Skillet Poached Eggs

By Genevieve Ko

Skillet Poached Eggs
Sang An for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
Total Time
10 minutes
Rating
4(633)
Notes
Read community notes

There’s a little trick here that makes poaching eggs easy and prevents them from spreading into flat, floppy disks: rolling the eggs in the boiling water in their shells before cracking them into the pan. This technique helps them maintain their shape when they’re cracked into the boiling water. Because the whites don’t spread, six eggs can fit in a skillet comfortably without running into one another, and you can serve a crowd with little effort. You can use this move to poach fewer eggs, too, of course. No matter how many you cook, you’ll end up with silky eggs for toast, a breakfast sandwich or as an accompaniment to bacon, sausage, waffles or pancakes.

Featured in: These Poached Eggs Aren’t Picture-Perfect. That’s What Makes Them Beautiful.

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Ingredients

Yield:2 to 6 servings
  • 2 to 6large eggs
  • 1teaspoon distilled white vinegar
  • Butter and toast, for serving
  • Ham and cheese, for serving (optional)
  • Salt and pepper, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

77 calories; 5 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 0 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 121 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Fill a large skillet, ideally one with straight, tall sides, with water to a depth of 1½ inches. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Using a slotted spoon, carefully place the whole, uncracked eggs in the water and roll them around for 15 to 20 seconds, so they’re evenly warm. Take them out of the skillet. Add the vinegar to the boiling water.

  2. Step 2

    Crack the eggs into the boiling water one at a time, spacing them apart (if they're too hot to the touch, wait a few seconds until they feel OK to handle). Adjust the heat to keep the water steadily and lightly boiling. Let the eggs poach until the whites are opaque and firm, and the yolks are set to your desired doneness, 3 to 6 minutes. Gently nudge the yolk with the spoon to check for doneness: Very runny yolks will wobble like a water balloon; standard runny yolks will feel soft but set; firm yolks will feel solid.

  3. Step 3

    Transfer to paper towels with the slotted spoon and gently pat dry. Butter toast and layer with ham and cheese, if using. Place poached eggs on top, season with salt and pepper, and top with another pat of butter, if you like.

Ratings

4 out of 5
633 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Charles Michener

I have a poached egg (on an English muffin) almost every morning, prepared as suggested byGenevieve Ko, but with a slight difference. I put the un-cracked egg in a mug, then pour boiling water over it and let it sit fully submerged for 10-20 seconds before cracking it into a small measuring cup and slipping it into simmering (never boiling) water. The egg is coddled into shape and the mug is warmed for coffee.

Michael

I have never understood why people put vinegar in the water when poaching eggs -- unless they want the eggs to taste of vinegar. I've poached eggs for breakfast for decades. There are a few tricks: 1. Use very fresh eggs. 2. Use a wide, shallow pan. 3. Don't use too much water -- my measure is up to my second knuckle. 4. Turn off the heat and wait for the bubbles to subside before gently cracking the eggs directly into the water. 5. Cover the pan until done.

Chris B

My minor variation is that I use tarragon vinegar. It imparts a very faint but nice taste (barely a hint) to the eggs.

C Stevens

I've never been able to properly poach an egg until now. Great technique!

Pat.kelly154

Not I. I have been blotting the eggs with paper towels for years; I have been served too many where the water dilutes hollandaise in eggs benedict or any other dish. One could use a kitchen tea towel rather than the paper towels in the interest of the environment.

Merla

Martha Stewart taught me to put my poached egg on the heel of a loaf of bread when removing the egg from the pan. The water drains on to the heel of bread and the egg can then be moved to the toast.

Carlie

We can all do without paper towels.

@obitsman

I like my technique better. Boil 1/2 inch water in small nonstick sauté pan, gingerly crack two eggs, lower heat and cover, cook approx. 2 mins. The bonus here is the eggs will gently stick so you can pour off the remaining water, then use a rubber scraper to dislodge them onto the buttered toast

Kathy S

Just saw Julia Child do this very thing on one of her old shows. She really was our icon.

