Poached Eggs + Secret Foolproof Tip

Poached eggs are the gourmet (cheff-y) eggs that you see served in nice bistros and fine dining restaurants on breakfast and brunch plates… and you can make these simple eggs perfectly foolproof with 2-minutes of cooking EVERY time. Secret tip in recipe below.

Poached eggs are healthy and easy clean up on a pan or cooking pot. Because they need no oil (so less fat and if that matters to you)… and they’re immersed in a cooking water bath, so there’s no scraping pans like with other types of scrambl-y and side up eggs. And they have a classic presentation on a plate (like this one).

This was a cooking dream of mine where I always wanted to learn how to poach an egg. I always used to scramble eggs because I knew I couldn’t mess that up. They’re already scrambled-mixed.

And then I tried, and discovered that poaching an egg is so easy… as easy as boiling or scrambling eggs. And you can poach an egg successfully with the method below (where it’s not an experiment guessing game).

So, here’s how poached eggs are made in 3-simple steps:

1.Add enough water to a pot to submerge the egg full in. On the stove, heat up the pot of water until you see small bubbles or a light boil.

2.Add about a teaspoon of white vinegar. Then carefully break the egg shell in half and gently and close to the water release the full egg in the water. The more gentle you do this, the less egg separation you will have. So treat your egg like it’s a baby for the brief moments it’s in your hands.

I’ve skipped this step and find that the whites spread out more, so you lose some of the poached egg, but the yolk is unaffected. So no worries, if you skip this step or don’t have any vinegar on hand. No need to run to the grocery store to make eggs. As long as you have the eggs, you’re golden. 🥚

3.Turn to medium heat, then wait for about 2 minutes (depending on your stove heat level) to cook until you see the egg yolk turn a pale translucent light yellow from the vibrant yellow or sunny yellow orange yolk that it started as. ⏲️

Like this one I cut into where you can see the bright egg yolk ready to ooze but won’t until further poked:

When your egg is the right color, you’re ready to lift out of the water gently. It’s easiest to use a slotted large spoon so that the water drips off and you can pull the egg out in one fell swoop without parts of the egg falling out.

Think of your spoon as a large cradle.

And then place on your plate. The two tricks for intact eggs are using a slotted spoon and being super gentle with the eggs is the most important.

And I mentioned poached eggs are easy to clean up. A water pot is much easier to clean than a saute pan with oil that scramble or fried eggs usually use.

Another pro for poached eggs is that they are nutritious because you keep the liquid egg yolk center intact. So you don’t overcook the egg yolk nutrition such as  in a hard boiled egg.

And you can make your poached eggs more jammy (if that’s your jam 😊), by adding another 30-60 seconds of cook time.

But however you decide to cook your eggs, eggs are healthy and one of the energy foods. You may have bit into and eaten a liquid-middle yolk, and felt that immediate burst of energy (like in caffeine) that’s found in B-12 foods like eggs, seafood, and fish.

So nutrient-dense eggs are an egg-cellent food to add to your protein and anti-inflammatory food list.

And you can also make a healthy béarnaise sauce (no butter) for your poached eggs that the Eggs Benedict plate features. And you can add these to your healthy breakfast dishes and plates of brunch waffles. 🧇