A good breakfast starts out with some eggs.  

There are a lot of ways to cook eggs and recipes where eggs can be used. 

One of the most common ways used to prepare eggs is to fry the cracked egg in a skillet 

If you’re bored with your regular fried eggs, there are also a lot of exciting ways to fry eggs that you can try out. 

Basted eggs and over easy are two styles of fried eggs. 

The difference between these two styles of fried eggs comes down to how they are prepared. 

In this post, we are going to find out what sets basted eggs and over easy eggs apart. 

Basted eggs vs over easy

Over easy eggs may look like basted eggs; the egg whites are set, and they also have a thin white film over a runny yolk. 

However, unlike basted eggs, over easy eggs are flipped over to cook. 

In basted eggs, the top of egg is cooked by pouring some of the pan drippings over yolk, while in over easy eggs, the egg is flipped over for the top to cook briefly.

Basted eggs description

Basting is a method of cooking that is also used to prepare meats  

For eggs, it involves cooking the yolk by spooning some amounts of melted butter or oil from the pan over the yolk  

Basted eggs start out the same way you would prepare sunny side up eggs. The eggs are cracked directly into the pan, and it doesn’t get flipped over. 

However, unlike sunny side up eggs, the top of the egg is cooked.

This is done by using a spoon to collect some of the oil from the edges of the pan, and the oil is poured over the yolk

By basting the eggs, a white film forms over the top of the yolk.

The yolk may be basted until it sets, or it could remain runny but contained within the white film   

Another type of basting cooks the top of the egg by using steam. This is known as steam basting  

This is done by adding a tablespoon of water to the pan and covering it with the lid. The bottom of the egg is fried while the top of the egg gets steamed. 

Over easy eggs description

“Over” in over easy means the eggs are flipped over in the frying pan. 

In Over easy eggs, both sides of the eggs are cooked by flipping the egg.

However, the yolk is still quite runny in over easy eggs and can be compared to the yolk in sunny side up.

The top of the egg is cooked only for a short period of time that is not enough to set the yolk, but which form a thin white film over the yolk 

Over easy starts with cracking the egg directly into the pan and frying until the egg white sets  

Once the egg white sets, the egg is flipped over. 

The top is cooked for a brief duration that the yolk remains runny, however, it forms a thin film over the egg yolk,  

Other ways of cooking this way are over medium and over hard which is a reference to the doneness of the egg yolk 

Conclusion

Basted eggs and over egg share some similarities with sunny-side-up egg 

Their yolks often don’t set but remain runny. 

Compared to the sunny side up eggs, basted eggs and over easy eggs are cooked on both sides not just at the bottom