Instant Pot Hard and Soft Boiled Eggs
Perfectly cooked eggs that are easy to peel by steaming them in an instant pot pressure cooker. You can make either hard or soft boiled eggs!
Eggs come out perfectly cooked and very easy to peel by steaming them in a pressure cooker, like an instant pot. This might not be a new discovery for you but it is for me and I’m so excited to share my results!
I’ve been wanting to share some instant pot recipes, but first I need to start with these eggs. Yes, eggs are easy to make on the stove. But I’ve constantly struggled with peeling soft boiled eggs. I’ve tried all the tips out there: adding baking soda to the water, puncturing a small hole in the bottom of the egg, ice bath, etc. While the tips help, the eggs are still hard to peel and I can’t ever seem to get them out of their shell completely whole.
And then I discovered the instant pot method for making eggs. Not only is it quick and easy, but the soft boiled eggs peel as easily as the hard boiled eggs. When eggs are steamed, there is a pressure difference from the exterior of the egg, separating the egg white from the shell. While this can also be achieved through traditional steaming, I’ve read that the results aren’t quite as consistent, but with the pressure cooker, you have a more controlled environment making it much easier to achieve good results.
Look at the beautiful whole peeled egg! Now if only my knife had been sharp enough to cut through smoothly.
My instant pot has been a beloved kitchen appliance in my kitchen for about a year now. The multi-pressure cooker acts as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, steamer and more. I love being able to cook dishes faster in it, but my favorite uses have been for the more basic things. For instance, it cooks rice in half the time and the rice comes out fluffy and perfectly cooked, like the rice in nice ricer cookers.
I only learned about the instant pot methodology for cooking eggs recently and it’s been a game-changer. I can’t wait to use this to make soft boiled egg recipes like my potato salad and deep-fried eggs. It’s also great for making hard-boiled eggs too.
The top eggs are the hard boiled at 5 minutes. The next is cooked at 4 minutes. They are cooked but still a little bit soft in the yolk. The next one down is at 3 minutes. Here, the egg yolks are partially cooked and partly runny. This is my ideal for soft boiled. The final one is at 2 minutes, where the yolk is very runny.
Update! Now updated with video:
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Instant Pot Hard and Soft Boiled Eggs
Ingredients
- 4-6 large eggs, straight out of the fridge (you can do less or more, see notes below)
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Add 1 cup of water to your instant pot. Place in the trivet (that comes with the instant pot) or use a metal steam baskets. Place eggs on the steam basket or trivet.
- Seal your instant pot and set to steam (high pressure) for 2 minutes (for very runny yolk), 3 minutes (for partially cooked yolk), 4 minutes (for almost cooked yolk but not yet completely solid) or 5 minutes (for hard boiled).
- Your instant pot should take about 5 minutes to reach the pressurized stage. While you wait for that, prepare an ice water bath for your eggs to stop the cooking. As soon as the eggs are done cooking, immediately use the manual rapid release to depressurize. It's important that you do this for the soft boiled eggs, otherwise they will cook too much while waiting for the pressure cooker to depressurize. (For the hard boiled eggs, I found you can either do the rapid release or allow them to sit in the pressure cooker for about 5 minutes for a natural release and then ice bath and the results are about the same.) Immediately remove eggs and place into ice bath for 5 minutes.
- When eggs are cool, gently crack eggs starting from the bottom and remove shells. Make sure to wait until eggs are completely cooled. A few times I got impatient and tried to remove the shells while they were cool enough to touch but still warm and the shells were much harder to remove.
Notes
- I usually do 4-6 eggs but I've also successfully done less (1-2) and I've read that you can do more at a time (8-12). You just don't want to cook so many eggs at once that you can't keep them as a single layer. The cooking time and amount of water stays the same if you reduce or increase the amount of eggs. These times are based on the instant pot. Traditional pressure cookers are a little different in power and so the cooking times will also be different.
- Nutrition estimate is for six servings.
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I used a silicone trivet with handles and cooked 6 eggs for 4 minutes. Perfect medium boiled eggsand it peeled so easily. Thank you for this, that way I didn’t have to do the eggsperiment.
I’m so glad it worked out well for you!