Suzanne F

Seems like yes, eggs should be room temp. I tried it with refrigerator-cold eggs, and very little happened: only a tiny bit of the whites were even barely warmed after the full 20 seconds. Still had a lot of spread. Not sure if I will try again with warmer eggs.

Robert D

Use a slotted spoon and the water drains completely from the egg.

Allan

My daughter taught me a trick that seems to work well. Create a mini whirlpool in the simmering water with a slotted spoon and slide the raw egg into the center. Don't overdue the velocity of the whirlpool.

Gingero

To make one poached egg just for myself: Crack the egg into a little bowl or cup. In a small saucepan, bring the water and 1 Tbl vinegar to boil. Turn it down to simmer and then use a wooden spoon to swirl the water into a vortex, and slip the egg into the middle of the vortex. It will stay together!

Allan L.

"The egg can be moved" . . . aspirational!

Claude

I use raspberry vinegar instead of plain white. It doesn't have the disagreeable smell and adds a touch of fruit aroma to the eggs.

ShelleyB

Hmmm. not sure what went wrong here. Followed directions exactly, including adding the vinegar. But the whites separated more than my old method of just cracking eggs into simmering water with a tsp of vinegar. Will try again, perhaps taking eggs out of fridge earlier and rolling them around in their shells in the gently boiling water a few seconds longer.

Richard

Confirming this works exactly as described. This is my first time ever successfully poaching half a dozen eggs. All the eggs were neat and uniformly shaped.

Rick S.

I tried this using kosher salt added to the water instead of vinegar, which is usual method. Worked fine, but you must use room temp eggs.

Al

IMHO, this is the secret to proper poached eggs. I recommend water temperature at 205°F for about 3.5-4 minutes for medium.

Ed Fontleroy

This method for keeping the whites together is one of the best cooking tips I've ever received. They looked like I cooked them in an egg poaching cup. Game changer. Thank you.

Joseph Siemienczuk

I’ve tried so many methods through the years, including various gadgets. The climax was when a yolk exploded in my microwave. After that episode, it occurred to me that I never had any trouble in the late 70s and 80s, using the standard method of Julia Child. So I broke out one of her books and applied basically the approach described here. Perfect. Simple. My only add is to submerge the finished eggs in hot tap water (120F) after cooking. This keeps them warm and washes off the vinegar.

Victoria Q

Total breakfast game changer! Been cooking for years, but always stayed away from poached eggs-they scared me some, truth be told. Only changes I made were per previous comments: lemon juice instead of vinegar, drained eggs on heel of bread instead of paper towels. Melted some smoky Cheddar on buttered whole wheat soudough toast and poached the eggs for 6 minutes (don't like runny yolks; these were perfectly jammy). Salt and Espelette red pepper. Truly lovely. Thanks, Genevieve Ko!

Peter

My eggs stick on the bottom of the pan, why?

Diane

directions don't include adding vinegar

SC

super easy and reliable!!

Steve A

Just use a metal ring mold and crack the egg directly in that. Perfect every time.

Mitchel Osman

Best poached egg ever was at Maxwells Plum 61 st. NYC. Perfectly round with yolk spurting out when pierced. Could never duplicate it.

Eggnut

Readers should look at the videos that the NYT produced with Sohla El-Wahlly on eggs. They're a delight. For poaching, use a slotted spoon to put the egg in the water so that the tiny fronds of egg white dont make it into the water, but the heavy thick part of the white does. That keeps your pan tidy and also makes you less likely to panic that the egg is all falling apart. Alternatively, ever so slightly pre cooking the egg in its shell by popping in a mug filled with very hot water works.

Robert

Straining the raw egg in a fine mesh strainer before poaching has the same effect– a tight, round white.

Denis in Boston

Perhaps a better and less labor intensive way to do the eggs is to crack them into a coffee mug (no more than 3 at a time, I think). Boil the water in a Dutch oven with high sides, once boiling add the acid and swirl the water with a table spoon to create a good vortex then unceremoniously dump the eggs into the boiling water. Reduce heat to the lowest possible setting. I like 3.5 minutes for nice runny eggs. Pick the eggs out of the water with a spider or slotted spoon and proceed with the reci

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