The Instant Pot Pressure Cooker is taking the guess work out of the prestigious poached egg. Hands off and worry free, this method is hands down the easiest way to poach an egg (or eggs) ever known!
For a girl who could happily top any dish with a warm, runny egg, this Instant Pot Perfect Poached Egg recipe is pretty revolutionary.
Prior to this pressure cooker method here, I really did not like poaching eggs because
1 – Half the time they fell apart in the poaching water (suddenly I have no credibility when I tell my kids not to swear)
2 – I had to keep a close eye on them and hope I took them out at the right time (10% success rate there, twin boys and all)
3 – I could only fit 3-4 in my skillet at a time so if I needed more than that, mine were cold by the time I ever sat down to eat (ridiculously unfair)
Since the Instant Pot solves most kitchen dilemmas I have, I turned to it for this situation. After trying several different methods and cooking vessels, I finally figured it out!
My answer was these handy silicone baby food trays. They have proven to be a good purchase time and time again for recipes like No Break Boiled Eggs, Beebo Bites (AKA oatmeal bites), and Denver Style Sous Vide Eggs. I highly recommend that particular brand too. I tried several others and settled on this Popfex brand because they are more sturdy and even with the deeper pockets, you can still stack 2 at a time in a 6 quart pot.
Here’s some poached egg tips to help guarantee your success:
HOW TO MAKE A PERFECT POACHED EGG
Fresh Eggs Poach Best
This is a common tip for the traditional water/pan method, but I found even with this Instant Pot method, the whites cooked up much more reliably with fresh eggs than the old eggs.
Avoid Sticking
If your eggs stick, they are likely to break as you are trying to get them out of the tray. Spray the holes you will be cracking eggs into with nonstick cooking spray. My favorite is Vegalene Nonstick Cooking Spray. It works amazingly well, is made of non-GMO oils, and after using it for 5+ years, it hasn’t left any residue on any of my bakeware like Pam does. This 6-pack on Amazon is a great price, but I’ve also bought single cans at a local kitchen supply store for $1-2 more.
Ideal Cook Time
There are several different brands of these silicone trays on Amazon. As I mentioned above, the Popfex brand is my favorite because they are more sturdy and the pockets are deeper. 8 minutes makes a perfect poached egg in these trays, but the timing may differ with thinner, more flimsy brands which is why I wrote for 6-8 minutes in the recipe. Start at 7 minutes your first time and go from there to discover the perfect time. When the white is set, it’s done! If the white is partially clear and runny, cook it for another minute.
Number of Eggs
I’ve found I can make 1 egg or up to 7 eggs using the same cook time and it works. Which means you can have up to 7 eggs hot and ready for dinner all at the same time!
Quick Release
Right when your pot beeps, release that pressure. I learned that the hard way too. Just ask my videographer about how many eggs I had to make for our shoot because I kept getting distracted and not letting the pressure out asap. Not a relaxed shoot, that one.
Prevent Condensation
I found that covering the eggs with foil messed with the consistency of the cook time so I stopped doing that. When you remove the lid, tilt it to prevent the condensation from the lid from dripping into the eggs. If there is water in your eggs, use the corner of a paper towel to easily soak it up. Don’t confuse droplets of water with the egg white! If the egg white is set, don’t cook the eggs longer.
GENTLE!
It’s quite simple to remove the eggs from the tray, but be GENTLE! You don’t want to break that beautiful yolk before it’s plated. I use a thin, small spoon to release it from the sides of the tray. Once you’re sure it’s not sticking anywhere, it will slide out easily with the spoon.
That pretty much covers it! You are going to be a brunch making master with this trick! I put poached eggs on avocado toast (or English muffins like I show here), on tamales, on pasta dishes like this Sweet Corn and Tomato Pasta, steak, roasted veggies, and over top a hash brown waffle.
Have fun with this one! I love simple recipes like this. Here’s a video of the process to make your heart melt just like this golden yolk all over that crispy hash brown waffle.
Tools used to make Instant Pot Perfect Poached Egg
Instant Pot or
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Other Favorite Egg Recipes
Healthy Denver Style Sous Vide Eggs
Sweet Potato, Sausage, and Spinach Breakfast Casserole
Ham Wrapped Avocado Egg – This one is from our cookbook Master the Electric Pressure Cooker and is my FAVORITE egg recipe of all time. If you own our book, have you made it yet?
PrintInstant Pot Perfect Poached Egg
This method takes the mystery out of making poached eggs AND makes it a hands off task. Perfect Poached Eggs anytime!
