Instant Pot Poached Eggs
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Last Updated on July 28, 2022 by Lisa Johnson
How would you like your eggs? The age old question asked millions of times each year. If your answer is scrambled, then you will be disappointed with this post. If you are looking for a simple way to prepare poached eggs that does not require boiling any water, then these Instant Pot Poached Eggs are for you! Now you can have poached eggs cooked exactly the way you like them in 2, 3, 4, or 5 minutes.
For even more delicious pressure cooker recipes, check out the Instant Pot Recipes page.
Okay yes, you will also need time for your pressure cooker to come up to pressure, but that is still less time than it takes to boil water. 😉
You will need silicone egg cups in order to make these Instant Pot Poached Eggs. I used these ones from Amazon. {affiliate links} There was enough room left over to add at least one more egg cup, so I just ordered a second set….which was delayed….so I will come back and let you know exactly how many I managed to fit into my Instant Pot when they finally arrive. 🙂
How to make Instant Pot Poached Eggs:
Place the trivet that came with your Instant Pot in the bottom of the liner and pour in 1 cup of water. Spray each silicone cup with Pam cooking spray or rub with ghee/butter.
Crack each egg and pour it into the prepared cup…..
Very carefully place the silicone cups into the Instant Pot.
Place the lid on the Instant Pot, twist to lock in place, and turn the knob to the Sealing position. Push the “Steam” button and adjust the time based on your desired doneness.
When the timer beeps, carefully release the pressure and remove the lid.*
Very carefully remove the silicone cups from the liner.
You may need to use a large spoon to break the seal between the egg and the silicone cup, but then they slide right out. Do Not use a knife!!
Serve immediately.
I used my Instant Pot Poached Eggs to make Classic Eggs Benedict…five times last week….so yummy!!
Recipe Notes & Tips:
- *The steam has condensed on the lid and will drip onto your eggs. Twist the lid to unlock, then tilt to keep the water on the edge of the lid until you can position it over the edge of the liner or move it straight to the sink.
- I experimented with Pam cooking spray, olive oil spray, grape seed oil spray, and ghee in these silicone egg cups. The eggs with the olive oil, would not come out of the cups without a fight…so that was a dud, as was the grape see oil.
- The Pam and the ghee worked the best, with minimal loosening around the edge with a large spoon.
- I did not try coconut oil because I am allergic to it, but I have heard that it works well.
- I cooked 4 eggs at once, and I also cooked them 1 at a time. The cooking times are the same no matter how many eggs you put in the pressure cooker.
Are you are wondering why the 5 minute egg is runny but the Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs are are fully cooked in 5 minutes? It is because you release the pressure immediately with the poached eggs, but wait for 5 minutes with the hard boiled eggs. 😉 I know that at least one of you was about to ask that question.
Some additional Egg breakfast recipes for you to try:
- Instant Pot Bacon-Cheddar Egg Bites
- Instant Pot Egg Bites – like Starbuck’s, but without the cottage cheese…since I’m lactose-intolerant 😉
- Eggs Benedict Pizza
- Asparagus Brunch Pizza
- Whole 30 Breakfast Burrito – egg as a tortilla, it’s a thing
- Bacon Egg and Cheese Croissant – when you want the real deal…carbs
Enjoy!!
Instant Pot Poached Eggs
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Place the trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot liner and pour in 1 cup of water.
- Spray each silicone cup with Pam cooking spray or rub with ghee.
- Crack each egg and pour it into the prepared cup.
- Very carefully place the silicone cups into the Instant Pot.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot, twist to lock in place, and turn the knob to the Sealing position.
- Push the “Steam” button and adjust the time based on your desired doneness.
- When the timer beeps, carefully release the pressure and remove the lid.*
- Very carefully remove the silicone cups from the liner.
- You may need to use a large spoon to break the seal between the egg and the cup.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- *The steam has condensed on the lid and will drip onto your eggs. Twist the lid to unlock, then tilt to keep the water on the edge of the lid until you can position it over the edge of the liner or move it straight to the sink.
- I experimented with Pam cooking spray, olive oil spray, grape seed oil spray, and ghee in these silicone egg cups. The eggs with the olive oil, would not come out of the cups without a fight…so that was a dud, as was the grape see oil.
