What’s the Difference Between an Omelette and a Fried Egg?
Both an omelette and a fried egg can be made with the exact same ingredients in the same pan, but what differentiates one from the other is the cooking process. This process will determine whether the dish is an omelette or a fried egg.
There are many ways to prepare and enjoy eggs, and each method results in a dish with its own name, like scrambled eggs, fried eggs, hard-boiled eggs, etc. Then comes the omelette. The omelette usually has healthy and delicious fillings inside, but you can also add fillings to a fried egg. So why did the omelette get its own unique name if it’s just a fried egg with fillings?
What is a Fried Egg?
Well, an omelette is not just a fried egg with fillings. there’s a small difference in the cooking process that makes the omelette distinct. When we make a fried egg, we pour the egg into the pan or on top of any fillings if they exist. Once it’s set, we flip it briefly until it’s ready.
You can read more about how to make a fried egg or a fried egg with fillings in the links.
What is an Omelette?
To make an omelette, we also pour the egg into the pan. However, if there are fillings, we place them on top of the eggs once they begin to set slightly so that the egg wraps around them.
This is where the difference lies. Instead of flipping the egg, we simply fold it in half and let it continue to cook for a bit longer in the pan, flipping it on both sides. You can read more about how to make an omelette in the link.
What’s the Difference?
The key technique that turns any fried egg into an omelette, whether or not there are fillings, is folding the egg. An omelette is a little thicker and fluffier than a fried egg and has a crescent shape. It will appear as one cohesive mass, with the liquid egg not yet fully cooked, coming together at the fold. For example, if we were to make a fried egg and fold it in half, we would see two fried eggs on top of each other. Unlike a fried egg with fillings, where you can see the fillings spread across the egg, the fillings in an omelette are folded inside, not sticking out.
Thank you for reading!