Soft Boiled Eggs
Difficulty 1/5 Ingredients 2 Steps 14
Soft-boiled eggs are a variety of whole boiled egg where the white is solid and the yolk is runny. They take about 7 minutes to prepare and are often served with buttered toast, perfect for dipping into the runny yolk.
Ingredients
- 2–3 large eggs, depending on appetite
- Salt (optional)
Steps
- Bring a saucepan of water to a boil.
- Add the eggs gently. Boil 4–6 minutes (4 for runny yolk, 5 for soft yolk).
- Remove the eggs.
- Alternative method: bring water to a boil in a saucepan.
- Add the eggs gently. Boil 1 minute.
- Remove from heat. Stand the eggs in the hot water 5 minutes.
- Remove the eggs.
- Alternative method: bring water to a rolling boil in a saucepan.
- Add the eggs gently. Immediately remove from heat. Cover.
- Sit 8 minutes. Remove the eggs.
- Alternative method: bring about 1 inch of water to a rolling boil in a saucepan, enough to create steam without evaporating completely.
- Add the eggs gently. Cover with a lid.
- Boil/steam 6–6½ minutes, depending on desired yolk.
- Immediately remove from heat. Drain the hot water.
Notes from the original
- Adding a bit of salt to the cooking water can help to quickly set the whites if the egg leaks during cooking.
- Running the cooked eggs under cold water will help stop the cooking process.
- Some people use a pin to poke a small hole on the larger end of the egg before boiling it. It is believed that this helps give the egg a smooth, round bottom, and some say the pinhole makes it easier to peel.
- Soft-boiled eggs can be carefully peeled as an alternative serving method.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Soft Boiled Eggs” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-08, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Jajka na miękko-01.jpg by Michael Matuzak, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.