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I eat scrambled egg whites every morning, cooked over low or medium heat (they have better taste and texture over low, but sometimes I'm in a hurry) in a non-stick pan with cooking spray. I have to do it this way because I'm on a doctor-supervised protein-sparing modified fast and can't add fats.

I use a good quality silicone spatula to stir/scramble the egg whites, and it often seems like the spatula imparts a taste to them. It's the same taste I've noticed if I use that utensil to stir a a stew or sauce and then lick what I stirred off of the spatula. I've tried multiple silicone spatulas and have always had this problem.

Is there something I'm doing wrong, or a better utensil to use? It seems like I need something fairly flexible since it's scrambled eggs, and it needs to be somewhat soft since the pan is non-stick.

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    Are you sure it's not the cooking spray adding the flavor?
    – Kristina Lopez
    Dec 17, 2013 at 19:02
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    Both have an "off" flavor perceptible to some people, especially when cooking something as bland as egg whites. Can you try it in a microwave without any added lubricant, just to see? Pam type sprays have lecithin and propellants. Those things have a flavor, it's just that those flavors are so mild that most people can't detect them in actual food
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Dec 17, 2013 at 19:09
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    Yep, all cooking sprays
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Dec 17, 2013 at 19:17
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    Not only that, but cooking sprays aren't as fat-free as they would have us believe. The spray is almost all fat. Spray long enough and you might as well be sauteing in butter.
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Dec 17, 2013 at 19:19
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    I agree that cooking an egg with the spray but without using a spatula is the best way to find out if it is really the silicone. Should it turn out that you are indeed sensitive to the silicone and not to the spray, you can just switch to wooden spatulas, they work OK with a non-stick pan. It isn't flexible, but I really don't understand why you'd need flexibility for scrambled eggs.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Dec 17, 2013 at 19:28

2 Answers 2

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Assuming that your spatula and cookware is completely clean of any residual food, I strongly suspect that cooking spray is your issue. If I'm cooking something very bland (like egg white) I won't use cooking sprays for exactly that reason - I taste it too. Do you have a microwave? You may not need any oil at all, although scrambled egg (or egg white) in a microwave without oil can actually be a tricky technique (which I'm pretty sure is covered here). With a high quality, new, non-stick pan you might also be able to get away with a truly negligible amount of oil by dampening a paper towel with vegetable oil and wiping that on the surface. Mimicking the so-called-fat-free-sprays by using a paper towel dampened with vegetable oil might be a much better choice for you.

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  • With a non-stick pan you don't need any oil if you are scrambelling them. Leave it out completely.
    – GdD
    Dec 17, 2013 at 20:11
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    @GdD I agree, but egg whites love to stick. The tiniest amount of a truly neutral oil (not Pam) could save a lot of frustration, not to mention elbow grease.
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Dec 18, 2013 at 14:43
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If it is the silicone spatula, you can find utensils made of wood, plastic, or nylon that should be similarly gentle on your nonstick cookware. You can use just about anything to scramble eggs, so check for whisks, turners, flattish slotted spoons... anything that might be able to break up the egg in the pan.

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