Instant Pot Soft Boiled Eggs

Benefits of eating a boiled egg: 6g of protein and 9 essential amino acids. 2 eggs is equal to a protein serving. They’re great on ramen, with runny yolks on top of avocado toast or waffles, or perfectly cooked hard boiled on top of salad. 

I love eggs on top of everything. They’re a perfect and complete food! So much so, that I like to keep them in the fridge regularly to keep from snacking on junk food. 

When I first started doing instant pot recipes, I never thought I’d switch from stovetop eggs to the Instant Pot. I’m partial because I can do stovetop eggs at 30 second intervals and rotate my eggs for even cooking, creating a creamy center.

The Instant Pot has a major thing going for it: it’s CONSISTENT. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Once you figure out the right formula to get your eggs exactly how you want them, you’ll never have to think about it again. Just know your magic number and voila! Perfection.

You don’t need an egg rack for this recipe, but I’ve heard it’s a nice gadget for holding your eggs in place if you like to make a lot at once. Personally, I do my soft boiled eggs just one egg at a time, up to four eggs at a time (I haven’t tested what happens when you crowd the eggs yet). Whereas I do my hard boiled eggs about six at a time.

So you have consistent results with mine…
Know that I’m not at high altitude (eggs will take an extra minute or so if you’re at high altitude), and my Instant Pot is the Duo 3 quart. Size may play a factor in your results, and so will how many eggs you make.

Here’s a chart for finding your perfect temperature:

My personal favorite way is steamed for 3 minutes. Then I release the steam, put the timer on for an additional 20 seconds while filling my ice water bath, then immediately open the lid and transfer to the bath (as soon as the timer is done) for 2 minutes. This gets me a really moist center that’s a little thicker than gravy–what I like to call jammy eggs with firm egg whites.

The ice bath stops the cooking process immediately and helps you peel the egg a little easier. If you hate peeling, roll the egg before you start. It seems to help.

If you aren’t eating your eggs right away, do just the 3 minutes so the egg yolks turn jammy as they sit. Also, let me know if you try this method for Ramen eggs…I still do traditional boil for my ramen eggs.

Note about high pressure vs. steam function: I tried making these eggs for 3 minutes on high pressure and it was pretty much the same results as the steam method as long as you don’t cover your eggs in water. Cooking the eggs fully covered in cups of water didn’t work well because you would only need 30 seconds to cook them (the Instant Pot works in 1 minute intervals). 

5 from 6 votes

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Instant Pot Soft Boiled Eggs

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 4 eggs (straight from the fridge)
• 1 cup room temperature water
• 1 Bowl of ice water

Instructions

1. Put metal rack in the Instant Pot

2. Fill room temperature water up to metal rack height (about 1 cup)

3. Evenly distribute eggs over rack

   

4. Cover Instant Pot container and make sure the “sealing” knob is on

5. Set "Steam" cycle for 3 minutes, or desired time (reference chart above to determine how heavily boiled)

6. Quick release immediately and prep a bowl with ice water

Recipe Notes

If you let the eggs sit for 1-2 minutes before putting in cold water, it will be a normal hard boiled egg (great for deviled eggs) instead of the perfect soft boiled egg. 4 minutes is the perfect medium boiled eggs.

Leave me a comment and let me know:

• How long you leave your eggs in the pot for your perfect soft-boil

• Where you live (so we know if you have high altitude eggs)