Any guesses on how much time to add for extra large eggs? Jumbo eggs? I’d like to get them to the same point as the eggs you cooked for 3 minutes.
Unfortunately I have not tested with extra large or jumbo eggs. My guess would be one extra minute but that might actually be too long.
I noticed a couple of people asking if you can cook more than 6 eggs at a time. I just wanted to share that I cook 30 at a time using a steamer basket (in my 8QT IP). No need to have them in a single layer. And yes, they can touch the sides of the basket with no issues. We have chickens and I hard boil anywhere from 40-100 eggs in the IP each week. Hope this helps!
thanks for sharing!
I am not sure you will see this as it’s been a couple years but I have my fingers crossed. I have chickens and use my steamer basket as well. Doing a dozen at a time. I am in high elevation Nevada – did 3 minutes and then 2 minutes and they are still VERY cooked.
Did you follow this description exactly with yours?
I’m guessing that farm-fresh eggs means not refrigerated, which is how many of us in the UK tend to keep eggs at home? I’ve tried low pressure for 1 minute, quick release and still can’t get a properly runny yolk 🙁
It’s a great method for hard-boiled eggs though, thanks!
Sorry to hear you can’t get the runny yolk.
Farm fressh would mean not pasteurized which I think also isn’t done in the UK. I think the big difference here is pasteurization so it might be worth trying if you can find pasteurized.
I’ve on multiple occasions done as many eggs as I can fit in my IP and they’ve come out fine every time.
Thanks for sharing! I haven’t yet tried to test the max amount of eggs it can do at once. I will have to figure it out someday
Have had my Instant Pot for a year now and finally got around to trying boiled eggs. I used two cold large size eggs straight from fridge, pressed Steam (first time using this button), pressed the Adjust button to More, 3 minutes, manual release and finished with the ice water bath. Perfect soft boiled eggs and never been so easy to peel. I will never make boiled eggs any other way again. Thanks for the instructions!
So glad your eggs turned out well! This is the only way I boil my eggs now too
I did five eggs at 2 minutes. The eggs were “large” and straight from the fridge and immediately went into an ice bath. The yolks weren’t completely set but weren’t runny at all. 🙁 Guess I’ll have to keep making soft boiled eggs on the stove or play around with low pressure
I’m sorry to hear that. I haven’t ever had issues with the yolks being completely cooked at 2 minutes. Did you make sure to do a quick release right away? Also, are you working with fresh farm eggs? Those are the only eggs I am aware of where this method doesn’t work as well.
Wow, I just steamed a dozen eggs. I selected 4 minutes and they all came out perfect! I couldn’t wait for the ice bath to cool the eggs and peeled one with no issues at all! That never happens to me! Thanks for this post Kirbie!
so glad this worked out for you!
Did not really work very well for me. I just got my Instant Pot and tried out making 2 eggs according to another blogger’s instructions for using low pressure and steam, which took longer, but the claim that the whites taste “chalky” on high pressure. So I wanted to compare. I followed your instructions. I did a 4 minute egg, since our eggs are from a local farm and are typically smaller than store bought eggs. They can also vary greatly in size in the carton. I selected 2 eggs that were roughly the same size. One egg turned out looking like a 3 min egg, the other was less cooked than the 2 min egg.
I’m sorry to hear that. I’m not sure why yours is having varied results. I wonder if it is actually your IP that may not be heating correctly since your two eggs cooked different amounts and it should be the same for both.
I think farm fresh eggs are very different than factory produced white eggs. i had the same problem. maybe it is something to do with the shell? they are definitely stronger than the paper thin store bought variety. just a thought!
Yes that seems to be the case. I haven’t tried this with fresh eggs but it seems like people who have had issues with the timing were using fresh eggs.
I just ordered the Instant Pot today, for $59 on Amazon Prime Day (even cheaper than it was back around Cyber Monday)! The first thing I’m going to try cooking is eggs. Your instructions are so helpful, especially with the pictures. I’ll be happy if the eggs turn out at all and are easy to peel, although I would say that we try to get them on the stove top to turn out according to your picture of a 4 min egg. Although we would also eat the eggs if they turned out as the least cooked that you show, although at that point, the white is never cooked (on the stove top) and the egg falls apart when we peel. Our eggs tend to be very temperamental as they come directly from a farmer and often vary in sizing. But even with that, similarly sized eggs batches often turn out very differently even when cooking them the same exact way with the same exact cook time, cool down time, etc. So I am very excited to try this out when the Instant Pot arrives in 2 days.
