How To Cook Eggs 10 Kid Friendly Ways

How to Cook Eggs

Learning a few ways to cook eggs for your kids can make a giant difference in whether they’ll eat them. Many kids have a preference for how they like to eat them, but sorting through the options can be tricky. I’m going to share my favorite ways to cook eggs for kids, starting with babies, then toddlers, and on up. Here’s a look at some of the most common ways to cook eggs:

Nutrition in Eggs

Eggs are an awesome food for kids since they contain fat in the yolk that they need for proper brain development, and the whites contain protein. They’re a budget-friendly source of vegetarian protein and cook up so quickly that they’re a super last-minute meal. Provided there are no allergies in the house, I highly recommend making eggs a staple in your house each week—especially when you find them on sale. Sign up for our email updates to get tips and ideas sent to your inbox. We try to find local eggs, especially during farmer’s market season, as they are often less expensive.

How to Cook Eggs for Baby

After you check in with your pediatrician about introducing potentially allergenic foods, eggs are a great early food to feed a baby. It can be hard to figure out how to serve them, though, so here are my favorite ways to serve eggs to babies.

Hard-Cooked Egg Yolk Mashed on a Spoon

If you’re doing BLW, this is a great way to let baby self-feed eggs. Simply mash the cooked and cooled yolk onto a little spoon and hand the spoon over. Baby can get the spoon into her own mouth and then you can reload it for her!

Hard-Cooked Egg Yolk Mashed on a Toast Stick

This is also a great BLW option. Spread mashed yolk on a toast stick (a piece of lightly toasted bread cut into roughly the size of two fingers, which is easy for the baby to hold to suck and gnaw on) and hand it over to baby. The piece should be easy for the baby to suck the egg off, but the toast should hold together and not be a choking hazard.

Baby-LEd Weaning Omelet

Cook a simple omelet and fold it over for baby to pick up, or slice it into finger-size pieces, the classic BLW shape, for baby to self-feed.

At what age can I serve scrambled eggs to my baby?

Scrambled eggs are a great finger food for babies 8-9 months and up, or whenever baby develops their pincer grasp, which is the ability to pick up small pieces of food with their fingers. This stage can vary depending on the child and how they are progressing with solid foods.

Eggs as Finger Food

Eggs are a wonderful finger food for babies since they fit the description of safe early finger foods: Easy to pick up with little hands and easy to squish between fingers. They are also nutrient-dense, which is a great quality in a baby food.

How to Cook Scrambled Eggs in the Microwave

Another awesome way to cook eggs for babies is to make them into scrambled eggs in the microwave. This may sound odd, but it creates the softest eggs AND it’s so super quick! To do this: Break an egg into a heat-safe bowl. Beat with a fork. Heat in 15-second increments, stirring with the fork between, until cooked through. Cut up (I use kitchen shears) the egg into tiny pieces. Let cool before serving as a finger food to baby.

How to Cook Scrambled Eggs on the Stove Top

Of course, you can make scrambled eggs in a pan on the stove top. I prefer using a nonstick or cast-iron skillet and using this method: Warm the skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon butter. When it melts, spread it around the pan with a spatula. Crack the egg into the pan. Let set for about 1 minute, then break up with a spatula. Continue to move the egg around bit by bit and then flip it over, to cook it entirely through. (Breaking it up this way helps it to become softer.) When it’s fully cooked through and there’s no runny egg white or yolk left, break up into small pieces and serve. You can also try my Spinach Eggs.

How to Cook Eggs for Toddlers

When serving eggs for toddlers, or in the next phase of eating after babyhood, you can use any of the methods above, but you can also start to introduce firmer preparations including hard-cooked egg white and yolk. And omelets are fun! If your child doesn’t like the eggs you serve, try them another way!

How to Make Hard-Cooked Eggs

Hard-cooking eggs is a great way to make a lot of eggs and store them in the fridge to eat throughout the week. Many toddlers prefer only the white or only the yolk, so don’t be alarmed if you can’t get your kiddo to eat the entire thing! Here are my favorite ways to make hard-cooked eggs.

Hard-Cooked Eggs in the Oven: I find baking eggs to be a really easy method, though there will be a brown dot at the point where the egg was in contact with the pan … which is SO minor, but always detectable by my kids! Hard-Cooked Eggs in the Instant Pot: From what I hear, this makes the eggs super easy to peel and the people who use this method love it. (I have an Instant Pot but feel like it’s just easier to use a pot? Which maybe just makes me too lazy to get the thing out of my closet …) Hard-Cooked Eggs on the Stove Top: Admittedly, this classic method is still the one I use most often. Add your eggs to a pot and cover with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, put the cover on, and let sit for 12 minutes. Drain and fill the pot with cold water and ice. Let sit for about 10 minutes to cool. Steamed Hard-Cooked Eggs: People swear this method of cooking eggs makes them the easiest to peel! And it’s simple, which is nice.

What’s the best way to hard-cook fresh eggs so they are easy to peel?

Fresh eggs can be really hard to peel when hard-cooked, but I’ve found that doing them in the Instant Pot makes them much easier. And people say the same thing about steaming!

At what age can I serve hard-cooked eggs to my toddler?

I would wait until close to 18-20 months, depending on your child. The texture of the whites can be too chewy for a lot of kids, so see how your child handles it. PS: It’s normal for kids to just like the white or yellow part of hard-cooked eggs. It’s also normal for kids to like one type of egg but not another!

How to Make Egg Muffins

Soft, versatile, and easy to make ahead, egg muffins are a wonderful way to serve eggs. You simply stir the batter together and bake up little muffins in a muffin tin. Here are a few recipe options:

How to Make the Best Fried Eggs

Fried eggs are traditionally made on the stove top and they are super fast and delish. The kids may surprise you with how much they like them cooked this way. You can cook a few at once if you use a large pan, which is nice for making family meals. I prefer to cook fried eggs in a nonstick skillet, though as long as you use enough butter or oil and wait until the fat is hot to add the egg, it should work fine in stainless steel or cast iron. Here are my favorite methods for making fried eggs:

Favorite Fried Eggs in Olive Oil How to Fry Eggs in the Oven on a Sheet Pan

TIP: You can also bake eggs over tomato sauce for a dish called Shakshuska. The kids may or may not be ready for it, but it’s a delish, quick dinner option.

What should I serve eggs with?

So many things! Simple sides would be fruit and toast, though we love them with grain bowls, as taco filling, and in sandwiches. Aim to round them out with other food groups, so include a complex carbohydrate like bread or grains and produce like fruit or veggies if serving eggs for a main meal. (You can totally do them straight up as a snack!)

How to Store Cooked Eggs

To store cooked eggs for future meals, all you really need are airtight containers. I love using half-pint and pint-size mason jars and also this set of little glass cubes. For scrambled eggs, omelets, and egg muffins, simply let them cool slightly and store in a container for up to 3 days. For hard-cooked eggs, let them cool fully and store them for up to 5 days in an airtight container. You can also line a container with a paper towel to absorb any extra moisture that may come off of hard-cooked eggs. I’d love to hear how you like to make eggs for your kids, so please chime in below in the comments!