Want to make pressure cooker hard boiled eggs or a perfect soft boiled egg, but not getting the results you want? You’ve come to the right place! We’re taking the guesswork out of making the perfect pressure cooker eggs with our “eggsperiment“. 😉

Jump to: Eggsperiment | Recipe

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Wait, didn’t you just post about soft boiled eggs? Yep! So why another one?

As we were testing our recipe for the Ramen Egg (Japanese Soft Boiled Egg), we ran into a problem. We first tried cooking the eggs for 3 minutes at low pressure, then quick release. We weren’t satisfied with the outcome. You’ll see why below.

So how long should we cook the eggs in our Instant Pot electric pressure cooker to achieve the perfect soft boiled egg? Or medium boiled eggs? What about perfect hard boiled eggs?

Let’s get cracking!!!

High Pressure vs. Low Pressure?? We first tested whether we should use high pressure or low pressure to cook the eggs for best results. For the high pressure eggs, the egg whites turned out to be slightly chalky (more noticeable for older eggs). We preferred the egg whites from the low pressure eggs, so, we proceeded the rest of the experiment with cooking the eggs at low pressure. Then, we’ve cooked the eggs using the exact same method using ten different cooking times.

Method For Perfect Pressure Cooker Soft, Medium, Hard Boiled Eggs Pressure Cooker: Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker

Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Altitude: close to sea level

close to sea level Eggs: store-bought extra large eggs, straight from the fridge

store-bought extra large eggs, straight from the fridge Liquid: 1 cup of cold tap water

1 cup of cold tap water Time: 3 to 14 minutes (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 minutes)

3 to 14 minutes (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 minutes) Pressure: Low Pressure at 5.8 ~7.2 psi (40 ~ 50kpa)

Low Pressure at 5.8 ~7.2 psi (40 ~ 50kpa) Release Method: immediately Quick Release

immediately Quick Release Cold-Water Bath: 30 seconds of cold water bath, rinse under cold running water for 5 seconds, then another 3 minutes of cold water bath

30 seconds of cold water bath, rinse under cold running water for 5 seconds, then another 3 minutes of cold water bath Cooking Method: on a steamer rack In order to ensure the accuracy of this experiment, we started fresh with a cool pot for each run. So, after each run, we removed the hot water from the pressure cooker and rinsed the pot and rack with cold running tap water until the pot has cooled down.

Tools to Make Pressure Cooker Soft, Medium, Hard Boiled Eggs Are you ready? Here we go! Vegetable Steamer – We normally use the trivet that came with our Instant Pot Pressure Cooker (as shown in the above picture). For those who use other electric pressure cookers, this steam rack & basket will work great.

The Pressure Cooker Eggs Results

Hey what happened to the 3-minute one?! Before we go into that, let’s take a closer look at the yolk of these Pressure Cooker Eggs. 😀

5 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – egg white is just set; yolk is thick and runny

6 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – egg white is fully set; yolk is slightly cooked on the edge, but it’s still thick and runny



7 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – egg white is fully set; yolk is half set, the middle is still runny

8 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – egg white is fully set; yolk is 80% set, still a little wet in the middle – egg white is fully set; yolk is half set, the middle is still runny– egg white is fully set; yolk is 80% set, still a little wet in the middle



9 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – egg white is fully set; yolk is set but tender, no more runny yolk

10 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – egg white is fully set; yolk edge is hard boiled, still tender in the middle – egg white is fully set; yolk is set but tender, no more runny yolk– egg white is fully set; yolk edge is hard boiled, still tender in the middle



12 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – egg white is fully set; yolk is almost fully set

13 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – egg white is fully set; yolk is fully set (sorry for just having a quarter of the egg…Jacky “accidentally” ate it before we took the picture -___-) – egg white is fully set; yolk is almost fully set– egg white is fully set; yolk is fully set (sorry for just having a quarter of the egg…Jacky “accidentally” ate it before we took the picture -___-)



14 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – egg white and yolk is fully set

Okay! As promised. First take a deep breath…here it is…3 Minutes Pressure Cooker Egg – Yep, saved this last, as it might gross some of you out. – egg white and yolk is fully setOkay! As promised. First take a deep breath…here it is…– Yep, saved this last, as it might gross some of you out.

Perfect Pressure Cooker Soft, Medium, Hard Boiled Eggs Tips Note: Making pressure cooker eggs is easy. But if you want perfect eggs, be mindful that many factors affect the results of your eggs: Altitude (our eggsperiment was done at close to sea level)

Amount and temperature of the cooking liquid

Amount of eggs

Size of the eggs

Freshness of the eggs

Pressure setting

Pressure release method

Cooking method (on a steamer rack or directly in the liquid)

Resting time & method (cold water bath/ice bath) So test and adjust to your situation! 🙂 Now we’re curious, which one would YOU consider to be the perfect hard boiled egg, perfect medium boiled egg, and perfect soft boiled egg? And which one is your favorite? Tell us in the comments! 🙂 Now it’s YOUR turn to take out your pressure cooker and cook some Perfect Pressure Cooker Soft, Medium, Hard Boiled Eggs!