Soft-boiled eggs are my new obsession. The whites of the eggs are firm, but the yolk stays silky, creamy, and in a liquid gold state. It’s a little like a cross between butter and melted cheese. They’re seriously divine. And they’re not just for breakfast! I enjoy soft-boiled eggs with toast, as an addition to bowl meals, as a topper for salads or soup (hello, ramen!), or just as a quick snack. I pretty much add soft-boiled eggs to everything I eat, no matter what time of day. Are you ready to see how easy it is?
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Why we Love Soft Boiled Eggs
Soft-boiled eggs are my new obsession. The whites of the eggs are firm, but the yolk stays silky, creamy, and in a liquid gold state. It’s a little like a cross between butter and melted cheese. They’re seriously divine. And they’re not just for breakfast! I enjoy soft-boiled eggs with toast, as an addition to bowl meals, as a topper for salads or soup (hello, ramen!), or just as a quick snack. I pretty much add soft-boiled eggs to everything I eat, no matter what time of day. Are you ready to see how easy it is?
How Long Does it Take TO Soft Boil an Egg?
The short answer is that it takes six minutes to soft boil an egg with fully set white and a liquid yolk, or 3-5 minutes if you prefer softer, slightly unset whites near the yolk. The long answer is that the time for soft boiled eggs also depends on the size of your egg and the technique used to boil the egg.
The recipe below is formulated for large eggs that are still cold from the refrigerator. In the U.S. large eggs weigh approximately 56-62 grams. You can use this method for other-sized eggs, just be aware that you will need to adjust the time up or down, depending on the size of your egg. Other factors that may affect the cooking time include high elevation, the type of cookware used, adding the egg to cold water vs. hot water, and the starting temperature of your egg. Start with six minutes for large eggs and adjust the time until you find the exact amount of time needed to achieve your perfect soft-boiled egg.
The diagram above shows how long to cook large eggs (cold) to achieve soft or hard boiled eggs and everything in between.
- 3-5 minutes: liquid yolk with soft, whites not fully set
- 6 minutes: liquid yolk with fully set whites
- 7 minutes: jammy yolk with outer edges set
- 8 minutes: half set yolk
- 9 minutes: half set yolk
- 10 minutes: mostly set yolk
Using the steaming method, I find 12 minutes to be perfect for a hard boiled egg with a fully set yolk. If you prefer to use a full water bath instead of the steaming method, check out my tutorial for hard boiled eggs.
How to Boil Eggs Fast
Half of the time spent when boiling eggs is just waiting for the water to boil, so I like to use a combination of boiling water and steam. To create the steam you only need one inch of water in the pot, which comes to a boil in just a few quick minutes instead of several minutes for a full pot of water. The steam from the boiling water is then trapped under the lid, it surrounds the egg and cooks the egg just as quickly and evenly as a full pot of water. The quick steaming method allows you to cook your soft-boiled egg in just six minutes, or about the amount of time that it takes to start making your coffee or toast a piece of bread.
If you want to see how to make soft or hard-boiled eggs using a full pot of water, check out my tutorial for how to make hard-boiled eggs.
How to Make Perfect Soft Boil Eggs – Step by Step Instructions
Add one inch of water to a sauce pot. Yes, you only need ONE INCH of water. Use the smallest pot you have that will house the number of eggs you’re making, so they’re in a single layer in the pot. I usually only do one or two eggs at a time, but this same technique can be used for any number of eggs. Place a lid on the pot and bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat. Once boiling, gently place the large egg(s) into the pot. Tongs or a slotted spoon makes this easier to do without burning your finger tips.
After adding the egg(s) to the pot, put the lid back on top, and set a timer for six minutes. The lid holds in the steam, which surrounds the eggs with even heat, cooking them quickly and evenly.
After exactly six minutes, turn off the burner, and use the tongs to transfer the eggs to an ice bath. Allow the eggs to cool until they’re no longer too hot to handle, or let them sit in the ice bath until you’re ready to eat. Just make sure you don’t let them sit at room temperature after steaming, otherwise they will continue to cook with their residual heat, and the yolks will continue to solidify.
Carefully tap the egg on a hard surface to crack the shell, then gently peel it away. You’ll need to be gentle because the inside is still liquid and the egg will be somewhat soft and wobbly. Begin peeling on the fat end, which often has an air-bubble that separates the shell from the whites, and makes an easy spot to separate the two. Give it a quick rinse after removing the shell to get rid of any shell fragments.
And now it’s time for that magic moment… OMG the runny yolk is liquid perfection! *squeal* Just so you can see a close up of the awesome results… The whites are completely solid and the yolk is ALL liquid. How perfect is that? I feel like I won the lottery.
How to Make Perfect Soft Boiled Eggs
Servings 1Ingredients
- 1 large egg, chilled
Instructions
- Add 1 inch of water to a sauce pot, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Once boiling, add an egg (or however many you’d like as long as they are in a single layer in the bottom of the pot), straight from the refrigerator into the pot. Replace the lid and let it continue to boil for exactly six minutes.
- After six minutes, remove the egg(s) from the pot and place them in an ice water bath or run under cool water until they are cool enough to handle. Peel, and enjoy!
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Notes
Nutrition
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How Long do Soft Boiled Eggs Last?
