Quick Answer: How to Microwave Poached Eggs
You can easily poach eggs in the microwave by simply filling a microwavable coffee mug with some water and breaking the egg in it. Cover the opening with a saucer and put it inside the microwave. Heat it on full power for 30 secs. Wait for sometime after the heating is done and then open the lid and enjoy your poached eggs.
In this comprehensive guide on how to prepare poached eggs in the microwave, I will explain how you can go about this process without much hassle.
Using a microwave to poach eggs is a very popular and well accepted method by various chefs. I too use a microwave whenever I need to get a poached egg ready at my place.
Lets dive right into the process without much delay.
How to Prep Egg before Microwaving
Take a microwave safe coffee mug. Pour half a cup of water in it. Now take an egg and break it, put the insides of the egg in the mug.
Cover it with a saucer big enough to not leave any gap. Place this inside the microwave.
How to Microwave Poached Eggs
To prepare poached eggs using a microwave you need to fill a microwave safe coffee mug with half a cup of water and crack an egg in it.
Use a saucer to cover the opening completely. Put this preparation inside the microwave and turn it on.
Heat it for 30 secs on full power. After this is done wait for the preparation to cool down and then slowly remove the cover.
Check if the egg white is cooked. If not you can resume heating for another 10 secs.
Materials
- Eggs
- Microwavable coffee mug
Tools
- Saucer
Instructions
- Putting the egg in the microwave: Once you have cracked an egg in the coffee mug filled with a little water, cover it with a plate.
Put this inside the microwave and turn it on. - Adjusting the microwave settings: Turn the microwave on full power. Set the timer to 30 secs and click on the start button.
- Ensuring that the egg is cooked: After the timer goes off, take the coffee mug out and open the lid very slowly.
Check if the egg white is cooked using a fork. If not, you can place it back in the microwave and heat it for another 10 secs.
Notes
Temperature:Use full power
Check out this video by Recipe30 to learn how to use a microwave to poach eggs :
Tips to Remember While attempting to Poach Eggs
If you are defrosting pizza dough using a microwave there are certain rules and regulations you should be following for safety. Abiding by these guidelines will also give you better results.
- The coffee mug should be microwave safe, sturdy and dense.
- The larger the mug, the longer it takes for the egg to poach even if the volume of the water is the same.
- You can also add some vinegar along with the water in the coffee mug before cracking the egg. Use half a teaspoon of vinegar for half a cup of water.
- Do not put an in-shell egg in the microwave as it will induce the risk of the egg exploding inside the microwave creating a mess.
- It is better if you can puncture the egg yolk with a toothpick to reduce the chance of it exploding.
- Once it is cooked, drain the egg on a bread or paper towel before serving it.
- Always use the microwave on full power no matter what the wattage of the device.
- When the timer goes off do not immediately take the egg out of the microwave. Let it rest in the hot water for a while so that the whites are properly cooked.
Alternative Ways to Poach Eggs without using the Microwave
If you do not want to use a microwave to poach eggs you can try the same with a pan or an egg poacher. Add some water to a pan and let it start simmering. Crack an egg in a bowl and slide it into the water. Simmer for 4 mins and then pick it up with a slotted spoon. You can also simply crack an egg in an egg poacher and place it on boiling water, letting it cook using the trapped steam.
To poach eggs using a pan, fill it halfway with water and place it on the stove. Heat it till it reaches 250˚F.
Now take a small bowl and crack an egg in it. Slowly and very carefully slide the egg into the water without disturbing the consistency of the yolk.
Let this simmer for 4 mins. Take a slotted spoon and pick it from the water.
Check out this video by Food Network to know how to perfectly poach eggs in boiling water on the stove top :
You can also choose to poach eggs in an egg poacher. This is easily available in the market and very convenient to use.
Simply crack eggs in the different slots of the poacher and place it on top of a bowl with boiling water. Let the trapped steam cook the egg.
Is it Safe to Poach Eggs in the Microwave
It is safe to microwave poached eggs if you keep the cooking time less. Sometimes there are cases of the yolk exploding due to trapped heat. This usually happens because the cook time might have been high. Avoiding this will lead to a safe, hassle free poaching of eggs.
There is always a risk of the egg yolk exploding inside the microwave when you are cooking for a long time.
This happens because the liquid inside the egg boils while being trapped inside the membrane thus causing an explosion.
The danger of explosion can be avoided by reducing the cooking time.
Always abide by the time suggested for making poached eggs. That is, maximum 1 min for soft poached eggs and 2 mins for hard poached eggs.
How Long does it take to Poach an Egg
To prepare eggs in a microwave it takes 30 secs. If you choose to prepare eggs on the stove top it takes longer. The entire process takes up to 4 mins. You can also poach eggs in an egg poacher within 5 mins. This is the easiest method to go about the process.
When you want to poach eggs in a microwave you need to crack an egg into a cup filled with some water. Cover it with a saucer and microwave it for 30 secs.
If you are using the stove top you need to first simmer some water in a pan and then carefully slide an egg into the water and simmer it for another 4 mins.
The easiest way to poach eggs is using an egg poacher. You need to break the eggs in the poacher and place it on top of a pan of boiling water.
The trapped heat will cook the eggs within 5 mins.
FAQs
You need two microwave safe coffee mugs for this process. Brush the insides of the mug with some butter and crack one egg each in the containers.
Cover the openings of the mug with a damp towel. Cook on high power for 2 and a half minutes. If you want to poach 4 eggs you should be breaking eggs in different containers and cooking it for 4 mins.
Set them aside for around 30 secs before serving. This will allow the eggs to cook properly.
Bottomline
I hope this detailed guide has helped you poach eggs at your place with ease using the microwave.
If you have any queries feel free to let us know. We would love your feedback and use it to enrich our work further.
Do share this with your friends and family who love eggs to help them out as well.