Butter or Oil for Frying Eggs? You can cook an egg in either butter or oil; it's entirely up to your taste preference. If you like the taste of butter, then go for it. Olive oil is a healthy choice and also delicious, especially when you are topping a savory dish, such a ratatouille or pasta with an egg.
Although frying eggs is one of the most popular methods of preparing eggs, it's not necessarily the healthiest method you can choose. That's because oil is high in calories and saturated fats. And butter is one of the worst offenders.
Lots of fried egg stans say butter is best. Thanks to its high concentration of fat, butter has a unique taste and creamy texture. It's great for high heat pan-frying and can prevent your eggs from sticking to the pan.
NHS advice is to replace “foods high in saturated fat with lower-fat versions” and warns against frying food in butter or lard, recommending instead corn oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil. Saturated fats raise cholesterol levels, increasing the risk of heart disease.
The reason for this is that butter is made up of fat, and eggs are made up of protein. When eggs cook, the proteins form a dense bond, and when exposed to heat for too long, this results in a rubbery texture. But add butter to the mix and your scrambled eggs will be lighter and creamier.
Simply place the eggs in boiling water, remove from heat and let sit for 3 to 5 minutes, then remove and chill in cold water. Cook the eggs a bit less and they'll be runny, cook them a minute longer and they'll be not-quite-set. Use as you would poached eggs, cracked over warm sandwiches, fish, or salads.
While the egg cooks, its proteins are forming chemical bonds with the metal of the pan. A nonstick coating interferes with this bonding, and so does adding fat like oil or butter to the pan before the eggs. The layer of fat gets between the pan and the eggs and prevents the proteins from sticking.
Saturated fats (such as butter and lard), we are told, are bad for us, and polyunsaturated fats (such as sunflower oil and corn oil) are good for us. But this is just looking at the fats at room temperature. When they're heated, they can change completely, breaking down into harmful chemicals.
No, you cannot deep-fry in butter. It simply can't handle the heat; it will brown and burn before you reach deep-frying temperatures.
Bottom line: Olive, canola and safflower oils are healthier choices overall than butter and most margarines. Use them as replacements for butter and margarine in most of your cooking, but watch the amounts – those fat calories can add up fast.
Fry them in an oil that's stable at high temperatures
The best oils for cooking at high heat, like when pan-frying, are those that remain stable at high temperatures and don't oxidize easily to form harmful free radicals. Examples of good choices include avocado oil and sunflower oil.
Cooking eggs with olive oil is considered a healthy alternative to butter. Olive oil contains monounsaturated fat that may help lower total cholesterol, benefit insulin levels, normalize blood clotting and lower your risk of heart disease.
Eating healthy should still be delicious.
Typically, you fry eggs in canola or vegetable oil: fats with neutral flavor and a high smoke point, meaning you can cook the egg at medium-high heat and not worry about the oil smoking and giving the egg off flavors.
Butter is high in calories and fat — including saturated fat, which is linked to heart disease. Use this ingredient sparingly, especially if you have heart disease or are looking to cut back on calories. The American Heart Association (AHA)'s current recommendation is to limit consumption of saturated fat.
Fortunately eggs do not absorb as much fat as some other foods when fried. You can also remove some of the fat by draining them from the pan with a spatula and blotting them on kitchen paper to absorb excess fat.
One study found that boiling, frying, or microwaving can reduce the antioxidant content in eggs. When eggs are heated at high temperatures, such as with frying or processing, the cholesterol can become oxidized. This has been linked to some health concerns and disease.
Although butter contains saturated fats but these fats are heart-healthy while the poly-unsaturated fat (omega 6 fatty acid) in oils are unwanted fats which may cause inflammation, and should be avoided.
Butter has a very low burn point, which makes it ill-suited to anything more than pan frying. The burning point of olive oil is around 410 degrees F (210 degrees C), which will generally cover much cooking; butter's burn point is about 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
When your favorite bottle of olive oil is down to the last drop, or your stir-fry dinner plan is thwarted when you discover you're out of canola oil, butter is a natural substitute. Butter is one of the easiest swaps for cooking oils that we know, and it brings tons of flavor to everything it touches.
Scientists Recommend Cooking With Lard, Butter: Frying With Vegetable Oil Releases Toxic, Cancer-Causing Chemicals. Cooking with lard or butter is said to have numerous detrimental effects on health.
While there are clearly healthier ways to cook foods, frying food with olive oil is unlikely to be significantly bad for your health.
Fats with a high smoke point (420°F to 445°F) such as sunflower, canola or peanut oil are suitable for high-heat cooking. Butter, which has a low smoke point (250°F), is suitable for cooking that requires moderate or low heat.
If you want butter's distinctive flavor in dishes that require frying, use usli ghee, a staple in Indian cuisine, or clarified butter. Clarifying butter — removing the whey and water by applying gentle heat — raises the point at which the butter smokes from 300 degrees to 450 degrees.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) actually advises everyone against eating undercooked eggs, or foods containing raw eggs (that means recipes like homemade caesar dressing, aioli, some ice creams or protein-packed power shakes) due to the risk of salmonella.
For perfectly cooked, amazingly tender fried eggs every time, just add water.