Fry Your Eggs In This Spicy Condiment For The Ultimate Flavor Bomb

The incredible, edible egg is one of the most versatile ingredients in the world, and one that is heavily utilized across global cuisines. And there is certainly no shortage of ways to cook this tiny but mighty ingredient. Frying eggs is one of the most popular methods and is certainly something I've done, perhaps, thousands of times in my life. I typically fry my eggs like countless others do: in oil or butter, with the occasional dip in bacon grease. Then, my husband introduced me to eggs fried in chili crisp, and it changed my egg-eating ways forever.

Chili crisp is a fiery red Chinese condiment made of things like fried garlic, chili flake, crunchy soybeans, onions, and lots of other pungent ingredients all tightly packed into oil. It adds depth, heat, crunch, and major umami flavor to anything it touches, including eggs. For fried eggs, you don't need to use any additional oil or butter because chili crisp is already oil-based. Simply add about a tablespoon per egg you're frying to a frying pan. Let the pan heat and swirl the crisp around so it's coating the bottom of the skillet. Crack your egg or eggs and let them fry to your liking. You can season with a pinch of salt, but you'll already have a ton of flavor from the crisp itself. The brand you use will determine the amount of heat that will adhere to your eggs. I find Lao Gan Ma brand to be completely perfect without being too spicy. It happens to be the absolute best chili crisp brand, according to a Takeout taste test.

After discovering the revelation of frying eggs in chili crisp, I stumbled on someone adding heavy cream to the mix. The cream adds another layer of interest by making the egg dish rich and creamy. This is the version I love to lay on top of toasted slices of good sourdough bread. Sliced avocado and some green onions take it over the top on the deliciousness scale. With cream or without, fried chili crisp eggs are great served over rice bowls, on top of crispy hash brown patties, with some sauteed zucchini with onions, and on top of bowls of ramen, in place of the traditional soft-boiled eggs.

These eggs are abundantly savory, so they taste great with lots of vegetables including caramelized mushrooms, grilled asparagus, and roasted broccoli. But serving them with roasted sweet potatoes is a great way to enjoy the contrast between the flavors of sweet, savory, salty, and spicy. Showering a generous amount of real deal parmesan cheese over the eggs is also a great idea.