Soft-Boiled Eggs + A Giveaway!
2012 ended up being the year of the egg for me in the kitchen. I set out to find the perfect way to make soft-boiled eggs and I failed miserably.
I failed so miserably that I promised to never try them again. I relinquished myself to only having poached eggs in my own kitchen.
Then last month I opened the latest Cook’s Illustrated to find, apparently, the perfect way to cook soft-boiled eggs.
As you might imagine, I was very skeptical. But after reading the thousands of words that were devoted to finding and testing all the egg-cooking methods, I decided I had to try it.
I did so and I almost cried when my eggs came out. They were perfect. I’ve replicated the results a few times since and so I figured I should write something about it.
As a bonus, I’m partnering with the people over at Cook’s Illustrated to do a cool giveaway at the end of this post! They are the ones who get all the credit for this method and its awesomeness.
Soft-boiled Eggs
Yield: Bunches of eggs
Prep Time:
Total Time:
Ingredients:
Eggs
Salt
Pepper
Directions:
1) Bring about 1/2 inch of water to a boil over medium high heat in a pot big enough to hold your eggs in one layer.
2) When water is boiling, add eggs straight from the fridge.
3) Cover pot and let cook for 6 1/2 minutes exactly.
4) Uncover pot and run cold water over eggs for 30 seconds.
5) Peel eggs starting with the larger end of the egg and slowly working up the egg.
6) Eat eggs immediately on whatever you want or store them for later!
Big props to Andrea Geary at Cook's Illustrated for coming up with this method.
Cooking the Eggs
For this method to work, the only things you need to remember when picking out the eggs are:
1) Get large or extra large eggs.
2) Move them straight from the fridge to the hot water. You don’t want them to come to room temperature before cooking.
Also, older eggs seem to be easier to peel after cooking. That said, I had good results peeling these eggs and I cooked them the same day I bought them. If they are fresher though, you’ll need a bit more patience while you peel.
Heaven or hell.
Cooking The Eggs
There are a million variables that go into the soft-boiled egg and I won’t reproduce the crazy analysis that went into their article. You should just go buy it if you care.
In short, the main issue with reproducing good soft-boiled eggs is that when you put the eggs in water, the water decreases in temperature and takes a while to return to the right temperature. So depending on the pot you are using, how many eggs you’re cooking, and your water levels, you can get pretty drastic results.
They removed this variable by using a very small amount of water. They recommend about a 1/2 inch of water in the pan. What this means is that you are basically steaming the eggs instead of boiling them and the little amount of water in the pan will rapidly return to a boil regardless of how many eggs you cook.
Very low water level.
I’m fairly confident that this method will work for anybody because it worked for me with one egg, three eggs, and six eggs on the very first try.
The chances of that happening randomly are approximately zero.
The method is really very easy.
Add 1/2 inch of water to your pan and bring it to a rapid boil over medium-high heat. Once it’s boiling, add in your eggs in a single layer in the pan.
Cover the lid, return the pan to the heat, and set a timer for exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds. 390 seconds. No more. No less.
The pan should almost immediately return to a simmer which is what you want.
390 seconds.
When the timer goes off, remove the lid and immediately run the eggs under cold water for thirty seconds.
This completely stops the cooking.
Cool it down.
At this point the eggs are done!
You can eat them immediately or save them for later. The whites will be nicely set and the yolks still runny.
Peeling the Eggs
Peeling eggs is always stressful. Especially if you know you’ve cooked them perfectly, it sucks to lose eggs because you can’t peel them.
To be honest, I don’t think there’s a 100% way to make sure you can peel the eggs right every time. I even tried the blow method which works great on hard-boiled eggs but leaves you with a handful of runny yolks for these.
The best chance you have is to make sure you are using slightly older eggs and to start cracking them at the larger end of the egg.
Start at the big bottom.
There’s a little air bubble that is normally on that end and you can use that to get a good start peeling. Work slowly and use the membrane around the egg to help lift the shell away from the egg.
It takes a bit of patience but I can usually peel one in about a minute or less.
