I Tried Sesame Fried Eggs and It’s My New Favorite Breakfast

There are some Reels and TikToks out there that just stop me in my tracks — with ideas and recipes so brilliant that I can’t stop thinking about them until I can gather all the ingredients and make them for myself. When I saw a video for sesame fried eggs from my friend Christine Flynn, I made a mental inventory of ingredients and then went to bed knowing I’d be making exactly that for breakfast.

A chef of many (often fabulous) hats, Flynn is the chef at iQ Food Co in Toronto, proprietor of Good Earth Winery in the heart of Niagra, co-author of How to Eat With One Hand, and author of the upcoming cookbook, A Generous Meal: Modern Recipes for Dinner.

There’s no written recipe for these eggs, but the video is pretty straightforward. I know Flynn starts with some Graza olive oil because she tagged them, but it looks like there might be some butter in there too because of the bubbles in the pan. 

Get the oil and butter hot and bubbly over medium-high heat, then sprinkle sesame seeds directly into the pan. Carefully slide an egg on top of the seeds, and allow it to fry for a minute or two. Add another generous sprinkle of sesame seeds on top of the egg, then flip it so that there are toasted sesame seeds on both sides. This should be, basically, an over-easy egg with lots of crunchy texture from the toasted seeds.

Serve the egg on toast or over a schmear of labneh with some sort of heat and lots of fresh herbs. In the video, Flynn uses a jarred chili spread and a mixture of arugula, mint, and dill. I used dried Aleppo pepper flake and a scattering of parsley, dill, and mint, plus a few sumac-pickled onions I had kicking around in the fridge.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so tickled with a new breakfast idea that I actually dreamt about it the night before making it. (The grated egg on avocado toast was my most recent thrill before this one.)

I’m excited to include sesame eggs in my weekly breakfast lineup. I love the way the yolk stays perfectly soft but you still get this incredible texture from the seeds. Amping up that creaminess with some labneh and finishing with chilies and herbs makes this a brunch-worthy dish that’s simple enough to make before heading off to work in the morning. It’s the kind of casual luxury that I’ve come to expect from Flynn and one of the reasons why she’s among my favorite recipe writers.

• Use toasted sesame seeds. They’re already perfectly toasted, so I don’t have to worry about messing up the seeds or not toasting them thoroughly. Using pre-toasted sesame seeds also means you can make this egg sunny-side-up instead of flipping it for an over-easy style egg.
• Try it for dinner! Sesame eggs can add some protein and texture to a bowl of lentil soup or a lemony chickpea stew.
• Drizzle it in hot honey. Hot honey makes everything better, and Flynn makes her own version with the folks at Zing!