When frying your morning egg, you typically want to use a few drops of olive oil in your pan to make it crispier. Using pesto as an alternative to oil, however, can help take your breakfast to a whole new territory of texture and taste.
Pesto eggs — as they’ve been dubbed on TikTok, where the quick and tasty hack was popularized — is a dish that utilizes the oil already in pesto to fry eggs. While eggs alone are savory, bringing in pesto adds bitter, sweet, and piquant notes that round out the flavor profile without too much heavy lifting.
“Pesto is very complex, but well-balanced just by itself. It has a very unique flavor,” says Sean Womack, VP of marketing and innovation at Happy Egg Co. “And it’s already made. So it’s not just like […] you’ve got to pull a whole bunch of other ingredients out.”
What to serve with pesto eggs
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Pesto possesses a dynamic flavor profile that carries almost anything it’s paired with. But keep in mind what flavors are already present and which ones you can bring in with additional ingredients, says Womack.
For a topping, Womack recommends a chili oil or Tabasco sauce to add a pepper-based spice. As for the base, you can keep it pretty simple.
“It’s sort of begging for a piece of toast,” says Womack. Toast is a tried and true companion to eggs, and there’s certainly no exception when pesto is involved. Layer on a spread like mashed avocado or goat cheese to make things even more decadent. Womack also suggests a bed of rice if you’re looking for something better suited for lunch or dinner.
Insider’s takeaway
Pesto eggs have fast become a delicious breakfast staple that you can easily whip up in the morning. Simply heat a pan, add however much pesto you prefer, crack your egg in the pesto, and cook. Elevate the flavor of your dish even further by adding a spicy topping and a filling base.