How to Cook Eggs: Boiled, Poached, Fried and Scrambled
If you can cook an egg well, you can always make a meal. Eggs are cheap, quick and endlessly useful, and they teach you the most important lesson in cooking: heat control. Here are the four ways I'd teach anyone first.
Why It Matters
Egg proteins set quickly. A little too much heat and the white turns rubbery and the yolk goes chalky. Learning to cook eggs gently teaches you to watch, listen and take the pan off the heat a moment early, and that skill improves everything else you cook.
What You Need
Eggs. Fresh eggs hold their shape best for poaching; eggs a week or so old peel more easily when boiled.
A saucepan for boiling and poaching.
A nonstick frying pan for frying and scrambling.
A slotted spoon, a silicone spatula, a fine-mesh strainer and a bowl of iced water.
Boiled Eggs
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, deep enough to cover the eggs.
Lower the eggs in gently with a spoon, straight from the fridge.
Turn the heat down to a steady simmer and set a timer: 6 minutes for a runny yolk, 8 minutes for jammy, 10 to 11 minutes for hard-boiled.
Lift the eggs into iced water for a few minutes. This stops the cooking and makes them easier to peel.
Peel them under running water, starting at the wide end, where the air pocket is.
Poached Eggs
Bring a deep pan of water to a bare simmer, with small bubbles just breaking the surface. A splash of vinegar helps the white set.
Crack each egg into a fine-mesh strainer first and let the thin, watery white drain away. This is the secret to a neat poached egg.
Tip the egg gently into the water from close to the surface.
Poach for 3 to 4 minutes, until the white is set and the yolk is still soft.
Lift it out with a slotted spoon and drain it on paper towels.
Fried Eggs
Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat with a little butter or oil.
Crack in the egg and leave it alone until the white is set at the edges, about 2 minutes.
For sunny side up, cover the pan for the last minute to set the top of the white. For over easy, flip it gently and cook for 20 to 30 seconds more.
Like crispy, lacy edges? Use a little more oil and a hotter pan, and spoon some of the hot oil over the white.
Scrambled Eggs
Whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt until no streaks of white remain.
Melt a little butter in a nonstick pan over low to medium-low heat.
Add the eggs and stir slowly with a silicone spatula, pushing the curds from the edges to the middle.
Take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly wet. They keep cooking on the plate.
How to Tell It's Right
Boiled: the yolk is exactly how you like it and the shell slips off.
Poached: the white is set all the way round and the yolk wobbles.
Fried: the white is fully set, with no clear jelly left near the yolk.
Scrambled: soft, glossy curds, never dry or watery.
What Can Go Wrong
Grey-green ring around a hard-boiled yolk: the egg was overcooked. Stick to the timer and use an ice bath.
Hard to peel: very fresh eggs are stubborn. Use eggs a week or so old for boiling, and peel them under water.
Poached eggs spread into wisps: the water was bubbling too hard or the eggs were old. Use a bare simmer and the strainer trick.
Rubbery fried eggs: the pan was too hot for too long. Medium heat is plenty.
Dry, tough scrambled eggs: too much heat. Go low and slow, and stop early.
One food-safety note: for young children, older people, anyone who is pregnant or anyone with a weakened immune system, cook eggs until both the white and the yolk are firm.
Practise With These Recipes
Try my Bacon, Egg and Cheese, Shakshuka with Sweet Peppers, Warm Spices and Feta, Classy Deviled Eggs and Spaghetti Carbonara.
The tools I use: a Nonstick Frying Pan, a Saucepan and a Silicone Spatula.
This lesson is part of my Anyone Can Cook Kitchen School. Next lesson: How to Make Stock.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do you boil an egg?
Lowered into boiling water straight from the fridge: 6 minutes for a runny yolk, 8 minutes for jammy and 10 to 11 minutes for hard-boiled. Then straight into iced water.
How do you keep poached eggs from falling apart?
Use fresh eggs, drain off the thin white in a fine-mesh strainer, and keep the water at a bare simmer.
Should I add milk to scrambled eggs?
You don't need to. Low heat and a little butter give you soft, creamy eggs. A splash of milk or cream is fine if you like them that way.
Why do my boiled eggs have a green ring?
They were overcooked. The ring is harmless, but you can avoid it by timing carefully and cooling the eggs in iced water.
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