- The Pam and the ghee worked the best, with minimal loosening around the edge with a large spoon.
- I did not try coconut oil because I am allergic to it, but I have heard that it works well.
- I cooked 4 eggs at once, and I also cooked them 1 at a time. The cooking times are the same no matter how many eggs you put in the pressure cooker.
I have little glass dishes, could I use them? I loved poached eggs so much, this sounds amazing!
That’s an excellent idea Angela, they might spread a bit more but I bet that would work. 🙂
OMG. Thank you so much for this.
You are so welcome!!
I have an 8qt instant pot – would I still only put a cup of water in the bottom?
I believe so, Erika but you should check the manual to be sure.
Did you give a timing chart, for the different levels of doneness? How long for soft poached etc…
The times are listed on the very first image on the page, Shannon.
Perfect! Thanks. Silly me 🙂
I tried this at 3 minutes with the pods you show. Absolutely perfect!! You’re right, once you kind of break the seal a bit at the top, they come right out beautifully. I had some leftover Hollandaise sauce from the other day. I put it into a silicone cup also to reheat along with the eggs. Perfect again! I purchased those same silicone pods to use several years ago and was not happy with the result on the stove top.. Looks like I’ve come full circle! Thank you so much for the recipe! i ordered a trivet with 2 inch tall legs so I can make these for company too.
Yay, I am so happy they worked for you Linde and that you get to use your pods!
Oh, btw, do you think if I did 8 eggs, the time would be the same? What’s the largest batch you’ve done? Thank you in advance.
Yes, the time is the same no matter how many eggs you fit in your pot, but don’t overcrowd them.
I used my silicon muffin “pan”, and they came out perfect! Could only make two at a time, but I didn’t have to buy another kitchen doodad ?
That is awesome Kimberly!! I’m so glad it worked for you. 🙂
Hi, I did 3 mins and ended up with 4 hard boiled eggs (I bought the silicone cups you have in this post). I have an 8 qt instant pot. Any ideas why? Gonna try 2 mins tomorrow.
I have no idea why yours would cook so much faster, Olga. I do not have an 8 quart so I don’t know if that has something to do with it?? I hope 2 minutes works for you. 🙂
Did you start with cold eggs? Farm fresh counter top eggs cook quicker if they aren’t cold from the fridge.
What altitude are you at? When I do this at 4 min the whites are totally raw in the middle.
I am 1,180 feet above sea level in the middle of the Arizona desert. 😉 There seems to be quite a bit of discrepancy over cooking times with different Instant Pots, with no rhyme or reason as to why they are different.
I am a weirdo who likes my poached eggs cooked all the way through, so I bought a set of those egg cups and followed your procedure, adding a 5 minute natural release at the end of the cooking time. Perfection!
I am so happy to hear that you like them, Julie!! Thank you so much for letting me know. 🙂
Were your eggs straight from the fridge or room temperature and what size were they. I usually use large or extra large.
I used Large eggs Elaine, and they were straight out of the refrigerator.
Hey Lisa,
Just a question, when you say you opened the vent after the timer beeped, and then took the lid off, did you wait for the red button to go down? My eggs are coming out hard boiled and not poached, but I am thinking it is because I am waiting extra time for the red button (pressure indicator) to go down.
Hi Ashley, no I do not wait for a button to go down. My pressure cooker does not have a red button, once the pressure is out and the lid unlocks I take it off.
You need to wait for the button to go down! Don’t ever try to remove the lid on a pressure cooker when it still has pressure!
So, I followed the instructions to the letter, with a time of 3 minutes. My IP showed “ON” for some time; maybe 10 minutes, with steam coming out before counting down from 3. The eggs are hard-cooked.
What did I do wrong?
It doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong, Mark. The 10 minutes before it started counting down is the pressure cooker building up steam. There appears to be differences among individual Instant Pots. You will need to try different times and see which one works best with yours. Sorry, I have no idea why they do not all cook exactly the same.
I love poached eggs on a bed of spinach as a breakfast treat. So I thought I would kill two birds with one stone, steaming the spinach along with the eggs. I coursely chopped the spinach, put it into a steaming basket, then I used silicone cups designed for muffins (they worked well), nestling the cups in among the spinach, ensuring that they were firmly on the bottm of the steamer. Since this was my first time trying it, I set the timer for 4 minutes, then released the steam immediately. The result? Great, but needs a little tweaking. The eggs were slightly overdone, and the spinach a tad over-steamed for my taste. So next time, I’ll reduce the time to 2 minutes and am quite sure everything will turn out perfectly! Thanks for this Lisa!
