Egg Timer

The Free Egg Timer for Perfect Results Every Time

Boiling an egg is one of the simplest cooking tasks—yet it is often the most poorly executed. The margin between a perfectly jammy medium yolk and a dry, chalky hard yolk is less than ninety seconds. That is too narrow a window to leave to guesswork, a wall clock, or vague memory. This free online egg timer removes the uncertainty with one-click countdowns for soft-boiled, medium-boiled, hard-boiled, and extra hard-boiled eggs, complete with a visual progress ring so you know exactly how much time remains.

The timer is designed with the same codebase as our other professional countdown applications - the same ring animation, same audio alarm system, same responsive design that looks good on both desktop web browser, a tablet in your lap on the kitchen counter or a smart phone in your apron pocket. It has no advertisements that disrupted the countdown, no paywalls, and does not require a sign-up. You only need to choose the type of egg, press Start and resume giving your whole attention to your breakfast.

Soft Boiled vs. Medium Boiled vs. Hard Boiled

The fundamental distinction between the degree of doneness of the eggs is the manner in which the yolk and white are cooked by the moment you take the egg out of the water. An egg boiled three minutes has a white which is only slightly set, and the yolk of the egg is entirely liquid and warmer than ever,--ideal in dipping toast soldiers, or in covering asparagus. The six-minute medium boiled egg is the present favourite of cooks of every kind: the white is quite firm, the yolk is firm on the outside and soft, custard-like and slightly orange on the inside. This is the egg that is placed on a bowl of ramen, on the top of a grain bowl, or on half an avocado toast. Eggs cooked nine minutes are fully cooked, its yolk is a pale yellow with no plush core - the perfect one to use in egg salads, sandwiches, devilled eggs, and high-protein meal planning.

Why the Ice Bath Is Not Optional

The ice bath is a well-known technique of every experienced cook, and it is excluded by many amateur cooks - and the one most frequent cause of a well-timed egg being overcooked. After taking an egg out of boiling water, the remaining heat in the egg will cook the yolk one to two minutes more. Cooking a medium egg in six minutes, the yolk is going to be perfectly jammy, but once you peel it nearly hard. Before you even begin the timer, fill a bowl of cold water and a lot of ice in it. And the first thing to do as soon as the alarm fires is to take the eggs, with a slotted spoon, and put them into that bowl. It only takes two minutes in the ice bath to arrest cooking and lower the temperature of the shell to a level where it is easily peeled.

Cold Eggs vs. Room Temperature Eggs: Does It Matter?

Yes; and more than many of you know. A high temperature egg out of a refrigerator at 4degC in boiling water cools the water slightly, and requires more time before it heats completely through the shell to the yolk centre than an egg at room temperature does. The gap may be 60-90s at each level of doneness. The fixed timings of this timer are adjusted to large eggs at room temperature at water already boiling - the procedure that produces the most predictable, repeatable result. When your eggs are chilled out of the fridge, either add 60 seconds to the time you have selected in your preset, or locate your own time inputs and use them to adjust to the very time you have discovered to be the best in your kitchen with your eggs and your pot. Other kitchen countdown applications Our Kitchen Timer will deal with any cooking task and will provide full custom countdown.

Everything You Need to Know to Boil Eggs to Perfection

It is so boiling-an-egg-easy until you have boiled five eggs and are not quite sure that five minutes was enough or that the yolk had a grey-ring or that you are attempting to peel a shell and take half the white away with it. All these are preventable issues. Using a reliable timer, a little trick, and a handful of fundamental principles, it is entirely possible to make perfectly cooked boiled eggs and make them reproducible, reliable, every single morning, every single batch.

The Grey-Green Yolk Ring: What It Is and How to Avoid It

The distasteful grey-green ring that ensues round an overcooked yolk is a medicinal reaction of hydrogen sulphide discharged by the egg white and iron in the yolk - it develops when eggs are overcooked or not cooled correctly after cooking. There is nothing wrong with eating, and is a good indication that the egg is overcooked and will have a gritty dry consistency as opposed to creamy. The solution is two-fold: 1) the use of a timer in order to take the eggs out at the correct time, and 2) the use of an ice bath right after that in order to prevent the further development of the reaction by any leftover heat. These two steps combined will produce a clean bright yellow yolk every time.

The Secret to Peeling Eggs Cleanly

Fresh eggs are very infamously tough to peel, the inner membrane of the egg is tightly attached to the shell, as long as the egg is very fresh. The pH of fresh egg white is less and thus it is more likely to bond to the membrane. The aging of eggs in the refrigerator, during a week or two, causes the increase in pH of the white, the separation of the membrane to a small extent, and the peeling process becomes easier cataclysatically. To obtain the most pleasant peeling experience: boil eggs of at least one week old, put them into an ice bath to cool and then peel under a thin flow of cold running water and begin by peeling at a wide end where a tiny air pocket provides an initial entry point.

How Altitude, Egg Size, and Other Variables Affect Boiling Time

The boiling point of water is lower in high altitude due to low pressure of air i.e. at an altitude of 1,500 metres above sea level, water boils at about 95degC instead of 100 deg C and at 3,000 metres, boils at about 90degC. This reduces boiling point, thus causing eggs to cook at a slower rate at high altitude; add 30 to 60 seconds per 500 metres of height above sea level in case you have found your eggs persistently undercooked with the usual timings. The size of eggs also counts: the presets in this case are adjusted to large eggs (about 55-60g). Medium eggs require approximately 30 seconds less and jumbo or extra-large eggs require an addition of 60 up to 90 seconds.

Storing Boiled Eggs Safely

Fridge life Eggs in shells may be stored up to one week in the refrigerator in their hard boiled state. Peeled ones need to be placed in a bowl of cold water (replaced every day) or in a closed container and consumed in five days. Do not keep peeled or unpeeled hard boiled eggs in the room at higher than 2 hours, bacteria multiply rapidly in the 4degC to 60degC range of the so-called danger zone. Eggs that are soft and medium boiled, and have a runny yolk should be consumed as soon as possible and should not be stored especially by young children, pregnant women, elderly people or by persons who are immunocompromised.

Using This Timer Beyond Eggs

This timer has a custom time input, which makes it applicable to any short time kitchen countdown, including steaming vegetables, blanching green beans, cooking pasta, a caramel in a hurry, or keeping track of a bread proof. Our special Kitchen Timer is the appropriate choice in the case of longer cooking sessions during several stages. To use during timed work when cook, the Pomodoro Timer is the best choice in any kitchen activity that requires attention in short intervals.