How To Make a Soft Boiled Egg (Step-by-Step Recipe)

June 08,2024

Learn how to make the perfect soft-boiled egg, which should be firm, have custard-like whites, and a warm runny yolk..
The perfect soft-boiled egg should have firm, custard-like whites and a warm runny yolk. Serve with a spoon for scooping and plenty of buttered toast..
The perfect soft-boiled egg should have firm, custard-like whites and a warm, runny yolk — this is what my host mother taught me when I lived with her family in France for a summer in high school, and it's still the standard to which I hold my soft-boiled eggs today. An egg like this is just right for scooping daintily from the shell and eating with buttered toast soldiers, an experience that always feels simultaneously sophisticated and happily childlike to me. Making soft-boiled eggs might feel slightly trickier than hard-boiled eggs, but it's nothing that can't be mastered in the space of a Saturday morning! Here's a step-by-step tutorial to teach you exactly what to do.