Soft boiled eggs in the shell will last in the refrigerator for about two days. To reheat the refrigerated soft boiled eggs, just repeat the initial cooing process with half the time. Bring about an inch of water to a boil in a small saucepot, add the egg, and let steam for 3 minutes instead of six.
What to Serve with Soft Boiled Eggs
Soft boiled eggs go well with so many different foods that I find myself adding them to almost all my meals (“put an egg on it!”). I add soft boiled eggs to everything from noodles and rice bowls to salads and toast. When you break open that liquid gold yolk is like adding a deliciously rich sauce to your meal. Here are a few recipes where a soft boiled egg can really take your meal to the next level:
This worked perfectly, as I suspected it would. Side-note…pre-ordered the cookbook, Beth, and me and the gf are really loving it so far. Congratulations!
Love soft boiled eggs. I found them in a Bittman book I got for Christmas last year. As soon as you make them you’ll wonder why you ever ate eggs another way!
Hi Beth,
I’ve been following your blog for a while and try out your recipes quite a bit. So far all of them have been fantastic- but it’s the perfect deliciousness of the lovely, gooey, perfectly cooked yolk that has finally spurred me to post a comment. Really fantastic. I can’t wait to have eggs tomorrow morning again!
Your cookbook is on my definitely to order items. I was really happy to see that it’s available through the European Amazon sites!
M
I discovered this method a few weeks ago after a desperate Google search for the “perfect soft-boiled egg.” Now I’m looking for reasons to try them out at every opportunity! Thanks for expanding eggs beyond the breakfast category, Beth!
I am with Lani. The eggs are perfect over torn up buttered toast. Thanks for the recipe and your book is fabulous!
Just made these and had them on the golden Jasmine rice bowl.
I am astonished at how well the egg process worked.
Here’s a quick tip for peeling eggs. Crack the small end of the egg on the counter, then crack the big end, and then gently rub your hands together back and forth with the egg between them. Just hard enough so it keeps cracking. It only takes a couple seconds to peel an egg this way. The shell just slides right off.
Think hands flat together in prayer with an egg between if you are having trouble imagining it.
To prevent the icky uncooked “goo” on the top of your sunny-side up eggs, you can just cook the eggs on low and cover them. The steam cooks it away. Alternately, you can flip them for a second before you plate them, but you risk breakin ’em. Thanks for the recipe!
As a young boy, my mother used to make me soft boiled eggs. I loved them so much that to this day, hard boiled eggs don’t really do it for me. Over the years, I’ve learned a few skills in the kitchen, but the soft boiled egg has always eluded me.
I just tried your method for the first time tonight… perfect! Thanks so much!
You just changed my life forever!! I LOVE soft boiled eggs over torn up toast with salt and pepper, just like my gramma always made. I just made them with your instructions and they. were. *perfect*!!!! One thing, I did crack one of the eggs because my tongs suck, and the yolk cooked a little. So, next time if I crack one ill take it out a minute sooner : )
You rock!! Thank you for this recipe : )
Oh, this takes me way, way back when Mom made us soft boiled eggs and we’d mash them in a bowl with buttered toast that we broke into little pieces.
I’ve never tried to make soft-boiled eggs, always make poached, but now I have to, and then mash them in a bowl with buttered toast pieces.
Hi Beth, these eggs look really simple will definitely give them a try. I would like to serve them like the image with rice and greens, is there a recipe for it on your site? Thanks
No, it’s just something that I improvise. Sometimes I just take some frozen spinach and add that to pre-cooked rice. This particular day I had some left over braised kale. Sometimes I do cubed avocados instead. These Golden Rice Bowls are similar, though.
Thanks Beth I will give it a go.
Funnily enough, I tried this with avocado this weekend (and quinoa instead of rice). I was happy to see this guide, as I usually fail with soft boiled eggs!
Great step by step tutorial, made them this morning and loving them! I have a dumb question though on the rice bowl. Do you just use fresh, cold greens from the fridge? Don’t they get warm and droopy from the eggs and rice? I’m sure it’s a dumb question, just wanted some clarification. Love your site!
No, I had the greens pre-cooked (they were leftovers). A lot of times I’ll just take some frozen spinach from the freezer and add that to the rice before I reheat it in the microwave, though.
I just made two of these eggs. One came out perfectly soft boiled and the other one was cooked all the way through. What gives? The one that ended up hard boiled was the one that I peeled second and then ate second but I can’t imagine in that time it could cook all the way through. They were fresh from my neighbor so maybe that had something to do with it. Thanks for sharing this method!
Wow, that’s the strangest thing I’ve ever heard. Was it the same size? The six minute time is good for “large” eggs. Smaller eggs probably need less time and extra large eggs will need more.
The hard boiled one must have been smaller but not noticeably so. I don’t know. My three year olds loved the soft boiled egg and gobbled it up. They were bummed when the second one was hard. I guess I’ll just have to try out this method again and see what happens!
Nope, it probably cooked through while it sat. I have been making six-minute eggs for breakfast for years and the second one is always hard-boiled if you wait to open it till after you have eaten the first.
By the way, I usually call this a “medium-boiled egg.” Soft-boiled eggs are still runny in the whites and are cooked 3 minutes.
I do this in my pressure cooker on low pressure for 1 min, but it is *awesome* that I can do it on the stove! Thank you Beth!!! You have made my kitchen tasty!