Slow going.
To be honest, not all of my eggs peeled perfectly. One had some cracks but still very edible and one was a complete loss. Out of ten I tried from two different dozens of eggs (not a large sample size I realize), I peeled seven that I would consider pretty perfect.
Like this one.
Perfect!
These go well on pretty much anything. Serve them on toast, salads, or in soups.
They are just plain excellent.
These were beyond good.
The Giveaway
This whole egg experience reminded me how amazing Cook’s Illustrated is. If you’re serious about becoming a good home cook, I’m not sure that there’s a better resource out there to deliver great recipes.
To that end, I’m giving away three one-year subscriptions to the printed Cook’s Illustrated publication. Because they are awesome, Cook’s Illustrated is also giving away three subscriptions to the online site where you can get access to tons of recipes and videos.
Six winners will be chosen in total! Winners will be picked on the morning of December 24th and announced on this post. (If you can’t see the below widget because you have javascript disabled, you can also enter the giveaway simply by leaving a comment on this post!)
Winners!
Printed subscription winners:
Sarah Lustberg (facebook)
Starletta Schipp (Twitter)
Sara Chatfield (comment)
Online Subscription winners:
Stacey Gold (Google+)
Priyanka Anand (comment)
Kate Bigam (Twitter)
Thanks everyone for reading and happy holidays!
http://bhas4.blogspot.com/ - "What's up, just wanted to mention, I loved this blog post. It was help..."
Anne-Marie - "This looks awesome! My husband and I are going camping this weekend, a..."
Claire - "As a lover of all things Cajun (I lived in Louisiana for several years..."
Marc - "This was great. I had no tahini so used peanut butter. Thanks for shar..."
Rob P - "I prefer cast iron pizza to using a stone. I have skillets but I also ..."
Whitney @ The Newlywed Chefs - "Nick, you've done your job well! I've been reminded that I need to mak..."
When I read that the contest would include internet subscriptions, I had high hopes that the winners would not be restricted to US residents… Alas, according to the full rules, not true. :(
Cathy from Canada
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Nick replied: — December 23rd, 2012 @ 10:26 am
Cathy, I think that’s just the standard language for punchtab. In this case though, I don’t see why international readers couldn’t be in the giveaway. You’re signed up as far as I’m concerned!
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The widget doesn’t seem to work on my phone, but I’d still love to be entered in the contest. Cook’s Illustrated is such an institution, and I love the artwork.
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Enter me!
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Yes I have tried soft boils eggs but when I tired to make them they turned out more like mush.
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no, i usually just eat poached, but they look so good!
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Please enter me.
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Have never tried a soft boiled but love poached so I think I should!
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I haven’t tried soft-boiled eggs, but I have used some Cooks Illustrated recipes that were fabulous!
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Love soft boiled eggs. Need to try out this method… Sounds like a good Christmas morning breakfast to me.
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I haven’t tried them before- in fact, I only just started liking eggs in general a few months ago! (Scrambled mostly).
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Yes I have tried soft boils eggs but when I tired to make them it looked more like eggslaughterville. Ugh.
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I love soft-boiled eggs!
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The perfect breakfast!
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They look like the eggs my grandmother used to make for me…I will now need to make these myself!
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Actually, no. I’m too intimidated to cook eggs usually but they always look awesome in magazines, lol.
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Off to the store to buy some eggs, thanks Nick.
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Merry Christmas!!!! Eggs look perfect aaaaaaaaannd, thank you for the contest! I’ve heard many wonderful things about Cook’s Illustrated! :)
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Interesting post, will have to try this. Thanks for the giveaway.
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almost forgot – yes, I have tried soft boiled eggs. Loooooong time ago!
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There is a hollow membrane bubble located at the large or wide end of an egg. If you take a pin (I use a thumb tack or push pin) and punch a hole into the wide end of the egg just through the shell (about 1/16th inch) without piercing all the way through the membrane this will allow the egg to expand and keep the shell from cracking while it cooks.
