FOOD NEWS
Your Ultimate Guide For Boiled Eggs With The Yolk Texture You Want
BY NICOLE ADAMS
Various factors affect how fast an egg cooks such as the type of egg, the size, the age, and the temperature. For this guide, we're using small-to-medium-sized hen eggs.
We've done a side-by-side comparison of farm-fresh and store-bought eggs. We used both room-temperature store-bought eggs and eggs straight from the fridge.
3 Minutes
Three minutes is the ideal time for soft-boiled eggs using the standard method of boiling water, adding eggs, covering the pot, and removing them from heat.
Our fresh egg ended up a bit better than the older one, and the room-temperature and cold store-bought eggs were about even. All eggs were difficult to peel, even with an ice bath.
6 Minutes
Still considered soft-boiled, the six-minute egg has a slightly liquid, jammy center. The room-temperature fresh and older eggs we tested had thick yolks.
The older eggs that were straight from the fridge had a pudding-like yolk. Since you can end up with a different yolk in seconds, you may need to experiment to find a good texture.
Eight Minutes
The yolk of an eight-minute egg is between medium and hard-boiled. It has a velvety and creamy — yet cooked — yolk that resembles cheesecake.
The white of the egg is also soft but has a tender bite. We didn’t notice any textural differences between any of the eggs, but the fresh eggs did hold more flavor.
10 Minutes
Despite usually being considered to be a hard-boiled egg, the 10-minute egg is still on the softer side. The yolk is soft and pliable, which is perfect for deviled eggs.
Our fresh, room-temperature eggs turned out with that soft yolk, while the older egg cooked a little bit more and featured a chewier egg white and drier yolk.
The cold, older egg that was boiled for 10 minutes didn't cook as much, which resulted in the white being more tender, with a yolk that was gummy.
12 Minutes
A 12-minute egg is completely cooked through, delivering a tender bite of egg white and a slightly crumbly yolk with a pasty texture.
Our fresh hen eggs that cooked for 12 minutes gave us an almost chewy and disappointingly dry yolk, though the white was decent enough.
The older, store-bought egg was perfect, with the white having a tender bite while the yolk was somewhat dense, with a balance of moisture so it didn't fall to pieces.