Soft boiled egg timer

A soft boiled egg takes between 5:20 and 6:40 in boiling water, depending on how big it is. A medium egg needs 5:45. The table below covers every size, and the Chef Labs egg timer counts down the same numbers and rings when the egg is done.

What a soft boiled egg looks like inside

The white is set all the way through but still tender, with no clear jelly left around the yolk. The yolk is jammy: deep orange, thick enough to hold its shape when you halve the egg, and slow enough to run if you tip it. Another minute in the water turns that centre custardy, which is a medium egg. Two more minutes and it is pale and crumbly, which is a hard egg.

Soft boiled egg time by size

Small is about 45 to 53 g, medium 53 to 63 g, large 63 to 73 g, and XL 73 g and up. Times assume eggs straight from the fridge, lowered into water that is already boiling, at sea level.

How to cook them

Use a pan deep enough to cover the eggs by a couple of centimetres and bring the water to a full boil. Ease the heat back until the surface is still bubbling but no longer throwing the eggs around, then lower each egg onto the bottom on a spoon rather than dropping it in. Keep the eggs in one layer. A crowded pan drops the water temperature when the eggs go in and gives you uneven results. Start the timer as soon as the last egg is down.

Eggs that are not fridge cold

Every time here assumes an egg straight from the fridge. An egg that has been sitting on the counter starts warmer and gets to jammy sooner, so take off roughly 30 seconds. That is an estimate, not a fixed rule: how much you take off depends on how long the egg was out and how warm the kitchen is. Cook one egg, cut it open, and adjust from there.

Cooking above sea level

Water boils at a lower temperature as you climb, so the same time leaves you with a looser egg. Above roughly 1,000 m, add time, and add more the higher you are. Test with a single egg the first time you cook at a new altitude, then keep the time that worked.

Stop the cooking

A soft egg keeps cooking in its own heat after it leaves the pan, and the margin between jammy and set is about a minute. Have a bowl of water and ice ready before you start, move the eggs into it the moment the timer rings, and leave them for 5 minutes. That fixes the yolk where you want it and makes the egg cold enough to handle.

Peeling and storing

Crack the wide end first, where the air pocket sits, then roll the egg gently under your palm to craze the shell and peel it under a thin stream of cold water. Eggs that are a few days old peel more cleanly than very fresh ones. A soft egg is fragile, so if the shell fights you, crack the wide end and spoon the egg out instead. Eat soft boiled eggs the same day you cook them. The yolk is not fully set, so they do not keep in the fridge the way hard boiled eggs do.

What to use them for

Halved over ramen is the obvious one, and the yolk thickens the broth as it breaks. For a marinated ramen egg, leave peeled eggs in soy sauce, mirin and a little water in the fridge for a few hours. Otherwise put them on buttered toast, on a green salad with bacon, or beside boiled asparagus and let the yolk act as the sauce.

Other guides: medium boiled egg timer and hard boiled egg timer.