With egg prices on the rise, it's more important than ever to get the cooking times right when boiling eggs. Luckily, I did this research many years ago. The principles still apply.
Whether you like them soft-boiled or hard boiled, this recipe explains all the factors involved in making perfectly boiled eggs for your setup. As a bonus, I've also tested several methods of making eggs easier to peel and have come up with the best method for peeling boiled eggs.
If you've ever boiled an egg you've probably run into problems at one time or another. Two challenges generally arise: cooking the egg and peeling the egg. You might have found your eggs under/overcooked, or when you tried to peel the egg it ended up looking like the surface of the moon.
The good news is that both of these problems are easily resolved with a little understanding of the science of eggs. Read on and you'll be boiling expertly oval eggs whether you're going for a perfect hard boiled egg or a gooey soft cooked one.
Jump to:
- How to Choose Eggs
- Setting Temperatures of Yolks and Albumen
- How Do You Cook the Perfect Boiled Egg?
- Boiled Egg Variables
- How Many Minutes for Hard-boiled Eggs? How Many Minutes for Soft-boiled eggs?
- What's The Best Way to Peel an Egg?
- Recipes Using Boiled Eggs
- Master Other Perfect Eggs
- Recipe
- Perfect Boiled Eggs
- Comments
How to Choose Eggs
As with most things, the quality of the ingredients will determine the quality of the results, so start with the best quality eggs you can afford. You won't remember the extra dollar you spent when you see that perfect jammy egg on your plate. And well-fed chickens produce tastier eggs with thicker shells that are easier to peel.
Another thing to consider when selecting an egg is the color of the yolk. Chickens that feast on a diet rich in beta carotene (red chili peppers, marigolds, etc.) lay eggs with strikingly orange yolks. In a blind tasting, you won't be able to taste the difference, but the visual impact makes most people feel like the eggs taste better. Some U.S. grocery chains are marketing eggs with darker yolks, so look for those if you want results that look like mine.
My method will make any egg easier to peel, but starting with older eggs gives you a head start. When peeling an egg, you remove two layers, including a hard shell and a thin inner membrane. In a freshly laid egg, the membrane is tightly adhered to the albumin (egg white), and you can see this if you break open a raw egg and the egg white sticks to the shell. As an egg ages, albumin loses CO2, which raises its pH and makes it thinner. This is bad for dishes like poached eggs, where you want the egg white to hold together in the water, but it's good for boiled eggs because it's not able to adhere to the soft membrane, making it easier to peel. The downside of using older eggs is that they also tend to have a bigger air pocket inside, which gives the boiled eggs a big crater on one side after you've boiled and peeled them.
Finally, you want to look for eggs that are similar in size. In grocery stores, eggs are usually sorted by size and labeled, so you don't have to think about this too much, but if you raise chickens or you get your eggs from a farm stand, it's worth remembering that different-sized eggs will take different amounts of time to cook.
Setting Temperatures of Yolks and Albumen
Egg yolks set at a much lower temperature than egg whites (70 degrees C vs 80 degrees C). Since the heat source (boiling water) is outside the egg, it cooks from the outside in. In theory, this means that by the time yolk is set, the white has also reached its higher setting temperature.
Since the boiling water is much hotter than the setting temperature of the egg, it's very easy to zoom past the desired temperature. Because the temperature is rising so fast, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when to stop the cooking to get the egg exactly how you like it, whether you're going for runny yolks or firm yolks.
The problem with most boiled egg instructions is that they create a formula (put eggs in cold water, bring to boil, boil for X minutes) assuming you put the exact same size and temperature of egg into the same amount of water in the same pan on the same stove… Well, you get the idea.
How Do You Cook the Perfect Boiled Egg?
The best way to figure out what works for your setup is to boil a dozen eggs and start pulling the eggs out of the water in thirty-second increments after about 3 minutes. But who wants to waste that many eggs? Well, luckily I have a friend that farms eggs and I've been busy experimenting in my lab to come up with an (almost) foolproof method of boiling eggs.
