Eggs have recently become a staple in my diet, especially when it comes to breakfast times – there’s nothing quite like a poached egg with salmon on toasted sourdough bread.
However, unlike when it comes to making fried eggs, cooking poached eggs is not my strong suit.
I always find that whenever I try to poach an egg in a pan the whites end up falling apart and straying from the yolk.
After spotting a video on TikTok by @chefspartypants on how she was able to poach an in just 44 seconds in the microwave, I wanted to see if it was as easy as she demonstrated it to be.
After several failed attempts – two of which resulted in the eggs exploding in the microwave – I finally settled on the perfect time that’s right for my 900W microwave which was 60 seconds.
All you need for this tip is a microwave-safe cup, some water, a toothpick or sharp knife and a microwave-safe plate.
It is best to use as fresh as possible eggs with this cooking method as older eggs may take longer to cook and have mixed results.
Also, room temperature eggs work best to take the eggs out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking if you have the time.
I started by filling a quarter of the cup with water before cracking the egg into it. You want to make sure that there’s enough water to cover the top of the egg.
The next step was to piece the yolk with the toothpick, alternatively, you can use a knife or a fork to do this.
Piercing the yolk is vital as this stops the egg from exploding. It’s then important to cover the cup with a microwave-safe plate. Should the yolk explode, the cover keeps the mess in the mug, not all over the microwave.
I then put the egg in the microwave for 44 seconds before inspecting it for the first time. The whites and yolk were still not cooked, so I left it in for a further 16 seconds.
After a second look, the egg appeared to be done. Once cooked, I scooped the egg out of the cup with a tablespoon and then placed it on a paper towel before adding it to a slice of toasted and buttered sourdough bread and topping with salt and black pepper.
The egg came out with a runny yolk and tasted great, but it could’ve done with being slightly runnier.
While the egg is impressively quick to make in the microwave, it does take a lot of trial and error to figure out the timings for your microwave.
