Are Old Or Fresh Eggs Better For Soft-Boiling?

Eggs are incredibly versatile. Popular for breakfast, they can be enjoyed all day long, either on their own or as a part of a more complex dish. And one of the most popular ways to enjoy eggs is a boiled egg. Although hard-boiled eggs are extremely popular, soft-boiled eggs, with their soft and gooey texture, have their place, depending on the dish. They're great for dipping toast soldiers into, or spreading onto a piece of toast. Soft-boiled eggs also work in place of poached eggs, or as an alternative to scrambled eggs when used in a tortilla. They're also fantastic as a delicious and hearty topping to add to a bowl of ramen.

Most people probably know by now that you want to use older eggs when it comes to making hard-boiled eggs, since older eggs are much easier to peel than fresher eggs, critical when it comes to making dishes like deviled eggs. But what about soft-boiled eggs? Do you still want to use older eggs or is it actually better to use fresher eggs?

As Rosemary Trout, the program director and professor of Culinary Arts & Food Sciences at Drexel University explained to Martha Stewart, you want to use fresher pasteurized eggs when cooking soft-boiled eggs, since the fresher the eggs, the less likely that there will be bacteria; using fresher eggs will also lead to better looking soft-boiled eggs, with vibrant yellow yolks and brighter egg whites, which become more apparent given how soft boiled eggs are often consumed, such as being scooped out of its shell.

As for cooking the soft boiled eggs, there are all kinds of unconventional methods for cooking eggs that you can use in addition to just boiling them in a pot, such as making boiled eggs in a coffee maker. Just be careful of how long you cook your eggs. The longer you boil eggs, the firmer the egg yolk becomes. For the ideal soft-boiled eggs, cook them for four to five minutes, and no longer than eight minutes for eggs that are still soft and creamy. You can even make soft-boiled eggs ahead of time and store them in the fridge for easy prep.