The truly easiest way to "poach" an egg is in the microwave. Use a small microwaveable bowl,such as a custard cup, and spray it with olive oil spray. Crack the egg in the bowl and cover with waxed paper. You may have to play with the cook times, but I cook mine for 45-50 seconds on 60% power. I like my eggs cooked pretty hard so this is usually just right. If you use larger eggs, you may need to cook it just a little longer. It is not truly poached, but is soooo.... easy. I sometimes place cooked ham and/or grated cheese on top and zap it a few seconds more.

I prefer not to use vinegar in the water because it, too, imparts a different flavor - one I personally don't much like. I have found that cracking eggs one by one into a small dish or small shallow bowl, then easing the egg from the dish into the water helps keep the white from "scattering."
Don't even get me started on microwaved eggs! LOL!

If you don't like the vinegar in the water for different reasons, you can always use an egg ring on a flat bottomed pan and simmer them in the egg rings :)

I am confused, can you please clarify the instructions for using an egg poacher? I just bought one and it didn't come with instructions! Do you boil the water with the little egg holder in place, or stick it in (cold) with egg after water has reached a boil?
thanks!

Remove the egg holder, bring the water in the pan to a boil, crack egg into egg holder, put egg holder back into pan. ~Elise

Love the site by the way and agree that your method does yield a wonderfully cooked poached egg. However, I don't subscribe to the idea of using an egg poacher - somehow the shape ends up so consistent that the egg looks 'processed'. There is a certain charm about the random nature of a perfectly poached egg. The very crucial thing you failed to mention though is the freshness of the egg. A 2 week old egg will break up the moment it hits the water. Use a 2 day old egg and the yolk will stand proud and the white will huddle closer together than emperor penguins on a particulary icy day... Oh and make sure it's free range.

Not sure if this qualifies as a 'poached' egg but it sure is good and easy - using a muffin pan, butter and then press bread into each muffin place, then, crack an egg on top of each piece of bread and you can either broil or bake at 350 for three minutes or longer - it's a great breakfast for young kids to make too - use a spatula to remove from pan.

I am using an egg poaching pan. You mentioned that the water must first be boiled then you put the cup with egg in. Must the pan remain on the warm plate (after boiling) when you put in the egg cup or must the pan be totally removed from the hot plate?
Thanks a lot!

Am amazed at the many interesting ways to attack an egg for poaching. I've been poaching eggs for my family for years with no complaints, but for me it's still a crap shoot. About half the time and I have had to throw one ot two to the dogs.

My Method: Crack 6 eggs in a small bowl and set aside. Put 2 qts. water in a 3 qt. sauce pan and bring to a medium boil. Add 1/4 cup white vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt. With a slotted spoon, while the water is boiling, start the water swiriling around in a clockwise direction (I've not tried counter-clockwise) as fast as it will go without slopping out of the pan. While the water is spinning let it coast while pouring the eggs into the center of the spin (vortex). The rest is routine; I time by inspection.

The spinning water draws the egg whites in toward the yokes and the vinegar helps set the whites more compactly. I don't know what the salt does. This method produces beautiful compact-looking poached eggs.

This works every time. Problem: My family and I like eggs from hardly cooked to nearly hard. How does one remove the hardly cooked ones, and then the medium cooked ones, and hold them warm without further cooking while finishing the last two nearly hard ones. My "solution" is to put the finished eggs in a hot water holding bath until I am done done, but this usually overcooks the first and second batches, or cools them off, depending on the temperature of the holding bath. I think the secret must be in getting the temperature of the water in the holding bath just right because I have seen this holding method used by chefs in cafeteria lines.

Help, please.

Alex Coyle 11/17/07

I time my poached eggs by the toaster. push the toaster plunger down, crack an egg into boiling slightly-vinegared water in a non-stick frypan, toast pops up, butter real fast, scoop egg from water with slotted spoon, put on toast. It produces an almost perfect poached egg everytime...whites set, yolk runny. you may have to play a bit with the toaster/egg drop to get your timing down pat.

Oh yeah... runny yolk, mixed up with crumbled toast...that's how I've been eating my eggs since I was four. Ok, I've added a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper since I turned forty, but its all good. Simple cooking can be simply the best, like Elise.

It's really not this complicated. Bring salted water to a rolling boil. Turn OFF the heat. Crack an egg and, holding it as close to the surface of the water as you can safely manage, slip it in. Cover the pan. Set your timer for two minutes. When the timer beeps, drop your toast. When the toast is done and buttered, remove the cover from the pan, retrieve your perfectly poached egg with a slotted spoon and set it on the toast.

I like to put a poached egg on top of yellow rice with salsa and some shredded cheese on top. The yolk oozes into the rice; very yummy and very cheap. When I'm less destitute, I like to add spicy sausage to the rice. Friends always look askance the first time I feed this to them, but they always like it. I call this ranchos heuvos (ranch style eggs) , but I just sort of assigned that name to it.

I like this method of poaching eggs for two reasons: 1) it uses less energy to cook the eggs, and 2) since the water is no longer being heated the egg whites don't get dispersed as much. However I found that 4 minutes was too long as the yokes were almost fully cooked and I like them runny. Three minutes was just right though. I had two this morning served on toasted, buttered sourdough English muffins with a little fresh ground salt and pepper.

Interesting. I find with our poacher that 4 minutes still makes a runny egg. Too runny in fact. After the timer goes off at 4 minutes, I let the eggs sit in the pan for another 30 seconds. Now, the difference could be due to the size of the eggs. Jumbos will take longer to cook than Large, for example. ~Elise