then add a small splash of water around them and cover with a metal lid. This will create a steamy environment for the eggs to cook for one more minute, perfectly setting the yolks and whites.

Over Easy

Preheat your griddle to medium heat again (about 300 to 350ºF) for over easy eggs, and add butter or oil to your cooking surface. Then simply crack the eggs, cook for about two minutes, and flip them with a thin spatula. Cook for another 10 seconds — just long enough to set the outer layer of the whites — and take them off the griddle with a spatula.

Over Medium

Over medium fried eggs start the same way as over easy eggs but get cooked for a bit longer. Aim for two to three minutes of cooking on the first side, and one minute after you flip them.

A perfectly cooked over-medium egg can be tricky to get right at first since it’s mostly a matter of watching your eggs as they cook. But with practice and careful attention, you can get the semi-runny yolks that make over-medium eggs so delightful.

Over Hard

Don’t want any of the runny stuff with your eggs? Then over-hard is the way to go.

You’ll still be cooking on medium heat here, but for longer times. After cracking the eggs over your oiled or buttered griddle, cook for three minutes on the first side and two minutes after flipping them. You’re looking to cook both the whites and the yolks thoroughly, but not so far that the eggs get rubbery or burnt around the edges.

Omelet

Cooking omelets is an art unto itself, and it takes a fair bit of practice to nail it every time. We’ve put together a complete recipe guide for our Flat Top Bacon and Cheese Omelet, with step-by-step directions to help you master this tricky dish.

Scrambled

When making scrambled eggs on the griddle, a thin spatula will be your best friend. Scramble the eggs in a bowl, and season with a bit of salt and pepper. Add oil and butter to the griddle top, and pour the eggs onto the griddle. Give them about 30 seconds to set up, and then start lifting and turning them with the edge of your spatula, and then scoop them off the griddle and onto a waiting plate. Once you’ve tried out this pro way to make scrambled eggs, make sure to combine them with chorizo, cheese, and fresh tortillas for a tasty breakfast quesadilla.

Of course, a delicious breakfast isn’t made with eggs alone — you’ll also need some classic breakfast staples to round out the meal.

Pancakes are about as classic a breakfast item as you can get, and our recipe for Flat Top Buttermilk Pancakes comes out fluffy and delicious every time. And if you’re already making fried eggs, why not pair them with bacon and hashbrowns while you’re at it? Or for a real treat, consider combining the best of all breakfast worlds and making our Smoked Sausage Pancake Sandwich, a towering stack of breakfast goodness with sausage, pancakes, and eggs included.

Other Recipes To Try On Your Griddle

Making perfectly cooked eggs is only one of the many capabilities of a griddle like the Traeger Flatrock. Once you’ve got the hang of making breakfast, why not try out these other delicious griddle recipes as well?

• The Smoke & Sizzle Pub Burger uses both smoke and the Flat Top grill to impart huge flavor to its meat, then tops it with smoked gouda cheese and caramelized onions for an incredible finish.
• Flat Top Spicy Chicken Fajitas are a quick and delicious anytime meal, as they take only about 30 minutes to make from start to finish.
• Want to make a cheesesteak as good as the ones they serve in Philly? The griddle is the perfect tool for making Flat Top Philly Cheesesteaks, complete with thinly sliced steak, sauteed onions, and the cheese of your choice.
• Fried rice has never been easier to make than on a sizzling hot Flat Top grill, as in our Flat Top Pork Fried Rice.
• Pasta on the griddle? You bet. Try out this Flat Top Gnocchi with Asparagus recipe when you’re looking to mix up your dinnertime options.