/ jd.
That sounds like an amazing breakfast John, I will have to give that a try!!
Tried this again (steamed spinach and eggs together) this morning, setting the timer to 2 minutes. Absolurley perfect!
/ jd
Awesome, thanks so much for letting me know!!
I have tried to make poached eggs twice both times they came out hard. First time did them 3 mins with quick release and second time 1 min with quick release. Took pot 7 mins to start the 3 & 1 min cook times on steam and we are at sea level. I don’t understand how you got the eggs to be as shown in your pics
There seems to be some differences in the Instant Pots, Sandra. I am not sure what makes the difference, I really wish I did!!! You may need to contact Instant Pot and ask for suggestions, they may know the answer. 🙂
I’m wondering if the quantity of water may be an issue. A large quantity of water will take longer to heat up, and cooking will occur as the water heats, even before full pressure is reached. I used only a tad over half a cup. Since it’s only steaming for a few minutes, there’s no chance of the pot running dry.
the egg pods in your picture are not the same as ones in your link. Either fine?
Either one should work fine, Jo. They discontinued the ones that I originally used so I picked the ones that were closest to mine.
These are great! I used 4oz glass mason jars, sprayed with Pam for 3 mins. They were delicious but I’m going to try again with less time (my yolks were cooked @ 3 mins) Hopefully less time will give me ooey gooey yolks.
Lisa! Just made these for breakfast – did the 4 min then qr. Made a version of “avocado toast” w micro greens salad minus the toast. ( low carb and a WW 3 pointsplus )
Perfect and quick ! So happy this showed up near the top of my google search. I used the link to order the cups from amazon – used butter- could not have been easier. Only wish I could have uploaded my picture – ?
That is awesome, thank you so much for letting me know Lorrie! I am so glad that I show up at the top of the google search as well, you just made my day! 🙂
Should pressure be set to Low or High?
I used High Pressure, Rachel. 🙂
I just got my instantpot and I’ve been searching through tons of beautiful instantpot entree recipes on Pinterest trying to find the perfect “first” recipe to make. Then I saw your post with these beautiful eggs and just knew I had to try it! I totally suck at making eggs…especially poached eggs, which are my favorite. I fired up my instantpot pot, followed your directions and held my breath. Perfection! They came out exactly like the picture and I couldn’t be happier! Thank you for the clear direction and great pictures!
I love poached eggs. I dont know how many different types of egg poachers I have bought over the years and threw away. A bunch for sure. I would always go back to making them in simmering water. But they aren’t very pretty. After following your directions they came out perfect! I took a photo of the perfect eggs and sent text with photo to my daughter’s and told them I finally made the perfect poached egg. Thank you so much!
You are welcome Vicki, I am so glad that they worked out for you!!
I live in Phoenix, Arizona and I just did 3 minutes in my 6 qt Instant pot, eggs were almost fully cooked, no runny yolk at all. Next time I’ll try 2 minutes. I used my thin silicone muffin cups, so that may account for the difference. I did steam setting for 3 minutes, immediately released pressure.
I wonder if the egg bites cups would work with the lid off
Yes, it would Shearon. I only place the lid on top to keep the water from dropping down off the lid. 🙂
why is it necessary to use these silicone cups? i have 2 that I’ve used just in a pot on the stove. why not a ramekin
It is not necessary, it just gives them a cute shape and they pop out easily.
I’ve been using custard cups(glass) and pressure with varying results. Also been using Pressure cook at 4 minutes. The release makes a difference. Will try the steam setting next time.
Our first use with our new InstaPot was poached eggs. Followed these instructions and the eggs came out great, I love poached eggs and never have them because I just can’t get them right, either whites are too runny, or yoke is well done. First crack we did 2 minutes, which was too runny. Put back in for 3 minutes and they were perfect. Thank you. Can’t wait for tomorrow morning,
This is so perfect. I did mine for 3 minutes and they came out perfectly delicious. Thank you for this recipe.
I am so glad you enjoy them Lorelei! Thank you so much for letting me know. 🙂