The truly easiest way to "poach" an egg is in the microwave. Use a small microwaveable bowl,such as a custard cup, and spray it with olive oil spray. Crack the egg in the bowl and cover with waxed paper. You may have to play with the cook times, but I cook mine for 45-50 seconds on 60% power. I like my eggs cooked pretty hard so this is usually just right. If you use larger eggs, you may need to cook it just a little longer. It is not truly poached, but is soooo.... easy. I sometimes place cooked ham and/or grated cheese on top and zap it a few seconds more.

Ya know, until now I have been placing the eggs in the little poacher cups covering it and then turning the burner on and then letting get to a boil. D'oh! Guess I know now why it was always a crap-shoot!

Thanks
S

This is actually the way to *coddle* eggs. Poaching is cooking them in a separate container in a water bath, i.e. in an egg poacher. Coddled eggs are wonderful in their own right. They taste and have a different texture from poached eggs.
I prefer not to use vinegar in the water because it, too, imparts a different flavor - one I personally don't much like. I have found that cracking eggs one by one into a small dish or small shallow bowl, then easing the egg from the dish into the water helps keep the white from "scattering."
Don't even get me started on microwaved eggs! LOL!

I poached eggs like this in college. It was terrifically easy, and turned out a good poached egg. Cut the top & bottom off a small tuna can, and wash thoroughly. Place in a pan with water boiling, and crack the egg into the tuna can. Turn off the heat, and cook until desired degree of doneness is reached. Meanwhile, break up a piece of buttered hot toast into a bowl. Put in the eggs, salt & pepper, eat. Sigh.

If you don't like the vinegar in the water for different reasons, you can always use an egg ring on a flat bottomed pan and simmer them in the egg rings :)

We always laid mason jar canning rings in a fry pan filled with water to the rim of the rings. Works like a charm. Perfect, round poached eggs.

I am confused, can you please clarify the instructions for using an egg poacher? I just bought one and it didn't come with instructions! Do you boil the water with the little egg holder in place, or stick it in (cold) with egg after water has reached a boil?
thanks!

Hi, I have been trying to poach eggs for a few weeks now. This seems to be the best method I have found, although not quite perfect on the first go. I think that next time I will put the water just up to the rim of the rings, and maybe get the smaller size ring. Hopefully that will do the trick. Thanks for your help!

Love the site by the way and agree that your method does yield a wonderfully cooked poached egg. However, I don't subscribe to the idea of using an egg poacher - somehow the shape ends up so consistent that the egg looks 'processed'. There is a certain charm about the random nature of a perfectly poached egg. The very crucial thing you failed to mention though is the freshness of the egg. A 2 week old egg will break up the moment it hits the water. Use a 2 day old egg and the yolk will stand proud and the white will huddle closer together than emperor penguins on a particulary icy day... Oh and make sure it's free range.

Great idea! After I fell in love with eggs benedict, I decided that I needed to learn how to poach eggs, now I need to give making Hollandaise a shot. So I googled for a little bit, and I found this great trick:

First, put some water on to boil. Take a piece of saran wrap and lay it over a coffee mug, pushing the plastic down into it a bit. Then, crack an egg into the saran wrap and tie/twist the ends together tightly. Drop the eggbag into the water, continue to boil ~3 minutes, then take your eggs out with a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon.

I was really skeptical at first, thinking the plastic would boil into pieces, but it didn't and they turned out perfect.

Not sure if this qualifies as a 'poached' egg but it sure is good and easy - using a muffin pan, butter and then press bread into each muffin place, then, crack an egg on top of each piece of bread and you can either broil or bake at 350 for three minutes or longer - it's a great breakfast for young kids to make too - use a spatula to remove from pan.

After reading the comments, it seems there are a lot of misconceptions about eggs and their preparation! :)

To D. Platt who said she "poaches" her eggs in the microwave because she likes them kind of hard - the very definition of a poached egg is says that the yolk remains soft & liquid! Sorry - no hard yolks in poaching.

To Elizabeth in Lawrenceville - a "Coddled" egg is acutally an egg that is briefly submerged in water while it is IN THE SHELL! Coddling is a great way to get rid of the threat of salmonella if you are concerned about eating raw eggs in something. Usually salmonella is on the shell, and it contaminates the egg when it is cracked open. Coddling is submerging the whole egg for exactly 40 seconds in boiling water. Further "coddling" can also be achieved by leaving the whole egg in the water for slightly longer. Anything more than that though - and you get into soft/hard boiled eggs. :)

I thought that people might want the correct information.

Another microwave method of poaching eggs ... Boil some water and put into a microwavable jug. Crack the egg into the jug and put in microwave for about 50 seconds ... perfect poached egg :)

I am using an egg poaching pan. You mentioned that the water must first be boiled then you put the cup with egg in. Must the pan remain on the warm plate (after boiling) when you put in the egg cup or must the pan be totally removed from the hot plate?
Thanks a lot!

If I put 2 teaspoons of vinegar, I supose that the eggs are sour right?(and I think the smell is horrible)

This is a 'coddled' egg:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coddled_egg

The way described by the person who wrote the blog is 'poaching' & i agree is the simplest

Am amazed at the many interesting ways to attack an egg for poaching. I've been poaching eggs for my family for years with no complaints, but for me it's still a crap shoot. About half the time and I have had to throw one ot two to the dogs.

My Method: Crack 6 eggs in a small bowl and set aside. Put 2 qts. water in a 3 qt. sauce pan and bring to a medium boil. Add 1/4 cup white vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt. With a slotted spoon, while the water is boiling, start the water swiriling around in a clockwise direction (I've not tried counter-clockwise) as fast as it will go without slopping out of the pan. While the water is spinning let it coast while pouring the eggs into the center of the spin (vortex). The rest is routine; I time by inspection.

The spinning water draws the egg whites in toward the yokes and the vinegar helps set the whites more compactly. I don't know what the salt does. This method produces beautiful compact-looking poached eggs.

This works every time. Problem: My family and I like eggs from hardly cooked to nearly hard. How does one remove the hardly cooked ones, and then the medium cooked ones, and hold them warm without further cooking while finishing the last two nearly hard ones. My "solution" is to put the finished eggs in a hot water holding bath until I am done done, but this usually overcooks the first and second batches, or cools them off, depending on the temperature of the holding bath. I think the secret must be in getting the temperature of the water in the holding bath just right because I have seen this holding method used by chefs in cafeteria lines.

Help, please.

Alex Coyle 11/17/07

I absolutely LOVE perfectly poached eggs...and just can't do them myself! I have an egg poacher and even one of those silly microwaveable poacher-things....Still can't perfect the poaching of an egg.

I just can't figure out how to get that perfectly runny yolk and have those whites still be firm. I have had some success with the shallow cup in water method, but I just can't tell by looking if those yolks are still runny or not.

Here's hoping this recipe and my determination will create that PPE! (perfectly poached egg!)

I time my poached eggs by the toaster. push the toaster plunger down, crack an egg into boiling slightly-vinegared water in a non-stick frypan, toast pops up, butter real fast, scoop egg from water with slotted spoon, put on toast. It produces an almost perfect poached egg everytime...whites set, yolk runny. you may have to play a bit with the toaster/egg drop to get your timing down pat.