The Simple Method Rachael Ray Uses To Determine Frittata Portions

We love a good frittata. This eggy dish with Italian roots is so light and fluffy and packed with so many delicious flavors — cheeses, meats, vegetables, even potato chips — it always leaves us wanting more. In fact, a frittata is filled with endless possibilities for culinary creativity. They are great to whip up on for Sunday brunch or a week night dinner when you don't want to fuss, but still want to make something that offers your family some good nutrition. 

But frittatas really get tricky when you have to figure out what pan and how many eggs you need to use to feed your crew. Or if you are sizing down and making one for just you and a friend. You don't want a frittata that's too thin or one that's too thick. Like Goldilocks, you want to get it "just right." Lucky for us, celebrity chef Rachael Ray, who is all about making cooking simple and easy (but also tasty), has a great trick to help us take all the guesswork out of the process of making our frittatas perfect.

Rachael Ray knows her way around a kitchen and how to break down a recipe and make it more accessible for the cooking challenged. No judgment here — we are right behind you. The cook shared on her blog her masterful tip for ensuring you use the right pan and the right number of eggs when you are cooking up your frittata. 

Ray broke it down like this: "One egg per inch of pan is the formula I use, so an 8-inch yields two to three portions, a 12-inch yields five to six portions." The great thing about this formula is that you can scale it up or down based on how many you are feeding and what size pan you have in your cabinets. Sounds easy enough, right? 

Unsure of what type of pan to use when you make your dish? The blog Love and Lemons notes that cast iron pans are the preferred tool for making your frittata. Still, Kitchn suggests as long as it is oven safe, you are in good shape. They do caution that if you use a stainless steel pan you will want to add a little extra olive oil.