Make Scrambled Eggs Even Better With Umami-Packed Miso Paste

There are two ways to think about eggs. Are they deliciously versatile or bland, boring, and require ample flavor to make palatable? To the first point, eggs can be made into everything from chili crisp fried eggs to a creamy egg salad recipe or even whipped up into a fluffy meringue. To the second point, plenty of egg-based recipes require having a heavy hand with seasoning or adding numerous other ingredients. 

We'll never know which is to blame for why so many egg recipes exist. However, it's convenient to think that when we're bored of using the same old scrambled eggs recipe, it often takes no more than a single ingredient to transform them. One you might want to try? Miso paste. 

Miso paste is a fermented soybean paste that has been used in Japanese cuisine for over 1,000 years. It's rich in umami thanks to glutamates, an amino acid, and has a slightly sweet, salty, nutty flavor. Adding miso to your scrambled eggs is easy: Combine hot water with a dollop of white miso and stir until the paste dissolves. Whisk that mixture into a few beaten eggs and scramble. The result is a batch of scrambled eggs with a gently enhanced flavor. 

If you're looking to liven up basic scrambled eggs while still keeping their flavor profile on the simple side, then adding miso paste might be the solution. However, there are many different types of miso. White miso paste is a safe bet, as this variety has the mildest flavor. Yellow miso could also work, but its flavor is slightly more pronounced, so you'll want to proceed cautiously. However, avoid using bold red miso, which might overwhelm your scrambled eggs. With a scramble, the idea is to enhance the natural flavor of the eggs, not mask it.

Scrambled eggs require very few ingredients: beaten eggs, seasoning, fat, and liquid, though some claim a good scramble requires nothing more than eggs, fat, and seasoning. Even if you like to add milk or water to scrambled eggs, miso deserves its spot in the limelight. Next time you feel like making a delicious breakfast scramble, don't stop yourself from trying something new. That dollop of miso could be the difference between a boring breakfast and the best scrambled eggs recipe you've ever tasted.