As of: March 25, 2024, 8:14 a.m
By: Sandra Keck
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Cooking eggs is considered easy, but is it?
Simply Tasty explains how to create the perfect breakfast egg and what hack you can use to easily peel eggs.
It's time to get down to business!
Eggs - the humble heroes of the kitchen, which can be transformed into a variety of forms, from fluffy pancakes to delicious egg salads.
But despite their simplicity, cooking and peeling eggs perfectly can be a real challenge.
Does a perfect five minute egg really only take five minutes?
And how do you determine whether an egg is still fresh?
Simply Tasty shows you the secret tricks so that you can conjure up perfectly cooked eggs every time and then peel them effortlessly.
And if you prefer to put your eggs in the pan and scramble them, not shake them, you'll definitely be happy about five simple scrambled egg hacks that make the difference.
How long do you actually have to cook eggs?
The secret to a perfectly cooked (breakfast) egg lies in the correct cooking time, the size of the egg and of course personal preference.
There are many paths to the perfect breakfast egg.
Simply Tasty gives tips on how to avoid getting lost.
© Zoonar/IMAGO
Soft eggs have a runny yolk that flows out when cut.
Ideal for the classic Eggs Benedict, where a poached egg is preferred.
With waxy eggs you hit the golden mean between runny and hard yolk.
Perfect for salads or as a snack with a little salt.
And if you prefer a completely firm egg yolk, ideal for a snack or for egg salad with asparagus and ham, you will cook the egg for the longest time.
This table is intended to provide assistance:
size of the egg |
S (< 53 grams) |
M (< 63 grams) |
L (< 73 grams) |
soft |
3-4 minutes |
4-5 minutes |
5 minutes |
waxy soft |
5-6 minutes |
6-7 minutes |
7-8 minutes |
hard |
8-9 minutes |
9-10 minutes |
10-11 minutes |
Everyone has their own idea of what the perfectly cooked egg looks like.
From waxy soft to hard, everything is there.
© Pond5 Images/IMAGO
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This is how you make the perfect breakfast egg
The cooking times mentioned in the table refer to eggs that do not come straight from the refrigerator.
Ideally, eggs should be added to boiling water at room temperature to reduce the risk of the eggshell cracking due to the temperature difference.
If you are cooking several eggs at once, you should also make sure that all the eggs are of a similar size - this way they will cook uniformly.
In addition to the classic egg timer, there are also other useful egg-related products that ensure egg-stirring.
Airfryer, oven or water bath?
There are many paths to a perfectly cooked egg
Do you cook the perfect egg in a saucepan or are there perhaps other options?
© ingimage/IMAGO
You can't just cook eggs on the stove.
The choice of method depends on your own taste and available resources.
Water bath:
The classic.
Prick the eggs with an egg pick*, place them in boiling water and cook to the desired doneness.
Afterwards, don't forget to chill the eggs in cold (ice) water to stop the cooking process.
Airfryer:
Surprisingly a fantastic way to cook eggs.
To do this, preheat the hot air fryer to 170 °C and place the eggs directly from the refrigerator into the basket.
For a medium size soft egg, set the timer to seven minutes.
The advantage?
Constant heat, even cooking.
Egg cooker:
As the name suggests, the egg cooker is simply made for cooking eggs.
The various pre-installed programs do the work for you.
You don't even have to set a timer anymore, just press the right button.
Oven:
Ideal for preparing larger quantities.
Place eggs in muffin tins or on a rack to stabilize.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C top/bottom heat for about ten minutes.
Kettle:
Boiling eggs in a kettle is probably the most energy-saving option.
If you have a large kettle without exposed heating elements, you should definitely test this.
To do this, put two to three eggs with water in the kettle and bring to the boil.
The device switches off automatically and for soft eggs, they should then sit in the hot water for another three minutes.
Perfect for anyone who is in the middle of a move and doesn't have a functioning kitchen!
*Egg picker: Using an egg picker, egg piercer or egg thorn, a small hole is pierced into the underside of the eggshell, which opens the air chamber inside the egg to the outside.
This allows the pressure inside to be better regulated when cooking eggs, which prevents the shell from bursting.
How to peel eggs correctly
Boiled eggs can be easily peeled with a tablespoon.
But there are also other tips that make peeling eggs easier.
© YAY Images/IMAGO
Peeling eggs can often be frustrating, but luckily there are tried-and-tested techniques and a hack or two that always work.
It is now known that old eggs are often much easier to peel than completely fresh eggs.
Quenching boiled eggs with cold water (even better, ice water) makes peeling easier, as the cold shock not only causes small cracks to form in the eggshell, but also makes the cooled egg easier to handle.
But peeling eggs is even better with these hacks:
Spoon hack:
You can use a tablespoon to carefully remove the shell of the egg and peel an egg more quickly.
To do this, you need to have a small piece of the cooked egg exposed so that you can then slide the tablespoon between the egg and the shell.
Shaking hack:
Shaking is not only important when mixing cocktails, because the eggshell can also be easily shaken off.
To do this, put the boiled egg with a little water in a tightly sealable screw-top jar, close the lid and shake vigorously until the egg is peeled.
Air Bubble Hack:
If you pop the air bag inside before cooking the egg and without damaging the shell, the egg will be easier to peel.
The bubble trick is certainly not a new invention, but thousands of TikTok users don't believe it works - and just try it out themselves:
Not only creator @thismomenjoys is thrilled, but also numerous followers who have viewed and commented on the video over 2.4 million times:
“I tried it and the peeling happened by itself!”
“Look how round the boiled eggs are after cooking 😳”
“You have to tap the eggs very carefully so that the shell doesn't get tiny cracks and the egg doesn't crack while cooking.
Then it works very well.”
“How TikTok teaches me more than my school did 😅”
Are the eggs still good?
Not sure if the eggs in the fridge are still fresh?
Don't worry, the freshness test or water test quickly provides information:
To do this, you carefully place the egg in a tall container with water.
Fresh eggs sink to the bottom and lie flat.
Older eggs stand up or float.
That's because eggs absorb more air through their pores over time, making them more buoyant as they age.
Whether as a classic breakfast egg or as part of a salad, ramen soup or as a snack in between - cooking eggs is easy if you know how.
This article was created using machine assistance and was carefully reviewed by editor Sandra Keck before publication.