Kitchen Questions: Should You Put Milk in Scrambled Eggs? (2024)

by The Culinary Exchange | Aug 2, 2016 | Blog, How To Cook, Pantry Raid, Technique | 2 comments

We get hundreds of kitchen questions every month from readers who aren’t sure why their angel food cake wilted in the oven or what kinds of sugar substitutions you can use in a bind, but recently we’ve been on an egg kick (you’ve probably noticed, given the sheer number of blog posts we’ve been devoting to how to cook eggs over easy; how to tell if they’re going bad; what to substitute for eggs, and everything in between). But recently a reader reached out with a common question that we felt was worth a mention on here: should you put milk in scrambled eggs?

Milk in Scrambled Eggs

If you’ve ever tried to get some feedback on why your scrambled eggs came out limp and dry (or both!), it’s likely you’ve heard someone tell you to whisk in a little bit of milk while you’re whisking the raw eggs before you put them in the skillet. The idea is that the milk mixes with the raw egg mixture and results in fluffy, perfect scrambled eggs.

We hate to be the one to break it to you, but this is a culinary lie and can actually result in scrambled eggs that are even MORE dry. The reason for this is simple: milk actually causes the egg to separate before it’s cooked and will dry out faster once it’s being cooked over heat. On top of that, adding milk in scrambled eggs diminishes the flavor of the eggs while you’re cooking them.

For REALLY perfect scrambled eggs, you need to ditch the milk and use a whisk to whip the eggs until the yolk and the whites are perfectly combined. Then, cook the eggs over low heat in a small to medium sized skillet until they’re perfectly fluffy, using a spatula to constantly stir them while they’re cooking. Then, take that extra milk and pour yourself another cup of coffee for a job well done.

Do you use milk in scrambled eggs? Share your cooking tips with us and our readers in the comments!