5 minutes with 5 minutes then release gave me green rimmed yolks
I would try it with the quick release then. Though I haven’t had any issues with the yolks when I do the 5 and 5.
I have the double egg stacked accessory. Do I still just add one up of water and follow your directions?
I think that should work!
I made eggs for the first time last night and set it to “steam” since I do not have a manual button for 2 mins. I was going for soft boiled eggs, but they came out hard as a rock. What did I do wrong?
I’m not quite sure. Are you using large eggs? Also did you do a quick release and immediate ice bath? If you do a natural release or you don’t do the ice bath, the eggs will continue to cook.
Yes, quick release and then a cold bath (our ice maker is busted). I get my eggs from Costco and they come in a 24 pack… I guess they are smaller than usual?
Hmm, sorry I can’t be of more help. The only thing I can think of is if your pressure cooker took longer to pressurize. You mentioned you don’t have a manual button so I am going to assume you aren’t using the Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1, which is what I used. If your pressure cooker takes longer to pressurize, then you would need to reduce the amount of time the eggs are cooking. Also you want to use the minimum amount of water needed to allow the cooker to pressurize. 1 cup is what is needed for mine, which is why I used 1 cup.
I know it’s been a while since this post, but I can’t find the answer to this anywhere. Do you know of a conversion chart for cooking times for the 8 qt vs the 6 qt Instant Pot? I got the 8 qt, since I wanted to be able to make large roasts; however, I didn’t think about the fact that a larger cooker would require more time to come up to pressure….which means that most of the recipes that I found online wouldn’t work! For example, I tried making hard boiled eggs using 5 minutes on high pressure on the egg setting & doing the instant release. The eggs were definitely very hard boiled. I then tried 2 minutes on the same settings. The egg was still what I would consider a hard boiled, but the whites aren’t as hard as the 5 minute setting. To achieve a gooey egg (not hard, but not really runny), should I try using low pressure or reduce the time after the cooker comes to pressure? Or should I reduce the water that I add to the pot? My pot is taking about 25 minutes to come up to pressure with 6 eggs on a rack and 1 cup of room temp water. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Enna, Unfortunately I have not worked with an 8qt pot so I don’t really know. I would say that you probably can’t add less water because each pot has a required minimum amount of liquid and I think the 8qt one might actually be a higher amount. There is a facebook group dedicated to Instant Pot users and they might be able to help if you pose the question there.
I have the 8 quart, and I follow these directions and they work great. I like mine soft, and have been cooking then for 2 minutes, but I leave them in for almost a minute after then rapid release and ice bath.
I’m happy this recipe works out for you with the 8 quart!
I have a 3qt IP and they recommend 2 cups (500ml) of water. I can usually get away with 250 ml, but for a 8 qt IP, I think you need at least 2 cups of water to build the head of stream.
Never had soft boiled eggs until I read this article…… I have seriously been missing out! I’ve made many hard boiled eggs with my IP, I don’t think I’ll ever make hard boiled again. Thank you!
Oh wow! So glad you enjoy them!
Thanks for posting this. I just made my first Instant Pot eggs based on this post and they turned out wonderfully.
they look great! thank you for sharing!
Oh, and they were large eggs between 57 and 63 grams by definition, starting at room temperature.
the times I provided are for eggs that are cold, straight from the fridge. Since your eggs are at room temp, then you should reduce time slightly
I did a 4 minute cook, and a 3 minute cook. I followed exacly with quick release and ice bath of 30.0 degrees F. My eggs were still hard cooked in both cases. My next time I will be two minutes.
It may be that your pressure cooker runs a little hotter or perhaps the eggs you were using were smaller? I hope it works for you at 2 minutes.
I also have to adjust cooking times with my Instant Pot for eggs. I did 3 minutes and left it on Keep Warm for 1 minute. They came out pretty well but were terribly hard to peel which doesn’t usually happen to me when I steam them to hard boiled consistency in the IP. Not sure why that happened. I may try 4 minutes next time on high pressure.
did you do the ice bath right after cooking them? I found the ice bath is pretty key to keeping them easy to peel as opposed to just letting them cool on their own.
