This Is the Best Way to Poach an Egg

If you follow Lifehacker closely, you’ll know we like an article about cooking eggs. We’ve chatted about how to peel a hard-boiled egg, why you should scramble eggs in a jar, and all the ways you can use a rice cooker for your eggs.

I, however, am here to share a more traditional take on cooking your eggs. This is my favourite, super simple, method of cooking the perfect poached egg. Are you ready?

I always use a smaller-sized saucepan for this take on eggs. Fill her up with water and bring it to a boil. From here, I’ll take some white wine vinegar and will pour one “capful” of vinegar into the mix per egg I’m planning to poach.

What’s with the vinegar?

While you certainly do not need to add vinegar to the mix in order to get perfectly poached eggs, it does help (for me, at least). As the Kitchn writes, introducing the vinegar “helps the loose, billowy white [of your egg] stay intact, forming a more tight and compact shape”.

It also doesn’t add a strong taste to the eggs, if you’re concerned about that. And if a “capful” is too ambiguous an amount, many places suggest using a teaspoon.

On we go…

From here, we want to bring the water temp down a little so you’ve got a nice little simmer going on. You may disagree with me, but I also find adding a little drop of olive oil helps the process (you don’t need it, and a lot of places don’t use it but I always throw it in).

I then crack my egg into a small bowl or cup and set it to the side. I take a wooden spoon (or any utensil, really) and stir the water until a small vortex is created – pour your egg into the centre of that vortex.

Cook times vary from person to person, depending on how you like your poached eggs. I prefer them runny, so always go for around the 2-minute mark. If you’re more of a firm centre fan, up it to 3 or 4 minutes.

Then pull that guy out of the saucepan with a slotted spoon, and pop it onto a paper towel to absorb any extra liquid. Enjoy!

If you want more tips on cooking eggs (different to mine!), Australian Eggs has a collection of videos available that should help you out.