The Art of the Omelette

Zack makes a killer omelette. It seems to us that people view cooking omelettes as a very scary venture. Zack wants you to know that if you use the correct technique, it' not difficult at all.


The portions we use in this post are for making two omelettes, since we both ate breakfast this morning.


Here's what you need:
5 eggs (just use 2 eggs if you're cooking for one)
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of black pepper
butter to coat the pan


Here's what you do:
Take the eggs out of the fridge so that they can begin to come up to room temperature.


Start your skillet heating up to medium heat. 


Zack likes to crack his eggs into a measuring cup. It makes it easier to pour them into the skillet. Add in the salt and pepper.

Beat the eggs vigorously.

They'll look like this:

Now, if you're cooking for two, pour half the eggs into a separate container.

We have a designated stick of butter that is used only for omelettes. Zack just rubs the stick of butter around the pan to create a nice coating on the pan. You don't want your eggs to stick, so this step is probably the most important of the entire process.

Pour the eggs into the pan. They're going to start to cook immediately.

Scrape the cooked eggs, beginning at the outer edges, into the middle of the pan.

You'll be creating sort of a pile of cooked eggs in the middle.

Swirl the pan around to get the uncooked eggs to the outer edge of the pan so that they will cook.

You may need to do the scrape and swirl step a couple of times.


Make sure there are no holes in the omelette. You shouldn't be able to see the pan at all through the eggs.


Take the spatula and go around the edge of the omelette to ensure that it isn't stuck to the pan anywhere.

Now, shake the pan a bit so that the omelette slides around. You want to make sure it's not stuck (see how important the butter step is?).

If you're going to put in fillings, this is the time to do it. We just had cheese omelettes this morning, so we added freshly grated mozzarella and cheddar. You will only want to cover a third of the omelette (the third closest to you) with filling.

Let it sit in the pan for about 30 seconds, just to let the eggs cook more. A little bit of the egg may still be runny when you start to roll. This alright, because the egg will cook from the heat of the other layers. You don't want them solid, but creamy. If you're still worried about eating runny eggs, use pasteurized eggs for your omelettes. They're totally safe.

Now, tilt the pan away from you and let the omelette slide until about 1/3 of it is out of the pan. Fold that over with a spatula. Repeat to roll it over a second time.

Once it's rolled up, switch your grip on the pan to a forehand (tennis, anyone?), hold the plate upside down next the the pan, and flip.

Don't feel bad if you mess up your first time. A lot of Zack's omelettes have turned into scrambled eggs instead. It's a tricky process to master, so don't get frustrated and give up.


If this explanation isn't enough, you can watch Alton Brown or Jacques Pepin make an omelette. Both of these videos helped us when we were learning to make omelettes


Enjoy!