I had a weird result. I did the 3 minute eggs on high pressure, and the yolk was still entirely uncooked, even cold inside. I’ll just have to try 4 or 5 minutes next time. I seem to always need more time for Instant Pot recipes and I don’t know why. It sort of defeats the purpose of it and is a bit discouraging, since soft boiled eggs on the stove only take 6 minutes cook time and turn out perfectly. It has been the case on two completely different units that my recipes come out undercooked based on the times I’m seeing on recipes. I don’t live at a high altitude or have my refrigerator set extremely cold or anything. Used the high pressure on the Steam setting. Hmmmmmm.
I guess the size of the eggs is probably important. Maybe mine were larger eggs than what you and others used.
The size of the eggs will definitely affect cooking time. I’m also wondering if there is something wrong with your IP
I just tried 2 batches and the same results as this – went through 6 eggs and they were definitely raw in the middle.
Same thing just happened to me, but with a 4 min egg. And my eggs are on the smaller size, from a local farmer. I also just got my Instant Pot and this was the 2nd thing I tried in it. I had tried following another set of instructions for using the low pressure for 9 minutes and that worked fine. I let the pot completely cool and then tried this high pressure version for 4 minutes. I did it with 2 eggs (just like the low pressure version), and both eggs that were about the same size cooked completely differently. One of the eggs looks more like the 3 min version, the other egg looks less cooked than the 2 minute version. I think I will wait the extra 5 minutes and go with cooking eggs according to the low pressure instructions I had used first.
This is frickin’ awesome. They come out perfect! Had the instant pot for years. Never thought about doing eggs until I recently read that the company founder’s daughter always has perfect soft-boiled eggs with it. Found your great article and SHAZZAM!
haha, so glad you were able to have success!
Used this to finish off a batch of 7 older eggs. I must have cracked one slightly because when I opened the pot, there was a web of whitish fluff connecting all the eggs and I thought something went terribly wrong! The “busted” one looked lumpy and overcooked after removing shell… the rest (uncracked) were fine and peeled easily! I guess I now know what happens if I mess up haha!
I’m glad they still turned out okay except for the busted one!
Apologies, I am new to Instant Pot. Do I start timing from when the pot get pressurized?
Many Thanks!
you can set the timer on the instant pot and it won’t start the timer until after it is pressurized. So the recipe times is for after it is pressurized.
Thank You!
Perfect! I love the 4 minute result, bright orange-yellow yolks, just cooked. And they peeled very easily too!
yay! glad you had good results. I love how easy they are to peel!
I cooked eggs today per your instructions and they came out PERFECT! thanks for posting your Instant Pot tips!!
yay I’m so glad!!
My good friend KD received one of these as a Christmas gift. She was quite excited. I may have to invest in one of these!
I have a lot of friends that got it during the Black Friday Amazon sale. It was $30 off! I got mine at full price but still think it was worth it. I use it almost everyday.
Wow, that’s a great deal!
Have you ever cooked a large number of eggs at the same time? When making deviled eggs for a large group, I’ll usually cook 24 eggs at the same time. Would this work in the instant pot?
I have not tried to cook more than 6 at a time. I think it can cook up to as many as you can place on a single layer, but if you try to place them on top of each other, then they aren’t getting steamed evenly. I do think you can probably do your 24 eggs in two batches.
I successfully do 12-14 very large eggs at one time, haven’t yet tried to do a second layer in one pot. Just finished doing 3 batches , helping the Easter bunny out….
This is the only way I make hard boiled eggs now. I do 16 eggs at a time for 4 minutes for perfect hard boiled eggs. At that many eggs 5 minutes is too long and you get some dried out gray yokes.
It’s the only way I like making my eggs too
A rack is available on amazon so you can do 14 or so at a time. Just used it with the info here and have some great – very easy peel soft boiled eggs.
At Easter I did 14 dozen hard boiled eggs for deviled eggs. I did 24 at a time in a steamer basket. 1 cup water, 4 minutes low pressure at 5K feet. Perfect eggs!