Easy Poached Eggs

Try poaching the eggs in milk. Then pour the poached eggs and milk over a bed of toast. Salt to taste. Poor man’s Eggs Benedict.

My favorite way to serve poached eggs is at breakfast atop a scoop of sausage stuffing left over from our Thanksgiving meal!

Method taken from a tv show works for me.
1. Boil a kettle full of water but don’t quite let it boil….I remove the heat when it begins to go quiet!
2. Fill a medium sized saucepan with the almost boiled water and place on minimum heat and add a slug of vinegar (I use white vinegar)
3. Place your whole eggs (still in shell) and roll them around the pan in the water for 15 seconds. This lines the eggs with a film of cooked white which helps the egg slip out cleanly.
4. Stir the water and drop the eggs into the center. I have done three at a time and found that the first will be perfect but the other two will be slightly ‘liver’ shaped as the rotate around the first one.
5. Cook on the low heat for 3 minutes or until moderately firm. The water should never boil and perhaps only ‘fizz’ at most.
6. Remove with slotted spoon and place on kitchen roll to dry before serving.

I enjoyed my first try at poached eggs today, though I wont use the strainer again… Maybe that works better with refrigerated eggs as I used some from the “to wash before going out to the stand” cache (yes it is safe). Thank you for the tutorial with pictures!

I always used milk when making poachd eggs..when bubbles form on the rim of the milk, I dropped the egg in & then ladled the milk over the egg..when done, put egg with a few spoon full of milk over the egg that is placed on a slice of toast. toast..

Hi! I tried to poach the eggs following the original recipe (just in a pan of simmering water, with no other accessories). Turned out great! Thanks a lot for posting these instructions :)

Make sure you prick holes in your egg yolks if you are going to microwave them. They can explode and cause you severe burns. Also, you can add a little white vinegar to your poaching water and it will help the whites come together better when you swirl the vortex. Boil the water, add vinegar, lower heat to simmer, swirl, pour in egg while the water is swirling and then cover for three minutes. Make toast, butter it, and then use a slotted spoon to remove the egg from the water before placing it on the toast. The egg yolk should be slightly solid on the edges and runny in the middle.

Someone tell me what is the difference in taste of an oven baked egg versus a pouched egg in water? The one in water takes a lot less time….3 minutes vs. 15 minutes.

Linde,

My 1st instinct was exactly what you said. I should know better

I’m glad I asked. I was about to cook them at 350! Thanks Stephen!!

Haha, whoever thought poached eggs could be so temperamental? I get stringy whites when I drop the eggs in the water and they look and taste terrible. The swirl method made things worse for me. Back to my Saladmaster poached egg cups…they were very satisfactory but more work.

Hi, Elise…I saw your poached egg post and want to tell you about my NEW way of poaching them….I put an egg in a fine mesh strainer and swirl it around to get rid of the watery stuff that makes that messy film in the water. Then put it into a pan of simmering water and cook till it is to my taste.

I saw this on a video at:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/04/foolproof-poached-eggs-food-lab-recipe.html

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/06/food-lab-foolproof-eggs-benedict-recipe.html

I have made their foolproof Eggs Benedict a half-dozen times now and they are perfect every time. I also love it that these eggs can be poached, placed in ice water and refrigerated. The next morning just drain off the cold water and replace it with hot tap water and let them sit for 5 or more minutes to heat up while you make the foolproof hollandaise sauce.

Poaching eggs in red wine! In grits! You guys rock!! Both ideas are on my ToDo list.
As well as trying browned butter in the microwave!

I like grits with my poached eggs. One day I decided to try poaching the eggs on top of the grits. Worked like a charm! I got the grits going in the pan, then dropped the eggs on the grits, and cooked both together. The eggs stayed where I put them and were perfectly cooked. Well, a little rough on the bottom where they were on the grits, but who cares? Only the one pan to clean and a delicious breakfast! And blender Hollandaise, if you want it really decadent. BTW, I’m the lazy gal who suggested making browned butter in the microwave. Have you tried it yet?

I’ve been trying to learn how to poach eggs, my technique needs some work. I can’t get the white to stay together! Must keep practicing…

I tried the Mason jar ring and had several problems. First, I couldn’t get the poached egg out of the ring and broke the yolk. Second, the egg stick to the bottom of the pan. Third, the ring was really had to clean because of all the crevices.

Couple tips: 1. You need an acid to help hold the egg together. I use vinegar. If somebody says it hurts the taste, they are using too much. You can also try lemon juice if you desire. 2. Here’s a cool trick to help hold egg together. When water is ready, use a tool and start stirring the water until you create a vortex. When the vortex is created get the container holding your egg and slowly pour in egg. It works great at keeping egg intact. Have fun and enjoy.

I know this sounds crazy…but I read recently in a magazine a method to poaching eggs in the microwave and as a poached egg lover/horrible poached egg maker, I was intrigued. Fast forward 15 seconds…I am in heaven. 1 egg, 3 tbsp water and between 15-20 seconds (depending on how runny you like your yolk) and you have an amazing poached egg formed into a perfect circle to boot!!!

I swear I’m still going to try to master this method, but for now I still get to eat eggs benedict at home whenever I want! Now if I could only learn to make hollandaise sauce without an envelope or curdling the eggs!

Take a piece (about nine inches) of saran-wrap (any plastic wrap)

Love that I’m not the only one who knows about that trick, but to take the easy up another notch, use a sandwich bag (the old school kind without the ziploc seal, those will trap air and pop) in a tea cup—its already a pocket! Crack your egg into the baggie, season, tie off with a twist tie nice and cozy around the egg and drop it in the water. No cutting or anything when its done, just let it cool for a second and untwist the twist tie, plus it gives you an easy place to grab the egg to remove from the water, so you can use a slotted spoon OR tongs!

