When deciding on a cooking technique for eggs, it all comes down to the texture that you’re looking for. Boiling is one popular technique, while steaming is slightly less widespread, but seems similar, given that these methods both involve cooking eggs in their shells — however, steamed eggs can be very different from boiled ones.

Boiling an egg in hot bubbling water is a less gentle way to cook it and can lead to inconsistent results, and nobody wants boiled eggs with a rubbery white and dry, gray-tinged yolk. Steaming, on the other hand, is much more gentle on eggs and yields a delicate but well-set white with a rich and creamy yolk done to your liking.

Boiled eggs should also be dunked into an ice bath after cooking, which alters their temperature, while steaming is more consistent and keeps the eggs at the same temperature the whole time for more even results. The one downside is that steaming is a bit more involved and requires a steamer or DIY steaming setup.