Boiled eggs, soft to hard
Cold eggs into simmering water, a timer and a bowl of iced water. That is the whole method, and it gives the same egg every time.
Why it works
A boiled egg is a lesson in how heat travels. The water is at 100 °C, but the egg cooks from the outside in, so the white sets long before the centre of the yolk warms up. Egg white starts to set at around 62 °C and is firm by about 80 °C. The yolk thickens from about 65 °C and sets fully at around 70 °C. Every stage from runny to chalky is just a question of how far that heat has reached, which is why a few minutes on the clock change the egg so much.
That is also why we lower fridge-cold eggs into water that is already simmering, instead of starting them in cold water. With a cold start, the time the egg takes to cook depends on your pan, your hob and how much water you used, so the same recipe gives a different egg in every kitchen. With a hot start, the only variable is time. The sudden heat also sets the outer white quickly, before it can bond to the thin membrane under the shell. Most cooks who have tested both find hot-start eggs peel more cleanly.
Simmer, do not boil hard. Water cannot get hotter than 100 °C, so a rolling boil does not cook the egg any faster. It just bangs the eggs against each other and the pan, which cracks shells, and the turbulence can toughen the outer white. Bring the water back to a lively simmer after the eggs go in and keep it there.
The iced water at the end is not optional. An egg keeps cooking from its own stored heat for several minutes after it leaves the pan, so without a cold bath a 6-minute egg becomes a 7-minute egg on the worktop. Chilling also firms the white and makes it shrink slightly from the shell, and it stops the grey-green ring that forms when hard-boiled yolks are overcooked or left to cool slowly.
What you need
- Saucepan with a lid: Big enough for the eggs to sit in one layer with at least 2 cm of water over them.
- Slotted spoon or spider: For lowering the eggs in gently and lifting them out quickly.
- Timer: Thirty seconds makes a visible difference to a soft yolk, so time it properly.
- Bowl of iced water: Plenty of ice and cold water, ready before the eggs go in.
- Steamer basket: Only needed if you prefer to steam, which gives the easiest peeling of all.
- Drawing pin or egg pricker: For pricking the wide end if you find your eggs crack often.
Step by step
Bring the water to the boil
Fill the saucepan with enough water to cover the eggs by at least 2 cm and bring it to a full boil. For up to six eggs, a 2 litre pan is about right. A good volume of water matters because it loses less heat when the cold eggs go in, so the timings stay true.
Tip: Salt and vinegar in the water do nothing for flavour or peeling. Leave them out.
Prepare the iced water
While the water heats, half fill a bowl with ice and top it up with cold water. Have it next to the hob. Once the timer goes, there is no time to go looking for ice.
Lower the eggs in gently
Take the eggs straight from the fridge. Turn the heat down so the water is simmering rather than boiling hard, then lower each egg in on a slotted spoon until it rests on the base. Do not drop them in. Start the timer as soon as the last egg goes in.
Tip: To prick the eggs, push a pin about 3 mm into the wide end, where the air pocket sits. It lets expanding air escape and may reduce cracking. Many cooks skip it and lower the eggs carefully instead.
Keep a steady simmer
The water will go quiet when the cold eggs go in. Turn the heat back up until it returns to a lively simmer, with steady bubbles but no violent rolling, then hold it there. With six eggs in 2 litres of water this takes about a minute, and the timings in the table allow for it.
Tip: Cooking more than six eggs? Use a bigger pan with more water, not the same pan crammed full, or the water stays cool for too long.
Time them
Use the table below. For dipping soldiers, 5 to 6 minutes. For the jammy yolk on a salad or ramen, 6 minutes 30 seconds. For devilled eggs or egg mayonnaise, 10 minutes. Adjust for size, temperature and altitude as described further down.
Chill in iced water
When the timer goes, lift the eggs straight into the iced water. Soft and jammy eggs need about 2 minutes if you are eating them warm, or 5 minutes if you are peeling them for later. Hard-boiled eggs need 10 to 15 minutes to cool right through.
Tip: To serve a soft egg warm, chill it for just 30 to 60 seconds. That stops the cooking but leaves the inside hot.