- Prep Time: 3 minutes
- Cook Time: 6-8 minutes
- Total Time: about 15 minutes
- Yield: 1-7 eggs
Ingredients
- Eggs (anywhere from 1-7 eggs at a time, depending on how many your silicone tray holds)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add 1 cup of water to the pressure cooker pot and place short trivet inside. Spray silicone tray with nonstick cooking spray. Crack desired number of eggs into the holes of the silicone tray. Place tray on top of the trivet.
- Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position. Cook at high pressure for 6 – 8 minutes (see notes regarding cooking time).
- When cooking is complete, use a quick release.
- Check the eggs. The egg white should be completely cooked and the yellow center will be slightly jiggly.
- Using a soft edge knife or spoon, carefully scrape around the egg to make sure it’s not adhering to the edges, then gently scoop it from the tray.
- Serve immediately with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Poached eggs are also amazing on avocado toast, english muffins, tamales, salads, hashbrowns, and pretty much anything else you can possibly think of.
Notes
- Cooking time will vary depending on the brand of silicone tray you have. The brand I use is Popfex and it took 8 minutes. For another brand I have that is made of thinner material and more flimsy, they were done in 6 minutes.
- Number of eggs doesn’t seem to matter here. I’ve cooked anywhere from 1-7 eggs at a time with consistent results.
Lovely video but I was hoping to see you removing the eggs from the mould since you mentioned using a spoon to ensure they had released from the mould. I’m thinking you would have to do this without tipping the mould so you don’t have poached eggs falling out everywhere and all the other ‘hold your tongue just right’ approaches. LOL
Sheila, Hang tight Sheila! I’ve got a video that will show you how to do it coming out hopefully on Friday or possibly Monday. If you want to know the behind the scenes details on why I missed that shot, I was trying to get my boys fed so they could get on the bus while shooting this video and totally missed the mark on that! It didn’t even realize my mistake until going the video was being edited! Fortunately I got it on another video. Life of a mom, right?!
Thanks Marci. Looking forward to the next video. I understand the Mommy vs work time challenges.
Sheila, I’m glad you can relate. I’ve got to stop trying to stuff so much in to one day!
I’m so glad you have a video showing removal of the eggs, but I can’t find ANY videos for these! Will you please make sure the links are in the post somewhere, as I REALLY want to see this! Thank you!!
Donna, the video is near the end of the post. Are you not seeing it? I didn’t get a good shot of removing the eggs for this video (I was trying to get my boys fed and on the bus at the same time – not a good idea!). However Friday’s post will show how to do it so hang tight for that!
These look terrific! My husband loves poached eggs and makes “little Soldiers” with the eggs placed over strips of buttered toast. I love the avocado toast with poached eggs and i really love your new way of cooking them. Sometimes I have trouble with food sticking to those trays–do you have any issues with that?
Karen, I love the toast idea! My kids would love that! These eggs weren’t bad actually as far as sticking goes. I have to spray the trays really well for the Beebo Bites though. The sous vide eggs stick more than these poached eggs as well. I’ve had people tell my coconut oil works really well but I haven’t tried that yet.
I think your kids would love the Little Soldiers! Thanks for the tip on the sticking eggs–I will give the coconut oil a shot next time
I’m hugely confused by the cooking time. I can’t understand how a cooking time that boils eggs will leave an egg without shell, soft. Anyway, instead of being confused I tried it and though I’d like to report success, mine were all perfectly boiled in the silicone cups. Solid yolks. So I’ll be making egg salad out of them. But I needed to try again and my dad, who happened to be over, told me he had been reading recipes for poached eggs using 1 and 2 minute cooking times. So I tried 1 minute in the silicone cups and they were pretty perfect. Solid whites and runny yolks. Next time I’m trying 2 minutes out of curiosity. If it makes any difference, I’m using an 8qt Instant Pot. When I told my dad long I’d be cooking them he predicted they would boil but I wanted to prove you right! Alas I failed! Lol!
Tara, the times with eggs will definitely vary depending on what you have them in. My tray is quite thick and sturdy and I’m assuming that’s why the heat takes longer to cook them. Individual silicone cups would get direct heat more quickly I’m assuming. I’m glad you found a time that would work!
I used ones very similar to yours, not individual. For baby food. Came with my Baby Bullet. Also very thick and sturdy compared to silicone bakeware. I’ll be very curious to see the results from others!