Panko-Fried Soft, Medium or Hard Boiled Eggs

So, this is a southern way of doing up some eggs. Hope you enjoy. You can make these soft, medium, or hard boiled!

Ok, add eggs to your pot and cover with cold water. Put your pot on the stove and start the pot on high heat. Depending on the size of your eggs and how runny you want your eggs is going to determine the time you cook the eggs. Once the water comes to a boil, turn your temperature down to a simmer. I do eggs this way because I do not want my eggs rolling around in boiling water and bumping into each other and cracking. Please, do eggs the way you normally do if you have your own way. I am just telling you how I do it. I never want to you to steer away from your tried & true ways of preparing food if you have found your perfect cooking method. By the way, I always use XL eggs in everything.

Soft boiled eggs -- simmer for 5 minutes

Medium boiled eggs -- simmer for 6 minutes

Hard boiled eggs -- simmer for 8 minutes

While your eggs are simmering and cooling, you can work on getting your breading station set-up. Salt and pepper some all-purpose flour. Crack 2 eggs and add your milk and salt and pepper. Beat eggs and milk together. Then, season up some panko bread crumbs (or you can use regular bread crumbs) with some salt and pepper. You can add several different things to your bread crumbs depending on what you like and/or what kind of flavor you are going after. Some examples would be cayenne pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, dried oregano, etc. Be creative. I usually just go with salt and pepper and sometimes cayenne. Also, start to heat up your canola oil in a shallow pan, like a skillet, on medium to medium-high heat. 

When eggs are finished simmering, remove from heat and immediately add cold water to your pot. Run cold water over the eggs until all the hot water has been displaced. Cool just for about 5 minutes, or until you can handle the eggs.

So, here is how I peel eggs: Be extra, extra gentle for soft boiled eggs. I usually cook a couple extra when I do soft boiled because I usually always break open 1 or 2 while peeling. They're so fragile when they're super soft in the middle. Lightly crack your egg on a hard surface, such as your countertop. Gently roll the egg on the hard surface with your palm until it is cracked all around the egg's surface. Make sure the tops and bottoms are slightly cracked, too. Gently start to peel the shell off. Make sure you try to get that membrane peeled off at the beginning, too. Be careful not to peel the egg white's surface off while doing this. Once you have your starting place peeled off (membrane included), dunk your egg back into the water. You should now be able to peel the shell off in one pull. If not, that's fine. Just make sure you get up under that membrane and start to peel again. I have found that if the egg is still slightly warm, they peel better. Once it is peeled, run the egg under cool water to make sure all shell is off. Don't put the faucet on at full speed. Just a smooth and slow stream will work. Place clean egg on a paper towel so it absorbs the excess liquid off the egg. You want a dry egg for this recipe.

Set up your breading station in this order: dry eggs, flour, egg wash, bread crumbs, and empty plate for breaded eggs. You want an organized assembly line here or things can get messy! Coat a dry egg in flour, roll floured egg in the egg wash mixture until completely coated. Place in bread crumbs and coat. Put on your plate until all eggs are ready to go.

When your oil is ready to go (you can throw a pinch of bread crumbs in the oil to test...if they give a good sizzle, you're ready to go), place eggs in on one side and allow to get golden brown. With tongs, gently roll the egg to the next side to get golden brown.Continue to roll the eggs until each side is golden. Place eggs on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Serve immediately!!! 

I serve these with breakfast, or you can even do this recipe for a salad like I have shown here. 

Recipe Card:

Eggs (for boiling + 2 extra for egg wash mixture)

1 cup flour

3 tablespoons milk

1 cup Panko bread crumbs (regular can work too, panko is just more crunchy!)

1/4 - 1/2 inch of canola oil in a skillet

salt and pepper (for flour mixture,egg wash mixture and bread crumb mixture)

cayenne pepper (optional, for bread crumb mixture)