If you cannot see the widget on an android phone or tab open your browser, go to settings, touch advanced or advanced settings and make sure that Java is enabled.
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I love soft boiled eggs!
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Thanks for the tips. I may have to try this next week.
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Haven’t tried soft boiled yet, but they do look pretty darn good!
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I have never tried them before but I love eggs so I’m sure they’re awesome!
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MmmMmmm. Soft boiled eggs. I have several Cook’s Illustrated cookbooks. Access to their onsite library of recipes would be awesome!
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Would love this give away! The eggs look perfect!
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I will try this method. Would also like to participate in this giveaway. Bev
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Not crazy about runny yoke so no soft boiled eggs for me.
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Great Nick another job well done Merry Christmas happy healthy new year too you and Becky
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I used to be able to watch America’s Test Kitchen on a local PBS station, but after moving 1000 miles, I no longer can. Would love to have a subscription to Cook’s Illustrated.
drainbamaged.gyzmo at gmail.com
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Definitely going to try this. A method that provides consistent results is what I have been looking for. I LOVE Cook’s Illustrated but haven’t been able to splurge on a subscription yet. Please enter my name. Thank you!
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Love soft boiled eggs! I always refer to is at the “6 minute Egg”. Cook’s Illustrated has never let me down! Would love the chance to win!
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Have you ever coddled and egg?
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Nick replied: — December 23rd, 2012 @ 10:28 am
Yep! I coddle eggs a lot when I make dressings like Caesar salad dressing.
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Yes, soft boiled eggs are the absolute best!
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Never tried, but I love runny yolks! Now I have to try.
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never tried softboiled eggs.. sounds good.
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I love poached eggs but have never tried soft-boiled eggs!
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Never tried soft boiled eggs but your post made me want to.
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I have not tried eggs this way… thanks.
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I have never tried them but my husband loves them.
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No and I don’t think they’re my bag of tea :)
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I’ve tried them, but they’re hard to do right, so I can’t wait to try this method!
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Haven’t tried them yet, though this method looks totally doable!
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I’ve never tried to make soft boiled eggs, but I’m going to try today!
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Love, love, love runny eggs. This looks great and we will be trying them over the holidays. Thanks a ton, Nick, you always have interesting recipes and wonderful ideas.
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I am a good cook and I too get frustrated with eggs. Merry Christmas to you and your wife. Stay safe and warm.
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Oh. My. Goodness!!! Leave it to Cook’s Illustrated to make it foolproof. Had a lovely breakfast this morning of perfectly cooked, incredible edible soft-boiled eggs. EGGSELENT!!!!!
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This may convert me to soft boiled eggs – it looks so simple and fool proof.
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My grandma use to make soft boiled eggs when I used to sleep over at her house as a little girl, but I haven’t had one since!
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I have never had any recipe fail that’s from Cook’s Illustrated or America’s Test Kitchen. I hope I win the giveaway. My dad used to make me soft boiled eggs for breakfast. They were always perfect.
Have a very Merry Christmas
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I’ve never tried soft-boiled eggs, but I think my boyfriend will love these!
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I’ve only ever had soft-boiled eggs at restaurants…I thought they’d be too difficult to make at home. But mine just came out great!
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Nick replied: — December 23rd, 2012 @ 10:23 am
Thanks for trying them Matt! Glad they worked out!
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Yep, I love soft boiled eggs! :)
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I love how precise you were in describing all this. Great pictures as well. I am going to try them soon. Thanks for all the dedication to detail.
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I haven’t, but they look awesome. My husband would definitely not like them though.
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My subscription is running out. Sure could use a renewal.
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I love soft-boiled eggs and have tried many times to make them as my mother did with no luck. I simply gave up but after seeing this method I will try again and hope for the best. Thanks for all the work you do, it is really enjoyed and used. Keep up the good work!
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I’ve avoided soft boiled and poached eggs for years. The Chang egg method has conquered my fear of poaching. Now I can’t wait to try this new method for sof boiled eggs.
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Never tried it…if it’s this easy, I may have to, though.
