By Linda Garrould · 17 July 2026
A large, fridge-cold egg slipped into water at a bare simmer takes about 3 minutes to poach soft — a runny yolk under a just-set white, the eggs Benedict standard. A thicker, jammy yolk wants 4 minutes; fully set, 5. No pan on? A mug in an 800W microwave does it in about 75 seconds, and an air fryer at 180°C in 6. Pick your method and your yolk below, and the timer will poach along with you — it knows about egg sizes, fridge-cold eggs and microwave wattages, so you don’t have to.
Water at a bare simmer — bubbles rising, none breaking the surface. Swirl gently, crack the egg into the middle, start the timer.
How to poach an egg — the classic pan method
The pan poach has a reputation it doesn’t quite deserve. There’s no special equipment and no drama — the whole method is fresh eggs, calm water and a timer. Here it is:
- Fill a wide pan with about 5cm of water and bring it to a bare simmer — bubbles rising from the base, none of them breaking the surface. A rolling boil is the enemy here: it tears the white apart before it can set.
- Crack the egg into a cup or ramekin first. It gives you a clean, controlled entry — and if the yolk breaks on the way in, you’ve lost nothing but a moment.
- Swirl the water gently and slide the egg into the middle. The swirl draws the white around the yolk. Gently is the word: a whirlpool worthy of the shipping forecast will pull the egg apart.
- Start the timer the moment the egg goes in. About 3 minutes for a soft yolk from a large fridge-cold egg — the chart below has every size and yolk.
- Lift it out with a slotted spoon and rest it on kitchen paper for a few seconds — nobody wants poaching water on their toast.
Freshness is the whole game. A fresh egg has a thick white that clings to the yolk and sets in a neat cushion; an older egg has a thin, watery outer white that wisps away no matter how beautifully you swirl. If your eggs are closer to their best-before date than you’d like, crack each one into a fine sieve for a moment first — the loose white drains away and the tidy egg that’s left poaches like a fresh one.
The vinegar verdict: a spoonful of vinegar in the water helps the white set a touch faster, and some very good cooks swear by it — Delia, for the record, uses none at all. It’s optional. It does less than freshness does, and too much will flavour the egg. If you use it, a teaspoon or so of a pale vinegar is plenty; if you don’t, your eggs will still hold together fine.
Poached eggs in the microwave — the mug method
The microwave poach is the weekday workhorse: one egg, one mug, about a minute, and no pan to wash. Done properly it produces a genuinely respectable poached egg — and “properly” begins with a safety rule that is not optional.
Always pierce the yolk before it goes in. A yolk cooks inside its own membrane, steam builds inside it, and an unpierced yolk can burst — at best redecorating the microwave, at worst spitting hot egg as you lift the mug out. One gentle prick with a cocktail stick or the tip of a sharp knife lets the steam escape and changes nothing about the finished egg. For the same reason, never microwave an egg in its shell.
- Half-fill a mug with water — enough to cover the egg by a centimetre or so.
- Crack the egg in and check it’s fully under the water.
- Pierce the yolk. Once, gently. Non-negotiable.
- Cover loosely with a saucer or a piece of kitchen roll — it catches any spit and keeps the steam working for you.
- Cook on high: about 75 seconds at 800W for a soft yolk — 90 seconds at 700W, 60 at 900W or above. Then let it stand in the mug for 30 seconds; it finishes cooking as it stands.
- Lift it out with a slotted spoon. Underdone? Back in for 10-second bursts — microwaves vary, and bursts are how you learn yours.
Wattage genuinely matters here — the same egg needs half as long again at 700W as it does at 900W, which is why the timer above asks. If you don’t know your microwave’s wattage, it’s printed on the label inside the door.
Poached eggs in the air fryer
The air fryer poach sounds like a stunt and turns out to be one of the calmest methods there is — the egg cooks gently in a ramekin of hot water while you get on with the rest of breakfast. It’s also the easiest way to do two or three at once without any circling anxiety about which went in first.
- Preheat the air fryer to 180°C.
- Put 3 tablespoons of just-boiled water into a ramekin — one ramekin per egg, lightly buttered if you want insurance against sticking.
- Crack an egg into each ramekin and set them in the basket.
- Cook for 6 minutes for a soft yolk, 7 for medium, 8 for firm.
- Lift the ramekins out carefully — they’re hot — then loosen the edge with a teaspoon and slide each egg onto its toast.
Air fryers differ nearly as much as microwaves, so treat the first attempt as a calibration run: if your soft yolk comes out closer to medium, knock 30 seconds off next time and the machine is learnt for good.
The poaching chart: how long to poach an egg, every method
The timer above and the chart below use the same numbers, so the chart can live on the fridge door. All times assume a large, fridge-cold egg — the honest British default, same as our boiled-egg chart.
| Method | Soft | Medium | Firm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pan, bare simmer | 3:00 | 4:00 | 5:00 |
| Microwave, 700W | 1:30 | 1:45 | 2:00 |
| Microwave, 800W | 1:15 | 1:30 | 1:45 |
| Microwave, 900W+ | 1:00 | 1:15 | 1:30 |
| Air fryer, 180°C | 6:00 | 7:00 | 8:00 |
A note on why poaching times vary more than boiling times: recipe writers genuinely disagree here, from two and a half minutes to four for the same soft yolk, and it isn’t carelessness. “A simmer” spans a real range of temperatures, egg temperature shifts the answer, and Delia’s method — two minutes, then ten off the heat entirely — is a different technique altogether. Our times assume the bare simmer described above and a fridge-cold egg; if your kitchen runs hotter or colder, the first egg tells you which way to lean.
