For The Best Scrambled Eggs, Make Them Hawaiian Style

Whether you're making scrambled eggs Martha Stewart style or you've made them the same way for five years, there's always something you can switch up, and Hawaiian style might be the change you're looking for. By mixing in a few classic ingredients, such as chopped Spam, Maui onions, Portuguese sausage, coconut milk, soy sauce, or jalapeños, you can take your breakfast from trite to tropical.

The no-brainer for this scramble is Spam. There are many ways to take Spam to the next level, but mixing it into your scramble is the easiest. The canned meat gets crispy in the pan and adds a salty, savory flavor to your breakfast that's hard to beat. Another popular Hawaiian protein choice is Portuguese sausage. In the late 1800s, Portuguese immigrants brought this pork-based sausage to Hawaii, and it quickly became a delicious breakfast staple. With a mild, slightly sweet garlic flavor, it's great for a Hawaiian-style scramble. Cut it into rounds and saute until crispy for best results.

Sweet and savory is a great duo in Hawaiian cuisine, and Maui onions fulfill it well. Maui onions are grown in volcanic soil on the island of Maui (hence the name), and are among the sweetest onion varieties around due to their low sulfur and high sugar content. On the heat, they get nice and soft, and complement the savory flavor of eggs and meat. Maui onions are similar to Vidalia onions, so if you can't find Mauis at your local grocery store, regular Vidalias work.

For fluffy scrambled eggs, many home cooks add a bit of milk before beating. If you want a truly tropical scramble, try swapping regular milk for coconut milk. Using full fat makes your eggs creamy and rich with a slightly nutty flavor. For another fun add-in with a bit of spice, add some diced jalapeño instead. Peppery eggs are a classic, and the subtle spice of jalapeños nicely complements other savory ingredients. A tropical scramble could also do with a bit of soy sauce mixed into the raw eggs before they're scrambled. An umami-forward egg scramble with garlic sausage, a bit of spice, and sweet onions is quite delicious.

Some tropical ingredients are more complementary than others. Some recipes call for pineapple in a scramble, but the tangy fruit might be too much for some palates. It works in a scramble with just Spam, but too many conflicting flavor profiles causes confusion instead of fusion. Note, for instance, that coconut milk may not work well with sausage or jalapeño. Trying each component together before you make a full meal of it is a great way to test flavor profiles without wasting anything you don't want a full plate of.