Since the main problem with boiling an egg is the narrow window of time during which the egg is perfect, I asked myself how I could slow the cooking down to expand that window of perfection. I found my answer in the way I cook my chicken for chicken soup
This is how I adapted the technique for eggs. Put refrigerated eggs in a heavy bottomed pot and cover with cold tap water so they're covered by about 1" (2.5cm) of water. Bring the water to a full boil (100 degrees C) over high heat, and then remove the pot from the heat. Let the eggs cook the rest of the way using the residual heat in the water. As the temperature of the egg rises, the temperature of the water will fall, which will give you a much wider window when your egg is perfectly cooked.
Boiled Egg Variables
Before I give you cooking times for the eggs though, you need to know that there are many other factors that will affect the cooking time of the egg and I've outlined some of the major ones below along with what I did in my kitchen.
- Initial egg temperature - An egg right out of the fridge will take longer to cook than an egg at room temperature. But since room temperature varies by season, and most people have their fridges set to around the same temperature. I decided to develop my method using eggs straight out of the fridge.
- Egg size - Size greatly effects the cooking time; the bigger the egg, the longer it will take to cook. I did all my experiments with large eggs (not extra large or jumbo)
- Egg to water ratio - The more water you use relative to the number of eggs, the longer it will take to boil and the longer it will retain heat. Too much water and your eggs will cook too fast, too little and the temperature will fall too fast, resulting in uncooked eggs. Ideally, you'd measure out a certain amount of water for each egg you're boiling. But that seems a little extreme for something so simple. I typically use a pot that comfortably houses the number of eggs I'm going to cook (not crowded, not too spaced out, i.e., six eggs in a medium saucepan), and then cover the eggs with enough water so there's about 1" of water above the top of the eggs.
- Heat retention of the pot you use - Thicker pots, made of denser materials (iron vs aluminum) tend to retain heat better than thinner pots. I used a heavy bottomed stainless steel pot to boil my eggs. If you're using an electric stove (coil or plate type), you should remove the pot from the stove and put it on a trivet after the water boils, as these types of stoves tend to retain heat long after you've turned them off.
- Heat output of your stove - Some stoves are able to boil a pot of water much faster than others. IH (Induction) cooktops tend to be the most efficient, while electric plate type stoves tend to be the least efficient. I've tested this method on both IH and gas cooktops using 5-8 eggs. If you try and do too many eggs, or use an under-powdered stovetop it will take too long for the water to come to a boil. If the water takes too long to boil, your eggs are going to be sitting in hot water for much longer, which will affect the amount of time they need to sit in the water after you turn the stove off.
- Altitude - The boiling temperature of water falls as your altitude rises. If you live in the mountains, this will certainly affect the eggs' cooking times, so you'll need to adjust accordingly. I boiled my eggs at roughly sea level.
- Room temperature - If you're in a very cold room, your water will cool faster than if you're in a warm room. I boiled my eggs in a 24 degree C (75 F) room.
How Many Minutes for Hard-boiled Eggs? How Many Minutes for Soft-boiled eggs?
With all that in mind, here are the cooking times for various types of boiled eggs. The times start after the water has come to a boil and you've turned off the heat.
- 2 minutes - The white isn't fully set and the yolk is totally raw.
- 4 minutes - The white is fully set, but the yolk is thick and runny.
- 6 minutes - The white is fully set, and the yolk is mostly set, but still a little runny in the middle.
- 8 minutes - The white is fully set, and the yolk is set, but tender.
- 10 minutes - The white is fully set, and the yolk is fully set.
Remember to transfer your eggs to cold water as soon as you take them out of the pot to stop the cooking immediately. Otherwise, your eggs will continue cooking even after you've taken them out of the water.
What's The Best Way to Peel an Egg?
If you do a search on google for "peel an egg" there are literally dozens of purported ways to make peeling an egg easy. Most of them don't work with fresh eggs, and while using older eggs works pretty well, who wants to wait two weeks or more to make a boiled egg? It might not matter so much for egg salad, when you want those perfect half-ovals for devilled eggs, frustration mounts.
The good news is, I've come up with a method that works every time, no matter how fresh the egg is. The secret is to put a small crack in the bottom of the egg(the fat side) BEFORE you boil it. The crack needs to extend all the way through the hard shell, but it must not rupture the soft inner membrane (otherwise you'll end up with egg white spewing out of the crack as it boils). I use a small curved object (like the end of a pestle or back of a spoon) to crack the egg on. It creates a more predictable circular crack rather than a linear crack that could spread and rupture the membrane.
