Instant Pot Poached Eggs Recipe

Everyone loves a hack that helps get a meal on the table faster and with less fuss. Susan Olayinka, who blogs at The Flexible Fridge, developed an easy way to make poached eggs in an Instant Pot that will forever change your breakfast game. "This hack is absolutely amazing," she told Mashed. "The Instant Pot is just a truly amazing machine." 

This is a method that's going to save you a lot of time. In fact, Olayinka notes, "To poach a regular egg, traditionally you need to babysit it at the stove. You also need vinegar and a good serving spoon so that the egg won't break." Um, raise your hand if this has ever happened to you. Over here!

Meanwhile, as she explained about this Instant Pot poached eggs trick, "You need just one minute — you don't need to babysit the egg at all because the Instant Pot does everything by itself." Amen to that!

You won't need to visit the grocery store if poached eggs are on the menu at your house today. This recipe makes two servings, so you'll need two eggs as well as black pepper, your favorite salt — perhaps Himalayan salt — cooking oil you can spray, and water.

Olayinka told Mashed she likes to serve her Instant Pot poached eggs on slices of sourdough, heaped with wilted spinach, but these ingredients are optional. You can always enjoy your poached eggs on their own, or perhaps you have a hankering for eggs Benedict. 

Meanwhile, Olayinka notes, "I love to make this for breakfast, as it is quick and easy." As in, who would have thought you could eat poached eggs even on busy weekday mornings? Ultimately, no matter how you plan to enjoy yours, and no matter the time of day —  because poached eggs work morning, noon, and night, if you ask us — you will come back to this method again and again.

To start out your Instant Pot poached eggs, you will need two circular ramekins. Before doing anything else, spray each ramekin with the oil so the eggs don't stick. Next, you will fill your Instant Pot with two cups of water.

Now, Olayinka advises home cooks to place a rack inside the Instant Pot for the ramekins to rest on. Go ahead and crack your eggs — one goes in each ramekin. The recipe's creator recommends making sure you crack those eggs on a level table to make the task easy.

Finally, simply place the ramekins oh-so-carefully onto the rack inside the Instant Pot. That's it — you are ready to cook your eggs to poached perfection. With only one minute left until meal time, you'd better hurry up and toast that sourdough and wilt your spinach if you plan on trying Olayinka's full recipe.

You will cook the prepped Instant Pot poached eggs on the "high pressure" setting for one minute. After that time is up, Olayinka notes that you should immediately release the steam in the Instant Pot and take out the eggs. She told us, "This recipe is very, very easy and hard to mess up —  but there is one point." You must take your eggs out after that one minute mark. Otherwise, she explains, "The steam inside the Instant Pot will continue cooking the eggs, making them non-poached."

But, um, what if you aren't sure your eggs are done? Olayinka told Mashed, "You will know that the eggs are not ready because the whites of the egg will still be quite translucent, and they'll still be very runny."

Eggs looking ready? Go ahead and remove them carefully, with Olayinka suggesting that a silicone spatula will work best. Salt and pepper your plate to your preference. Now, enjoy!