Poaching ahead for a crowd
Here is the trick that turns eggs Benedict for six from a performance into a breakfast: poached eggs reheat beautifully. Restaurants have done it this way for years, and it asks nothing more of you than a bowl of iced water.
Poach the eggs soft, in batches, at your leisure. As each one comes out, drop it into a bowl of iced water — the cold stops the cooking exactly where you want it. Once cooled, into a covered bowl in the fridge; the Food Standards Agency’s guidance for cooked food is to get it chilled within an hour or two and to eat it within 48 hours, which comfortably covers poaching on Saturday for Sunday brunch. Come serving time, slip the eggs into a bowl of just-boiled water for 20–30 seconds — warmed through, yolks still soft, and you were talking to your guests the whole time.
No poaching pans, no silicone pods, no gadget drawer required — the whole operation runs on a pan, a bowl and the mugs you already own.
What to serve them on
Thick buttered toast is the obvious answer and rarely a wrong one. Beyond that: a poached egg belongs on pancakes with crisp bacon on a slow Saturday, beside air fryer sausages when the full English is running on delegation, or crowning a pile of buttered spinach when breakfast wants to look after itself. Come spring it does distinguished work on asparagus — much as the soft-boiled egg does in our British asparagus risotto. And if it’s soldiers the table is really asking for, that’s a boiled egg’s job — the dippy egg timer is next door.
Troubleshooting: wispy whites and broken yolks
Wispy, ragged whites mean the outer white was too thin to hold — almost always an older egg, occasionally water at a full boil. Use the freshest eggs you have, strain off the loose white through a sieve, and keep the water at that bare simmer.
Broken yolks usually happen on entry. Crack into a cup first, slide the egg in low and close to the water, and swirl before the egg goes in, not after.
A hard yolk you didn’t order is nearly always carryover cooking — the egg sat in hot water or a hot mug after the timer went. Lift it out promptly; if it’s waiting for the rest of breakfast, let it wait in warm, not hot, water.
And the freshness rule cuts both ways. Fresh eggs poach best; older eggs peel best. So spend the newest box on poaching, send the older ones to the boiling pan for salads and sandwiches, and the whole box gets used at its best. (Altitude, since somebody will ask: at UK elevations it makes no difference worth timing.)
Storage and safety: the official word
The Food Standards Agency’s advice is that hen eggs bearing the British Lion mark or produced under the Laid in Britain scheme can be safely eaten raw or lightly cooked — including by infants, children, pregnant women and people aged 65 or over. That covers the runny yolk this whole page is in pursuit of; the stamp is on the shell and the box. Eggs from elsewhere, or unstamped, should be cooked through for anyone in those groups.
For eggs poached ahead, the FSA’s cooked-food guidance applies: chill within one to two hours, keep refrigerated, and eat within 48 hours. Store the eggs covered, and reheat once — the 20–30 seconds in just-boiled water above — rather than repeatedly.
While you’ve got the fridge open: the kitchen library also covers whether you can freeze cheese and how long butter keeps in the freezer.
Poached egg questions, answered
How long does it take to poach an egg?
About 3 minutes for a soft, runny yolk from a large fridge-cold egg in water at a bare simmer — allow 2½ to 3½ depending on how hot your simmer runs. A medium, jammy yolk takes about 4 minutes; fully firm, about 5.
Can you poach an egg in the microwave?
Yes — crack it into a half-full mug of water, pierce the yolk (essential: an unpierced yolk can burst), cover loosely and cook on high. Roughly 75 seconds at 800W for a soft yolk, 90 at 700W, 60 at 900W or more, then 30 seconds’ standing. Never microwave an egg in its shell.
Do you need vinegar to poach an egg?
No. A teaspoon of pale vinegar helps the white set slightly faster, but a fresh egg and gently simmering water matter far more. Delia poaches without it entirely.
How do you poach eggs for a crowd?
Poach them ahead, drop each egg into iced water to stop the cooking, refrigerate covered, then reheat for 20–30 seconds in just-boiled water when everyone’s sitting down. The yolks stay soft.
How long do poached eggs keep in the fridge?
Treat them as cooked food: the Food Standards Agency advises chilling within one to two hours and eating within 48 hours. Cool poached eggs fast in iced water, store covered in the fridge, and reheat once.
Are runny poached eggs safe to eat?
The Food Standards Agency advises that British Lion or Laid in Britain stamped hen eggs can be eaten raw or lightly cooked, including by infants, children, pregnant women and people aged 65 or over. Unstamped or imported eggs should be cooked through for those groups.
More from our kitchen timers: planning a Sunday lunch? Our roast chicken timer works out the cooking time by weight, runs a resting timer, and builds a timetable backwards from the moment you want to sit down — so the whole meal lands on the table at once.