So why does this work? My theory is that by putting a small crack in the shell, it allows water to enter the egg and saturate the membrane, mimicking the membrane of an older egg.
By putting a small crack in the shell, it allows water to enter the egg and saturate the membrane, mimicking the membrane of an older egg. If any scientists out there want to compare some cross sections of the albumen-membrane interface under a scanning electron microscope it would be awesome to finally put this mystery to rest.
Recipes Using Boiled Eggs
Once you've mastered the technique, you'll be ready to try the many dishes on No Recipes that include boiled eggs. Japanese Potato Salad, Japanese Egg Sandwich, Ramen Eggs, and Egg in a Biscuit all feature boiled eggs. You can also use them to crown a bowl of udon, bejewel a composed salad, or tuck inside a bento. They even make a nutritious protein-rich snack just as they are, or with a pinch of salt and pepper. Serve them with a bowl of Soy Sauce Butter Rice, and you have a quick and satisfying breakfast. You'll be finding new ways to show off these beauties every day.
Master Other Perfect Eggs
Now that you've mastered the art of boiling eggs how you like them, how about becoming a poached egg pro, or a sunny-side up superstar? To help you along, I've put together a short digital cookbook where I walk you through my techniques for making the perfect egg recipes every time!
Recipe
Perfect Boiled Eggs
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
Instructions
- Take the eggs from the refrigerator, then tap the bottom of each egg on a curved surface (like the back of a spoon) to make a small circular crack through the shell. Be careful not to rupture the inner membrane.
- Place 6 eggs in a single layer in a saucepan that's big enough to hold 12 eggs and add cold tap water to the pot until the eggs are covered by 1-inch of water.
- Put the pot on a burner over high heat until the water comes to a rolling boil.
- Set a timer for your desired doneness (see times above), and turn off the heat.
- Remove the boiled eggs from the water when they are done. Place eggs in a bowl and repeatedly cover the eggs with cold water until the water doesn't warm up anymore. This will stop the eggs' cooking. Let them soak in this cold water for at least 20 minutes.
- Crack every bit of shell by tapping firmly with the back of a spoon and then peel the egg from the bottom in a spiral pattern towards the top. Be sure to keep the egg wet at all times.
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Juan Antonio says
Perfect!
Deb says
Hi, thanks for this. I use a pressure cooker (NOT an instapot) but my eggs were over cooking. Then someone else shopped and there were medium eggs! I managed perfect Hard boiled with 4 min at temp and 4 min off. I like that you start with refrigerated eggs. you thinking and technique make sense to me.
Marc Matsumoto says
You're welcome Deb! Glad to hear this was helpful!
Thien says
Thanks Sir,
In case, I can control exactly water temperature (ex, 80 Degree C). May I don't consider about cooking time after eggs completely yolk?
Thanks
Marc Matsumoto says
The problem is that yolks set at a lower temperature than the egg white. So if you want a soft boiled egg with a firm yolk and soft center, you have to cook the egg at a higher temperature than you want the yolk to be at and remove the eggs from the water before the heat rises in the center to set the yolk. If you don't mind the egg white being soft too, you can make this style of egg: https://norecipes.com/onsen-tamago-hot-spring-eggs/
Corey says
Still getting the hang of the perfect crack to get the perfect peel but if I follow the instructions to the T then I get exactly the doneness shown!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Corey, I'm glad to hear this has been helpful for you. What is the difficulty you're having with the crack? Is the crack spreading and causing albumen to leak out, or is the egg still difficult to peel?
