a white china egg cup on a white plate, with a soft boiled egg opened and a solder being dipped in the yolk

Soft-boiled Eggs

7 minutes - 8 minutes

Vegetarian

This recipe is from Delia's Complete How to Cook.

Obviously every single one of us has a personal preference as to precisely how we like our eggs cooked.

Over the years I have found a method that is both simple and reliable, and the various timings set out here seem to accommodate all tastes.

You can now watch how to boil eggs in our Cookery School Video, just click the image to play.

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Method

First of all have a small saucepan (or the right sized saucepan depending on how many eggs you need) filled with enough water to cover the eggs by about 1cm.

Bring it up to the boil and when large bubbles are breaking on the surface quickly but gently lower the eggs (from room temperature) into the water, one at a time, using a tablespoon. Now switch the timer on and give the eggs exactly 1 minute's simmering time.

Then remove the pan from the heat, put a lid on it and set the timer again, giving the following timings:

6 minutes will produce a soft, fairly liquid yolk and a white that is just set but still quite wobbly.

7 minutes will produce a firmer more creamy yolk with a white that is completely set.