Jacques Pepin's Country Style Omelet

Name: Jacques Pepin's Country Style Omelet
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 3 min
Total time: 6 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 Large Eggs; 1/4 Cup Shredded Cheese; 1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil or Butter; 1/8 tsp Kosher Salt; 1/8 tsp Pepper

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This is the perfect country-style omelet for two. It turns out an omelet with light and fluffy eggs, just the way an omelet should be. Fill it with cheese or other favorite toppings and you have a breakfast fit for a king.

Serves: 1-2 Time: 6 min Cookbook: New Complete Techniques

A classic country style omelet is one of the best breakfast items you can add to your weekly meal plan. In my opinion, it’s the easiest style of omelet to make, and the fillings you can use are endless. Straight out of the pan, the outside of the omelet has a beautifully browned color and the inside is nice and creamy. This breakfast item is simple enough to serve during the mid-week rush when everyone is in a hurry. But it can also be dressed up for a nice sit-down breakfast when you want to slow things down on the weekends.

Omelets are highly versatile and forgiving, allowing you to create a great meal from leftovers in your fridge. Made steak the night before? Hello, steak omelet with BBQ Sauce. Have some leftover cooked chicken? Add marinara sauce and parmesan cheese, and suddenly you’re a master chef serving chicken parm omelets to your family members. The possibilities are endless. Once you master this classic country style omelet, you might just find yourself thinking up new creations every morning.

Jump Ahead:

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
🍳 Ingredients Needed to Make Jacque Pepin’s Country Style Omelet
🍴 Equipment You’ll Need in the Kitchen
🥄 How to Make Jacques Pepin’s Country Style Omelet
♾️ Variations on a Country Style Omelet
❓ Country Style Omelet Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Chef Technique: Once you learn the technique, you’ll never make omelets the same way again. It’s a simple method and will enable you to turn out perfectly-cooked omelets time and time again.

Easy: The method for this recipe remains the same for any type of omelet you want to cook. It’s easy and straightforward, so even a beginning cook can do it well.

Delish: The omelets that this recipe produces are perfect, flavorful, and delicious. This will blow away any restaurant omelet you’ve had in the past and you might opt to make them at home instead of going out once you try it.

Ingredients Needed to Make Jacques Pepin’s Country Style Omelet

To make Jacque’s country style omelet, you’ll need several ingredients you probably have in your fridge right now.

Eggs: You want “large” eggs for this if you’re planning to feed two people.
Shredded Cheese: Choose your favorite cheese. Practically any cheese works well in an omelet.
Butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil: This is to grease the pan and provide a little extra non-stick-ability for the omelet. It also provides an extra layer of flavor to the eggs as they cook. If you want a decadent omelet, add the butter. A bit healthier, add the olive oil, instead.

Keep in mind that the only “must-have” ingredients are eggs. Other than that, everything else is optional. Watching your saturated fat intake? Cut out the butter and oil. Trying to cut down on sodium? Leave out the salt. Incorporate spices and herbs to make your tastebuds tingle and add fillings like fresh veggies instead of cheese for an even healthier omelet.

Equipment You’ll Need in the Kitchen

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Non-Stick Skillet (8-10 inch): A non-stick pan is ideal for recipes like this since it’ll keep the eggs from sticking during the cooking process. We love our ninja foodi pan and we use it every day. If you’re concerned about sticking, a little oil in the bottom can also help provide a non-stick surface when cooking eggs and omelets.
Bowls: You’ll want to mix your egg mixture in a bowl before you add it to the pan. This is one step that all chefs use to ensure their eggs dishes come out with salt and pepper evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
Silicone Spatula: Silicone won’t stick and will slip right under the omelet to help you pull it out.
Whisk or Fork: A whisk is ideal but a fork works in a pinch to whip up your egg mixture and combine the eggs, salt, and pepper.

How to Make Jacques Pepin’s Country Style Omelet

This only takes a few minutes to come together, so you’ll enjoy this tasty creation before you know it.

Prep the pan

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat along with 1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. You’ll know the pan is hot enough when the oil runs across the surface like water. If using butter, place 1 Tbsp of butter in the pan as it heats. The butter will get foamy, and you’ll be ready to cook when the butter has stopped foaming and is just starting to color.

Prep the eggs

While the pan heats, break the eggs on a flat surface. Place the eggs in one bowl and discarded shells in another. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to your eggs.

Note: Breaking eggs on a flat surface instead of the side of your bowl helps prevent eggs shell chips and bacteria from getting into your eggs.

Beat the eggs with a fork or whisk until the egg whites have disappeared into the yolk and the whole combination is nice and yellow.

Cook the eggs

Pour the beaten eggs into the pan. With a silicone spatula, start to bring the cooked parts of the egg into the center of the pan and allow the runny parts to run to the edge of the pan to cook.

Once the eggs are cooked with little to no runniness left, place cheese onto the side of the omelet that is the farthest away from you.

Fold the omelet

To fold the omelet and enclose the fillings, tilt the pan slightly away from you with one hand while scooting your spatula underneath the side with no fillings. Starting in the middle, lift up the omelet with the spatula and fold it over onto the other side of the omelet.

Let sit for thirty seconds to brown the omelet a little more. You can also add a touch more butter or oil to help brown the omelet.

Plate the omelet

It’s time to plate! You have two options. First, you can jiggle the omelet out of the pan and onto a plate.

Second, if you want to get fancy, try picking up the pan with one hand, and placing it at a 75-degree angle with a plate directly in front. In one motion, flip the pan over and the omelet will (ideally) fall out onto the plate slightly rolled up. We highly recommend watching the accompanying video to this recipe if trying this plating method.

Variations on a Country Style Omelet

The variations for what you can add to a country style omelet are endless. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

BBQ Omelet: Add shredded rotisserie chicken, BBQ sauce, and cheddar cheese.

Hawaiian Omelet: Add diced pineapple and ham.

Black and Blu Omelet: Add diced leftover steak, blue cheese, and diced onions.

Banana Bacon Omelet: Add sliced banana and diced, cooked bacon.

Pro tip: Want to serve this omelet with something on the side? Try whipping up a batch of apple scones from Indiana’s baking queen.

Country Style Omelet Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

What fillings can I use for a country style omelet?

Popular omelet fillings include cheese, mushrooms, bell peppers, ham, and bacon. That being said, don’t limit yourself to what other people consider popular. There are an infinite number of omelet fillings, so have some fun and try out your own unique combinations. You never know – you might just create the next big breakfast item.

Can I use all egg whites instead of whole eggs?

Absolutely! The omelet will lose a bit of the richness that the yolks provide but it will still be a delicious meal, especially if fillings are used. Use olive oil instead of butter to make it even healthier!

Are farm-fresh eggs better than storebought for a country style omelet?

Farm fresh eggs will always be better than store-bought any day, but there is nothing wrong with using store-bought if that is what you have on hand. It will be fine either way.

Can I make this ahead and reheat it when I’m ready to eat?

Omelets tend to dry out and the texture will suffer the longer it sits. If that does not bother you, feel free to prep the omelet ahead of time, I have done it and it works. Maybe hit it with some salsa or sour cream to make up for the dryness.