Penelope says
Hi Marc, I always place my eggs in boiling water rather than start with cold, (using a long thumbtack to make a hole in the bottom to prevent cracking) I am wondering why boiling an egg for 'soft boiled' has gone from 3 mins.to 5.over the years. Has there been some mysterious change to eggs or chickens over the years? I initially thought that it could just be that the eggs are bigger but they don't appear to be that much bigger. Any ideas?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Penelope, putting them in boiling water is definitely a more predictable way of boiling eggs since it eliminates the differences between stoves (and how cold the water was when it entered the pot), but my eggs almost always crack when I do this. I've tried the thumbtack method, but then I get a stream of albumen that squirts out of the hole. I wonder what I'm doing wrong. As for time for boiling eggs increasing I think there could be two explanations. The first is that eggs have indeed increased in size. If you're in the US, Australia, Scandinavia or Japan, the other reason is that these countries require the washing of eggs before they can be sold to consumers. I believe the US was the first to mandate this and it started sometime in the 1970's. Aside from cleaning off any pathogens on the outside of the egg, this also removes a thin membrane on the outside of the egg that protects it. That's why eggs that have been washed need to be refrigerated. Most of the world does not refrigerate their eggs and I'm guessing the US was probably the same way until they started being washed. This would account for the 2 minute difference as the eggs are going to be starting at a temperature about 35 degrees F lower than what they would be if they were sitting out on the counter.
HR says
Hi Mark
It seems that you have an international audience, so it might he helpful to add a note to your recipes and cooking steps accordingly. I live in Europe so my eggs are not refrigerated. I add my eggs to a saucepan of boiling water. I don't punch a hole with a tack or crack it like you mentioned. I merely lower my eggs into the boiling water carefully with a spoon and the only time they have cracked was when there was already a little fine stress line on the shell before cooking, so check your shell first because it is readily visible. I have a timer set to 7 minutes for an egg that has the whites cooked and the yolk not soft boiled, but still a bit soft and creamy (that's how I mostly like mine). So, obviously, less for very soft boiled and a bit longer for hard boiled. Exactly as you, once cooked, I run cold water on them until cooled. I only crack my eggs on the bottom round part and peel almost the whole shell off easily with my thumb. Very rarely do I ever have a problem with peeling, but that depends on the freshness of the eggs and if they have been washed.
Thanks for all your great recipes!
Sylvia Sharpe says
Great
I love boiled eggs, my mum always got them absolutely perfect, but i have never been able to master the art, Unfortunately my mum has passed away and I never did ask her the secret, thanks for this I will give it me best shot.
Marc Matsumoto says
Sorry to hear about mom Sylvia. The trick with boiled eggs is to understand all of the things that can effect the boiling time and control for them. Then it's just a matter of finding the perfect timing for your setup, and you should be able to get perfect eggs every time.
Adder McCoy says
Okay I was Allowed to try this under strict supervision (brother holding baseball bat,2 sister's with fire extinguisher)and after two cartons of eggs due to trying to get small crack in bottom, finally got it right. Followed the instructions and, well I'm allowed to cook boiled eggs in the kitchen. They were Perfect!! To explain the"allowed in kitchen"part. Was trying to boil eggs before and ended up catching mom's kitchen on fire. Mom wasn't too upset,got a new kitchen. But my 6'6"tall 290lb(with around only 0,09%bodyfat) dad wasn't happy. At least I could run faster than him.
David Witney says
Tried this out this morning,l have been put off having boiled eggs before although a real favourite because of not being able to get a consistent soft boiled egg,but this morning thought l would try this method! And guess what? perfect soft boiled eggs.bring to boil ,take off heat let sit 3 mins,perfect!!!!!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi David, glad to hear my method worked for you! Enjoy your new found super power.
Swannie says
Brilliant "norecipe"!
Works exactly as described
Marc Matsumoto says
Glad to hear it Swannie! Thanks for dropping by to let me know!
Eyza says
the other way is after you boiled the eggs and let them cool in room temperature, than you crack the eggs all over and you let it sit in water just to get the water into the cracked egg shell.. and voila, you can easily peel it of or you can just peel it off under running water tap or submerge it in water while peeling them off.. but make sure you crack them like a lot.. hehe..
Plumber says
Just done 4 minutes to the letter over cooked bullshit
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Plumber, are you in Europe? If so, do you keep your eggs out or in the fridge? These instructions are for refrigerated eggs, so if you used room temperature eggs, they would cook faster. Other factors to consider are the amount of water, atmospheric pressure and altitude, as all of these factors influence how long eggs take to cook. Happy to help you trouble shoot, but you'll need to provide some more specifics about your situation.