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Haven’t tried it – but also saw it in cooks illustrated and my mouth is watering – cant wait!
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Never have tried… but now I seriously want to! That breakfast with the toast and avocado looks like a good hangover cure…
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I have not tried soft boiled eggs but they look like they’d be right up my alley!
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I’d love a subscription!
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I don’t think I’ve ever had a soft-boiled egg, but I like poached eggs with the yolk still runny.
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Love soft-boiled eggs! I use a teaspoon to peel, seems to work, even with fresher eggs!
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Is it as cold up there in WY as down here on the western slope? It is frigid!
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Nick replied: — December 23rd, 2012 @ 10:24 am
Colder!
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I’ve never tried soft cooked eggs but I should. Anything by Cook’s Illustrated always turns out right. Hopefully I’ll win one of the subscriptions!
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I’d love a subscription.
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Thank you for a chance to win and the wonderful tips on the eggs. I can not wait to try them!!!
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Yes! I love soft boiled eggs! Especially with toast to mop up the creamy yolk.
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“Have you ever tried soft-boiled eggs?”
I love them on toast.
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I haven’t ever tried them, but my husband has often dreamed about them. He’ll be so excited to try this!
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I want to try these!
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So satisfying to conquer a tough technique at last – nice work!
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I’ve never tried soft boiled for 2 reasons. 1. I suck at peeling eggs. 2. I get the heebs over liquidy whites. I’m convinced to try this method though because runny yolks are food of the Gods! ;-)
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Cathy replied: — December 24th, 2012 @ 6:18 am
You don’t have to peel soft cooked eggs to eat them. That is what egg cups are for. Stand your cooked egg up in a small cup or shot glass with the narrow point up. Take a knife (dinner knife will do) and lop the top off (about 1/2″ down). Use a small spoon (coffee spoon) to scoop out the goodness or dip toast strips into the yolk or scoop the whole thing out onto your plate or better, onto toast. I have never tried to peel a soft cooked egg, we only ate them in cups and we’ve always had special small spoons in our house. /Cathy
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Yes, and I love them! (Especially cracked eggs, so I don’t have to peel them.)
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I have never tried to soft boil eggs…but I’ve wanted to. I think maybe after this great description “how-to”….I may give it a try.
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Love, love soft boiled eggs. Hit and miss though as to how soft they will be, so I will definitely try the exact timing here.
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From time to time I pick it up at the store when I see the magazine; it always has good information and recipes.
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I LOVE soft boiled eggs, but every time I make them they are undercooked and then I stick them in the microwave too long to firm them up and I am very disappointed. I look forward to trying this!
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Will definitely try this method when I return home after Christmas (in-laws in Chitown). You are the first to mention that little air pocket on the wide end of the egg (of any blogs or cookbooks or shows I’ve seen). A friend taught me a trick to peel a boiled egg easily; not sure if it’s too rough on a softboiled egg, but worth a try: Give the egg a sharp/quick blow to the wide end on the counter. This will force that pocket of air towards the narrow end, separating the membrane from the egg. Then gently roll the egg on its side to crack the shell (between hands gives more control over the pressure). Begin peeling on wide end as you mention. I have been able to perfectly peel eggs the majority of times. Also, the cold-water bath immediately after cooking is a must. Happy Holidays! Yes, I’d love to win a subscription!
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Nick replied: — December 23rd, 2012 @ 10:25 am
Interesting! I worry though that with soft-boiled eggs you would end up with runny yolk all over your counter… Sounds like it would work well for hard-boiled egs though!
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My mom told me a great trick for getting the shell off…I tried it and it worked great.
If you add just a half teaspoon of baking soda to the water, the shell will come right off when you try to peel it!
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I have never tried to cook soft boiled eggs. Maybe now I will. I would love one of those subscriptions.
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Thank-You so much for this helpful Recipe. I must try this very soon. Great giveaway. I hope that you and yours have Wonderful Holidays!!!
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no, i’ve never tried one.
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I’ve had the same love/hate relationship with making soft boiled eggs: exact timing? what water temperature? what volume of water? cracking issues, etc.
