When to Add Salt to Scrambled Eggs, According to Experts

Whipping up light and fluffy scrambled eggs is one of the best and easiest ways to start your day. But despite the simplicity of this protein-packed quick and simple breakfast, there’s an ongoing debate among chefs, home cooks, and food scientists alike on the right time to salt them.

Some think that adding salt to eggs before they cook will thin out the whites and result in a tough and rubbery final product. Still, others believe that adding salt before cooking makes for a better-seasoned, more flavorful scramble.

You may have been taught never to add salt to raw eggs as the sodium will change the texture and make them tough. Or perhaps it was an influential celebrity chef who made us all wait until scrambled eggs were just finished before sprinkling them with salt. But whoever helped spread this theory may actually be wrong.

We Tried 8 Celebrity Scrambled Egg Methods and Found Some Breakfast Champions

When to Add Salt to Scrambled Eggs

To finally answer this question, we reached out to some national egg brands for their perspectives. It turns out that adding salt while whisking together raw eggs can make the best, most flavorful scramble.

“We hear this debate a lot between our Michelin chef partners and even from our at-home chefs about when to salt eggs,” says Whitney Fortin, vice president of marketing at Happy Egg, a free-range commercial egg producer headquartered in Arkansas. “Adding salt to your egg scramble prior to cooking acts as a buffer that prevents the yolks’ proteins from getting too tight and losing their moisture. When you add salt prior to the eggs hitting heat, it results in a fluffier scramble.”

Erin Krenek, manager of communications at Vital Farms, a company that sells pasture-raised eggs nationally, agreed that it’s best to salt eggs at the whisking step before cooking. “We believe that salt helps break up the white to create a more homogenous mixture, makes them more tender, and creates a more well-rounded taste in every bite,” he says.