The Food Lab: How To Poach Eggs

Perfect poached eggs are not easy to make. But we've got a few tricks up our sleeves that'll have you poaching like a pro every single time.

Written by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
Directed by Jessica Leibowitz
2nd Camera: Renata Yagolnitzer
Doodles: Robyn Lee
Music: Danny Ross

[Nikliss]

Sitting in my kitchen, stressing out about brunch as I promised Eggs Benedict to a slew of ladies. I never did master poaching eggs, and if I did manage to cook a few just right, it meant I went through the whole egg carton. Vinegar, water tornado, wrap them in cellophane.. you name it, I tried it. So, It all began in a mimosa infused panic, I started scanning The Google for tips on poaching and came across this video, followed the directions without hesitation and Eureka!!! 8 perfectly poached eggs in one fell swoop. Well done and thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

[SavedandSound]

Those eggs are so beautiful I could cry.

[artistryiscomingback]

Impressed my chef on poached eggs day of culinary school by suggesting this 👍 Kenji, you're the best

[CakedSkein]

Good idea regarding the pre-straining. I do my poached eggs in a bowl of water cracked into the microwave. This way, I can control the temperature and stop the cooking when it reaches the consistency that I want. Since the water doesn't boil, my poached egg doesn't jump around and have whispy bits :)

[lethenereid]

This was the easiest and best method I've used to poach eggs. They turned out beautifully! I'm using the excess egg white to make omelettes :)

[shelliefossen]

Literally works! This is the first time I have been able to make a perfect looking and tasting poached egg!

[petepeet]

Been making oozing gold with great success using this method! Revolutionary!!!! Big up, thanks, you're awesome! Go Internets!

[seriouseats]

Yes, our bad - the exception to the rule is at the beginning of january. The numbers wrap, so numbers starting with 0 are larger than numbers starting with 3!

[andrewmendoza]

Best how to poach an egg vid I've come across. Thx.

[christophersmith]

Great video. I hadn't actually thought about draining the runny whites off of the egg, but since I use a perforated spoon to transfer the egg I've unintentionally always done it that way. And it's been mentioned by other commentors but a higher number on the egg carton won't mean fresher eggs when the year turns and the numbers reset. I think everyone generally understands what you meant though.

[tasted]

Cool technique with the mesh strainer! Also great tip for stirring the eggs around during

[Sokra]

Fantastic! This is a life saver whenever I don't have super fresh eggs handy. I'll definitely be trying this tomorrow morning.

[stephenmilden]

I've tried all the suggestions by folks like Jamie Oliver, etc and none of them worked except this. Thanks!

[jomundtay]

hey chef! this ia an excellent idea! thaks so much! i love food lab so much, i've learnt lots of things in it! :)

[alessandrow]

Definitely going to practice this in quarantine!

[lizzydenhaan]

Haha, I love the format of this video, it made me smile. Good job and good tip, have to poach 8 eggs tomorrow so we'll see if it works better than my usual strategy ;)

[calliequinn]

OMG! this totally totally worked like a charm. thank you, Kenji!! damn, i think of all the batches that didn't work out over the years - i hated making poached eggs. but now!!! woo-hoo!! many thanks. xo

[nikkitennison]

Excellent! Worked perfectly the first time. you're a genius

[JColeComedian]

wow, this method is so easy, just did it and the first egg was perfect the second, not so much. Practice makes perfect.  Thanks for this, been looking for an easy go to recipe. Thanks!

[karinamatos]

I feel so lucky to have found this channel.