I’ve found that steaming the eggs works amazing – the temperature is pretty consistent, the amount of water is a non-issue, there are no bubbles so less prone to cracking.
Slowly place them in your steamer basket when it’s hot
A medium to large egg -
- 6 minutes yields a perfect soft boiled egg,
- 7.5 minutes yields a perfect egg “mollet” (not runny, but moist yolk) which is great for salads.
Drop in ice water to stop cooking.
Give it a try. Egg sizes vary from country to country, so I would experiment the first time with 3 eggs at different intervals.
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I use one of those electric egg thingys and they come out perfect every time! May be cheating, but it works every time. Love those little gadgets!!!
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Cooks illustrated is an amazing resource. The time and energy they put into researching their recipes is pretty much second to none. Ive messed up Softboiled (or hard boiled or poached) eggs enough times that I normally don’t even bother anymore, but this technique sounds pretty solid so I’ll give it a go
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I’ve never tried soft boiling eggs myself, but I love them and always order them when I go to restaurants. Perhaps I won’t need to do that anymore after I try this method! Thanks for the advice (both this time and all the cooking advice you’ve given before).
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Very nice method. We “boil” eggs like that in a steamer in hotels – so the method is right on the mark.
When I was 10, I lived with my Grandfather and great-Grandmother. She made the most awesome soft-boiled eggs ever! I still remember the egg cups and cracking into one in the morning with the toast. Priceless!
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I have never tried to make a soft-boiled egg.
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I have never made soft-boiled eggs before…but I am going to try!!
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I’ve had them but I’m not a huge fan. It’s likely because they’ve come as a result of under-cooking hard boiled eggs.
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I haven’t tried soft-boiled eggs because I always thought they were rediculously hard to get right..until I read the CI article!
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My mom used to make soft-boiled eggs at least two or three times a week when I was growing up. I have tried about a gazillion times and have never really had much success. I will definitely be giving this a try…maybe tomorrow or Christmas morning. Thanks again for all your amazing information. Merry Christmas to you.
Pamela
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Yes, I love soft boiled eggs. Looking forward to trying this method!
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Never had one but would love to try out this method!
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Love Cook’s Illustrated and Macheesmo! Those eggs look delish~
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I told you this would work!! So glad you have a method to feed your cravings for soft boiled eggs!! I know I’ve eaten more eggs this way since I found this article in Cooks than I ever did before…
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Never tried them before, Not a huge fan of eggs to be honest
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I’ve never tried to make them.
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Love, Love, Love Cook’s Illustrated! This makes me feel like I could really poach an egg… WOW! :)
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LOL… This is perfect! My wonderful husband of 34 years is now wanting to learn to cook! So Please, a subscription to Cooks Illustrated… would be awsome. Merry Christmas!
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I haven’t tried making soft-boiled eggs but my German grandmother would make them for me all the time when I was little. I’ve just learned how to poach them, but this will be the next thing I try!
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Those definately look good enough to eat! Love CI.
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My grandmother used to serve soft boiled eggs and toast for breakfast. I thought they were weird when I was a kid, but your post has me seriously reconsidering because I would love them now!
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These soft-boiled eggs and your English muffins where a huge hit in my house today!
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When we used to eat soft-boiled eggs regularly when I was a kid, we never shelled them. We just cracked the shell, broke them in half, and used a spoon to scoop out the innerds. I think this is the less-elegant variation of what I see in British TV shows when the upper-class are eating their eggs out of egg cups.
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Hi, Love your blog:) I can’t wait to try this method for soft boiled eggs. Do you turn off the burner when you cover the pan? Thanks:)
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Nick replied: — December 26th, 2012 @ 3:57 pm
Nope! Keep it simmering!
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Robyn replied: — December 26th, 2012 @ 5:06 pm
Thanks Nick:)
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Hi, Nick. I know this isn’t the proper place to ask, but I haven’t heard anything about the new book and the recipe testing. I wanted to make sure I somehow didn’t miss any emails you may have sent out, though. Merry Christmas!