Elisha Seal says
Ive tryed putting a crack in the bottom of the egg and it works like a treat. I just crack them on my flat bench though and have had no problems. Im definitely a number 6 gal. Thanks for the advice on boiled eggs ☺
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Elisha, I'm glad to hear it worked for you! Thanks for stopping by to let us know!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Bill, older eggs are best for boiling, but fresh eggs work better for poaching. The reason is that the albumen gets more watery as an egg ages, so when you dump the egg in the water, most of the white flowers out and you don't have much left with the yolk. Fresh eggs have very viscous albumen that clings to the yolk.
Bill Jordan says
I find that eggs past their "sell buy" date are perfect for poaching/ H. Boiling as they stand up in the pot. Simply remove from heat upon H. boil, and cover with ice cold water upon desired cooking time( my preference is 3 min. to cover hash browns, cream of wheat, home fries etc. to 10 minutes for egg salad and deviled eggs). The latter must be older grade A -as fresh will never peel easily. Fresh- AA grade are best for frying or scrambled! And Hollandaise..
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Geoff, glad I could help and thanks for sharing your technique!
Geoff Meurk says
Great article Marc, thank you. I had stopped making boiled eggs for breakfast, as I had tried all sorts of things but your method, and was not getting a consistent result. Now I am enjoying "x for brekky" again thanks to your easy to follow method. Just for your info, my eggs begin at room temp, not from the fridge, and 2 mins 50 seconds provides my perfect result, as soon as the pot reaches boiling, I remove pot from the heat and place the pot on another element which is not going, (just to make sure) and begin the timing. (Also, I ensure water covers eggs, but it is not by an inch, more like 1 cm or possibly slightly less, but your method still works fine) As soon as time is up, I tip water out and run the pot complete with contents of eggs under the cold tap for a period until the eggs are cold enough to handle, then place eggs in egg cups ready for serving with little toast soldiers (for dipping into the egg once top is cut off with sharp knife) Salt and pepper to taste sprinkled on top of open top egg....voila! (The salient point you made here, is that you need to stop the egg continuing to cook once you have the egg at the result you want......such a simple fact, but clearly I had not been considering that, so thank you so much) Many thanks from Geoff Meurk, Wanganui New Zealand
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Daniel, nope no lid. There are 3 big possibilities that come to mind. Is your water coming to a full boil before you stop it? If so, are you at an elevation significantly higher than sea level? If not, the last possibility is that you aren't adding enough water for the amount of eggs.
Daniel Reeders says
Hi Marc, even after standing for 12 minutes, my eggs were still not cooked inside. I wonder if you are putting a lid on the pot?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Linda, I'm glad to hear you found this helpful!
Linda Rakers Capps says
I loved the boiled eggs article! I did increase the boiling by about 5 minutes, but they peeled easily, which I've never found anything until your article that worked! Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Chris, you're welcome, I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed the eggs!
Chris Rose says
I just tried your steps and made the most delicious eggs I've ever eaten! Thanks for the tips!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi dB, thanks for your insight, I guess everyone thinks a little differently I've revised to wording to be more specific. Also, I've noticed that with some eggs, they are easy to peel on one side (the cracked side) but are still tough to peel on the other side. Lately I've been cracking both the top and bottom to avoid this problem.
dB says
Marc, I never draw anything because my attempts look like something done by a preschooler. But if you insisted, my egg would be in two dimensions and one end would have a shorter radius and be more pointed than the other. To me, eggs don't have a "top" or a "bottom", rather, a large end or a smaller, more pointed end. Guess this difference is simply a choice of terminology, and what occurs to me when reading "top" and "bottom" is different than what another person might envision. Thanks!
dB says
Marc,
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi dB, I never really thought of the direction the egg is oriented in the carton, but if I asked you to draw an egg, would you draw it with the fat side, on top, or at the bottom? Just curious because I lived in the US for 35 years and I've always drawn an egg with the fat side on the bottom.
dB says
Marc, thank you - your technique for easier boiled egg peeling works. However, you used the term "bottom of the egg" without explaining which end that was. I don't remember how eggs were packed in Japan, but in the US eggs are packed with the small end down, so that would logically seem to be "the bottom", however, the air pocket is on the large end, which is always on the top here (if not also in Japan) so that's the end I cracked. - dB
Marc Matsumoto says
You're welcome Robobird! If not for my readers I'd just be talking to myself ?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Robobird, thanks for understanding. I can't see the ad (different ads show to different people), but I've emailed this to my ad network and asked them to remove it. Unfortunately from past experience these kinds of things tend to be a game of whack-a-mole and when you take one down another tends to pop up. Please feel free to let me know when you see these ads and I'll send a request to get them removed.