Peel from the wide end
Tap the wide end on the worktop to crack it, then roll the egg gently under your palm so the whole shell crazes into small pieces. Start peeling at the wide end, where the air pocket gives you a gap to get under the membrane. Peel under a thin stream of cold running water or in the bowl of water, which washes away small shards and helps lift the membrane free.
Tip: Getting under the thin membrane is the trick. Once you have it, the shell comes away in large pieces.
Or steam them instead
Bring 2 to 3 cm of water to the boil in a pan with a steamer basket and a lid. Put the cold eggs in the basket, cover and steam for the same times as in the table, then chill in iced water as usual. Steam is at 100 °C and condenses on the shells, so it cooks at almost the same rate as simmering water. The eggs do not knock about, so they rarely crack, and most cooks find them the easiest of all to peel.
Tip: Steaming needs only a little water, so it comes back to temperature faster when you add many eggs at once.
Timing for a large egg straight from the fridge
| Time | White | Yolk |
|---|
| 5 min | Set, but soft and slightly loose near the yolk | Runny and warm throughout, for dipping |
| 6 min | Set and tender | Jammy-soft: thickened at the edge, liquid in the centre |
| 6 min 30 s | Fully set | Jammy: thick and glossy, barely flowing. The ramen egg |
| 7 min | Firm | Soft-set: holds its shape, sticky and fudgy in the middle |
| 8 min | Firm | Just firm: set through, moist, deep yellow centre |
| 9 to 10 min | Firm | Hard-boiled: fully set, pale yellow, still creamy to the bite |
| 11 to 12 min | Firm, slightly rubbery | Hard and crumbly: dry and powdery, good for grating or sieving |
Adjusting for egg size
| Size | Weight | Adjustment |
|---|
| S (small) | Under 53 g | Take off about 1 minute |
| M (medium) | 53 to 63 g | Take off about 30 seconds; use the table as it is for eggs near 63 g |
| L (large) | 63 to 73 g | Use the table; add 15 to 30 seconds for eggs at the heavy end |
| XL (extra large) | 73 g and over | Add 30 seconds to 1 minute |
Troubleshooting
An egg cracked as soon as it went in and white streamed out.
It hit the base of the pan too hard, or the water was boiling violently. Lower each egg on a spoon and turn the water down to a simmer first. If one cracks, leave it in; the leaking white sets almost at once and seals the crack. Pricking the wide end may help if it happens often.
The shell will not come off and takes chunks of white with it.
Very fresh eggs are the usual cause. In a new egg the white is slightly acidic and clings to the membrane; over a week or two carbon dioxide escapes through the shell, the pH rises and the white lets go. Use eggs that are 7 to 10 days old for hard-boiling, start them in hot water or steam, chill them well and peel from the wide end under running water.
There is a grey-green ring around the yolk.
It is iron sulphide, formed when sulphur from the white meets iron in the yolk after long cooking. It is harmless but looks dull and tastes faintly sulphurous. Cook no more than 10 minutes for hard eggs and chill them in iced water straight away.
The white near the yolk was still clear and runny.
The water was too cool, usually because too many cold eggs went into too little water, or the egg was larger than the timing assumed. Use more water, bring it back to a simmer quickly and add 30 seconds for big eggs.
I followed the same time, but my eggs come out different every time.
Check the variables: egg size, fridge-cold or room temperature, how many eggs, how much water and whether you started hot or cold. Fix them all, always fridge-cold eggs into plenty of simmering water, and keep a note of the time that gives you the yolk you like.
The yolk sits right at the edge of the white.
The yolk floats towards the top of the egg as the white thins with age. It does not affect flavour, only devilled eggs. Many cooks store the box on its side the night before, or stir gently for the first minute of cooking; neither is guaranteed.
Soft yolks and storage
A runny or jammy yolk has not reached a temperature that reliably kills salmonella. For most healthy adults the risk is low with fresh eggs from a well-run supply.
- Pregnant women, babies and young children, older people and anyone with a weakened immune system should eat eggs cooked until the yolk is firm, unless national advice says otherwise.
- Refrigerate cooked eggs once they are cold. Eat peeled eggs within 1 to 2 days and unpeeled hard-boiled eggs within a week.
- Do not leave cooked eggs at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