Since I prefer non-runny eggs, I set the timer to 7 minutes and at the 5 minute mark, I cut an “x” in the egg yolk and let it finish from there. I still get a soft egg white, as well as a soft-medium boiled yolk (a firm amber with the outer layer just turned yellow). It’s a way to have the fun of egg-poaching and getting a soft-medium boiled egg without having to peel it!

My family has a bit of a ritual when it comes to poaching eggs. When the water is boiling you start the toaster. then, using a whisk you whirl the water in to a vortex and slip the egg into the middle of the whirlpool. The circular force of the water wraps the white around the egg and sets it like that so the white doesn’t spread out. Then, by the time the toast pops up, the eggs are done!

For those of you concerned with the taste of vinegar in the eggs, simply plunk them into a cold water bath after cooking. This washes away the vinegar and keeps the eggs at the perfect consistency until you are ready to use them. If you want to heat them up before use, place them in warm water for one minute.

My mom always just used a round cookie cutter, or biscuit cutter, they’re round, and tall enough to not let the egg whites run out of the top!

I’m not from the US, but where I am(Singapore) we don’t have poached eggs. From the photo given, it looks just like what we call ‘half-boiled eggs’. Is it the same thing?
For half-boild eggs we boil water, pop the egg in, shell and all, for about 5-10minutes, depending on how hard you want it to be. Then if you can’t crack the egg because its too hot, put it under running water. It won’t affect its heat. Same eggs, different method.

These eggs are definitely hard boiled, as in solid all the way through. An easy way to make hard boiled eggs is in an egg poacher, in which case you poach them for about 10 minutes. It’s easy because you don’t have to peel them. ~Elise

I like to put a poached egg on top of yellow rice with salsa and some shredded cheese on top. The yolk oozes into the rice; very yummy and very cheap. When I’m less destitute, I like to add spicy sausage to the rice. Friends always look askance the first time I feed this to them, but they always like it. I call this ranchos heuvos (ranch style eggs) , but I just sort of assigned that name to it.

Posted by Alex: “Problem: My family and I like eggs from hardly cooked to nearly hard. How does one remove the hardly cooked ones, and then the medium cooked ones, and hold them warm without further cooking while finishing the last two nearly hard ones.” First of all, YES! on your tip for swirling the water before adding eggs to poach. We’re taught this in culinary school as the way to keep whites compact and pretty.

To answer your question; when restaurants need to have different “doneness” ie. rare, medium, well-done, of steaks arriving at a table all at the same time they start cooking the steaks that need the longest cooking time first.

You can use this same principal here by dropping the nearly hard eggs into the water first, then followed 30 seconds later with medium done eggs, then following another 30 seconds with the hardly cooked eggs.

Since you started cooking the hard eggs first, they will cook longer than the eggs that are hardly cooked. If you time this right, all the eggs will finish cooking at exactly together AND will all be cooked to their correct doneness.

Try experimenting with times for how long each egg takes to reach perfection and write each cooking time down (or you might just search google for the answer) then you can set a timer for each egg addition to the pot! And I think that cracking each egg into separate cups will facilitate easy additions, no portioning out whites.

I time my poached eggs by the toaster. push the toaster plunger down, crack an egg into boiling slightly-vinegared water in a non-stick frypan, toast pops up, butter real fast, scoop egg from water with slotted spoon, put on toast. It produces an almost perfect poached egg everytime…whites set, yolk runny. you may have to play a bit with the toaster/egg drop to get your timing down pat.

Am amazed at the many interesting ways to attack an egg for poaching. I’ve been poaching eggs for my family for years with no complaints, but for me it’s still a crap shoot. About half the time and I have had to throw one ot two to the dogs.

My Method: Crack 6 eggs in a small bowl and set aside. Put 2 qts. water in a 3 qt. sauce pan and bring to a medium boil. Add 1/4 cup white vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt. With a slotted spoon, while the water is boiling, start the water swiriling around in a clockwise direction (I’ve not tried counter-clockwise) as fast as it will go without slopping out of the pan. While the water is spinning let it coast while pouring the eggs into the center of the spin (vortex). The rest is routine; I time by inspection.

The spinning water draws the egg whites in toward the yokes and the vinegar helps set the whites more compactly. I don’t know what the salt does. This method produces beautiful compact-looking poached eggs.

This works every time. Problem: My family and I like eggs from hardly cooked to nearly hard. How does one remove the hardly cooked ones, and then the medium cooked ones, and hold them warm without further cooking while finishing the last two nearly hard ones. My “solution” is to put the finished eggs in a hot water holding bath until I am done done, but this usually overcooks the first and second batches, or cools them off, depending on the temperature of the holding bath. I think the secret must be in getting the temperature of the water in the holding bath just right because I have seen this holding method used by chefs in cafeteria lines.

Help, please.

Alex Coyle 11/17/07

Great idea! After I fell in love with eggs benedict, I decided that I needed to learn how to poach eggs, now I need to give making Hollandaise a shot. So I googled for a little bit, and I found this great trick:

First, put some water on to boil. Take a piece of saran wrap and lay it over a coffee mug, pushing the plastic down into it a bit. Then, crack an egg into the saran wrap and tie/twist the ends together tightly. Drop the eggbag into the water, continue to boil ~3 minutes, then take your eggs out with a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon.

I was really skeptical at first, thinking the plastic would boil into pieces, but it didn’t and they turned out perfect.

If it’s microwave-safe plastic wrap, it should work fine. The water never gets above 212°F. ~Elise