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Nick replied: — December 26th, 2012 @ 3:54 pm
Hey Man! No problem. I have you down for the pulled pork chapter and I’m not quite ready for that to be tested… I’m kind of doing the testing in waves so I can keep up. I think I’ll send out that chapter in the next month or so. Thanks again!
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I made a few of these last night and they turned out perfect. Now I must say I do not like soft boiled eggs at all…but…I’ve seen many people saying they are hard to make or there are special tricks so I had to see if I could even do it! You never know when you will have a guest who prefers them that way! So although I don’t like them…this recipe/method is perfect for them :)
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I love softboiled eggs but they are hard to make just right – I’ll definitely try the 390 second rule!! My grandmother was notorious for peeling half the egg away with the shell when I was growing up, and for a lifelong egg lover like myself it was so painful to watch!! lol
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Absolutely perfect eggs! We eat soft-boiled eggs a lot and although cooking them has never been a problem, getting them perfect every time didn’t always happen. But this method, wow, that was a lovely egg! We make them to eat out of an egg cup and I purposely make them early so that I can put little hand-knit sweaters on them to keep them warm until everyone comes to the table! Thanks for the method!
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These came out perfect! All of them peeled perfectly and the eggs I cooked were only 4-5 days old, max, since I raise my own chickens. I have never been able to get soft boiled eggs right – I was about to break down and get one of those egg cookers (the West Bend recommended in CI), but no more! Thanks for the how-to!
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It’s Saturday and the first day of my spring break! I love being able to sleep in. I’m trying this recipe this morning. Last night I baked some ciabatta. I think the two will go well together!
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Wow! These were PERFECT! And really, these were less trouble than using the silicone cups for poached eggs. I may make them this way all the time. Thanks for another great recipe!
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I have an egg timer like this : http://www.crateandbarrel.com/egg-timer/s353892
You plunk it in the water and the edges go dark then you take it out when the dark reaches the tab.
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Wow, I do a lot of home cooking and have had only limited success with soft boiled eggs as sometimes there were over cooked and other times to soft runny whites. I was skeptical when I came across the above instruction on how to cook soft boiled eggs and to only add a half inch water just seemed to easy. I used 4 large eggs I had in the refrigerator for about a week and followed the instruction exactly except maybe the 6 minute 30 seconds as I had no timer, I just took the eggs off the stove when the clock hit 6 minutes and rinsed them in cold water right away as instructed, I was amazed at first on how each egg peeled so easily and all 4 came out perfect no ruined eggs :) My wife and could only mumble between bites on how perfect the eggs came out as the egg whites were firm, but the yolk still soft!
I plan on using the same method the next time I plan on doing deviled eggs, but cook a little longer as the eggs came out perfectly shaped and the old way of boiling you get what you get lol!
Thank you so much
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Great recipe. A chef friend told me that putting a little vinegar in the boiling water for hard/soft boiled eggs makes the peel easily – seems to work!
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A teaspoon works very well to peel boiled eggs. Crack the egg all around, insert teaspoon at the flatter end of the egg, work it in, down the side, keeping it just under the shell. Rotate the egg til it’s free of the shell.
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I love this recipe except for one thing I noticed. I’ve tried making it twice, the first time was perfectly the second time not so much. Your instructions don’t say whether to keep it boiling or turn it off during the 6 mins.
Do you keep the water boiling or turn it off completely?
Thanks!
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Nick replied: — April 26th, 2013 @ 7:55 am
Heya! I see what you mean. That is a bit confusing. After you add the eggs and cover them, put the pot back over the heat. IT should be constantly simmering. Once the 6.5 minutes are over, then turn off the heat and run it under cold water to stop the cooking.
Good luck!!
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This worked! Thanks for the instructions
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soft boiled eggs are my comfort food. my mom makes the perfect soft boiled eggs but ive never been able to master them! now that im an adult, mom doesn’t make me eggies as much as she use to. im definitely trying this method! I have a friend that got a few chickens this spring and will have fresh eggs. maybe 2013 will be MY year of the egg!
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