Robobird says
I truly appreciate your taking the time to reply. It tells me you care
about your readers. That goes a long way with me...
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Robobird, you're right, if those were my ads that would be inappropriate, except they're not, that's not how ad networks work. I have no control over what runs and while I can file a complaint about individual ads, it won't stop other ads from showing up. If you happened to take a screen capture of the ad, please send it to me and I'll report it, but that's about all I can do. As much as I hate ads, it's a necessary evil to cover the costs of running this site and it's how I make a living. If you want to avoid seeing ads you can sign up for a subscription to my site to support me directly and you will no longer need to look at the ads on the site.
Robobird says
I'm not able to do a screenshot but this is a link to the blog...
https://norecipes.com/recipe/perfect-boiled-eggs
And this is where the ad sends u...
https://prioritiesusaaction.org/risk/?utm_campaign=PR_CORE2&utm_source=2288640&utm_medium=PNADS-DCM&utm_content=136454036-73353146
I know politics are a personal choice but I don't expect to see offensive
political ads on a food blog.
I have a degree in business so I do understand the need for them but it
just seems so inappropriate...
Thanks for listening.
Robobird says
Fyi. I won't follow, like, or share your blog because I find your anti trump ads offensive and totally inappropriate for a cooking page. If you don't have any control over it you might consider reporting it to your website owner.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi JTD, glad to hear it was helpful!
JTD says
Awesome help! Through the years I've never figured out how to get my eggs consistently to the texture I want, and this got me there the first time. Thanks!
s. ghosh says
paralysis by analysis
Samantha Johnson says
My mom has a really easy way of peeling the eggs quickly and easily. Once you have cooked your eggs as you desire, dump the water out of the pot. Fill the pot with cold water and ice. Dump the water (not the ice) out, and refill it a couple of times. Finally, leave the eggs in ice water for 10 minutes. After that, it is pretty easy to peel. Just crack the shell as you usually do, and it should peel off nice and clean.
Mari says
Thanks for the advice, Marc! I'm just learning how to cook eggs (as sad as that sounds- I can make a very good curry with 12+ ingredients but NOT a boiled egg...) and this was very helpful! I managed to make a sort-of soft boiled egg- none of the runny yolk that I was looking for, but it was certainly custardy.
Barbara Moore says
Come to think of it, June, of course - it wouldn't make sense to peel a whole softboiled egg. I scoop my breakfast egg or two out of the shell into a cup or onto a slice of toast; but it's hard peeling off enough shell to get in there.
June Miller says
In response to Barbara's question, I had never considered shelling an egg to be eaten as a boiled egg. Wouldn't it kind of flop around a bit (I suppose maybe you don't put it in an egg cup?) To me, half the fun is cutting the top off the shell, then digging it out by the spoonful. Fun when you have it with soldiers, too!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Andy, sorry to hear you had problems, I'd be happy to help you troubleshoot but I'm going to need more details from you as there are so many factors that can effect the cooking time of an egg. First can you please confirm that you set the timer for 4 minutes after the water containing the eggs came to a full boil? Second was the level of the water at least 1 inch above the top of the eggs? Third what kind of stove did you use (induction, gas, coil, etc)?
Andy says
No way is it 4 minutes. Just tried this and my eggs are virtually raw...
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Barbara, if you like them very soft boiled, you may not need to peel them, you could just cut the tops off and use a spoon. In that case, there's no need to soak them in cold water. Otherwise, you could soak and peel them and then reheat them in warm water. The other option, have you every tried sous vide eggs? I used to love soft boiled eggs until I discovered these: https://norecipes.com/slow-cooked-eggs
Barbara Moore says
What a great blog! Thank you, Marc! I've been having a wonderful time browsing here and am eager to start trying some of the recipes. About boiling eggs, though, I have a question: I like my eggs very soft boiled for breakfast. If I douse them in cold water for 30 minutes after cooking, how can I avoid eating cold soft boiled eggs with my toast in the morning? Not the most appealing prospect, but I'm sure you'll have a suggestion,