Egg Timer
← All preset timersThree buttons, three yolks: six minutes for runny, eight for jammy, eleven for fully set. Tapping one sets the clock and starts it in the same motion, because the moment you want a timer is the moment your hands are wet and an egg is already going into the pan. Every figure here assumes a large, fridge-cold egg lowered into water that has reached a rolling boil, which is the condition most recipes leave unsaid and the reason they appear to contradict each other.
Screen kept awake while this runs
Tap a preset and it starts immediately. Ends with an audible alarm, so keep this tab unmuted — and lift the eggs into cold water as soon as it rings.
Open this page with the timer already running → — handy as a bookmark, though your device only lets a page make a sound after you have tapped it at least once.
Why an egg timer
The difference between a runny yolk and a chalky one is about ninety seconds, so this is one of the few kitchen jobs where guessing does not work and a minute of inattention is visible on the plate. It is also the reason the mechanical egg timer outlived almost every other single-purpose kitchen gadget.
Timings, from the moment the water boils
Every figure below assumes an egg taken straight from the fridge and lowered into water that is already at a rolling boil. Change either of those and the numbers move, which is why no two recipes agree: they are usually describing different starting conditions rather than disagreeing about eggs.
| Egg size | Soft, runny yolk | Medium, jammy | Hard, fully set |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium | 5:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 |
| Large | 6:00 | 8:00 | 11:00 |
| Extra large | 7:00 | 9:00 | 12:00 |
An egg at room temperature runs roughly a minute ahead of a fridge-cold one of the same size. Altitude runs the other way: water boils below 100°C the higher you are, so the egg cooks more slowly and needs longer, not less.
Why a cold-water start throws all of this off
If you put the eggs in cold water and bring the pan up together, the timer has no idea how long your hob takes to get there — a fast induction ring and a tired electric plate can differ by several minutes, and those minutes are cooking time. Time from the boil, not from switching the heat on. If you prefer the cold-water method, watch for the rolling boil and start the timer then, or take the pan off the heat at the boil and use the covered standing time your own recipe specifies rather than the figures above.
Stopping the cooking
An egg left in its shell keeps cooking after it comes out of the water, and a soft yolk turns medium while it sits on the draining board. Lift them straight into cold or iced water for a couple of minutes. It halts the residual heat, and the sudden contraction makes the shell easier to get off.
FAQ
- Do I start the timer before or after the water boils?
- After. The clock only means something once the water is at a rolling boil and the eggs are in it. Timing from the moment you switch the hob on measures your cooker rather than your eggs, and cookers vary by several minutes — which is most of the gap between a soft egg and a hard one.
- My eggs crack as they go in. What am I doing wrong?
- Usually the drop rather than the heat. Lower them in on a spoon rather than tipping them from the carton, and let very cold eggs sit out for a few minutes first so the shock is smaller. A cracked egg still cooks, it just leaks a white plume; a splash of vinegar in the water helps that set quickly.
- Why is the yolk grey around the edge?
- That ring is iron and sulphur reacting, and it means the egg was in the water too long or cooled too slowly. It is harmless and it is a timing signal: shorten the boil by a minute and get the eggs into cold water as soon as they come out.
- Does this work for a fried or poached egg?
- The timer does, the numbers do not. Poaching is roughly three minutes for a set white and a soft yolk, and frying depends on the pan more than the clock. Set those on the countdown timer rather than using the boiled-egg presets here.
