Last Updated on June 29, 2022 by Rebecca Huff

Do you wish you could make perfect poached eggs? Have you tried swirling the water, adding stuff to your water or even plastic bags (ewwww) to make your poached eggs look amazing?

It really is simple to make perfect poached eggs, you just need to know how and I’m going to share a technique that has worked for me over and over again.

The fresher your eggs are the better your results will be. It’s the opposite of boiled eggs really. With boiled eggs it’s better to have not as fresh eggs, but there are ways to obtain easy to peel boiled eggs as well, and you can watch my video demonstration of that at this link.

I am able to use the freshest ever eggs because we have backyard chickens! I know that many people can’t go out to the back yard to grab an egg, so I’d like to suggest a few ways to get fresh eggs:

Find someone in your community who has backyard chickens with eggs to sell
Search your local farmer's market
Many CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) offer eggs as part of the weekly pick up
Local Farms listed online do a Google Search
Health Food Stores often carry local eggs (such as EarthFare, Whole Foods, etc.)
Supermarket Chains have even started carrying local eggs

No matter where you get your eggs, if you use this technique you will still have success. Tools you will need:

Mesh Strainer
Pan of boiling water
Slotted spoon

No Fail Method

Fill pan halfway full of water, you can salt it if you want to
Over medium high heat start your water lightly boiling, you don’t want a rolling boil. You’ll see little bubbles forming
Crack your egg into the strainer over a bowl and allow all the watery liquid to strain through.
Roll the egg out of the strainer into the water Drop any additional eggs in to the side (You can cook several at once just don’t overcrowd them and If you are doing several, you’ll want to rinse the strainer in between so it doesn’t build up cooked egg whites)
Use a slotted spoon gently roll the egg over so it cooks evenly

For a soft poached egg let it cook 2 minutes and about 4 minutes for a firmer egg.

Poached eggs can be prepared ahead and later warmed in a bowl of hot water just before you’re ready to serve them. They can be stored in the fridge approximately 36 hours, so typically from one day to the next you'll want to serve them.

Making your poached egg so that it doesn’t have the wispy parts makes it look so much more professional. However, don’t worry if you do end up with wispy bits because you can trim them off with scissors if you really want to.

We love a perfectly poached egg and especially eggs benedict over a steak, a fresh homegrown tomato or avocado instead of bread.

Suggestions for poached eggs:

Over sauteed onions
Over a warm avocado
Over a steak
Over bacon
On top of ham
Over a bagel, English muffin, toast, biscuit or other types of bread
In a bowl of soup
Over zucchini noodles
Over a bed of Not Naughty noodles (for Trim Healthy Mamas)
Over a plate of beans for Slow Carb dieters

Enjoy and don't forget to pin this post! Watch me make No Fail Perfect Poached Eggs Here

*all Trim Healthy Mama store links have been removed from this post, I apologize for any inconvenience*