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Reheating Soft-Cooked Eggs

Can soft-cooked eggs be reheated while maintaining their runny yolks?

As we discovered while developing our Soft-Cooked Eggs recipe, attaining a warm, runny yolk and a set but tender white requires attention and precision. Our winning formula starts with fridge-cold eggs and 1/2 inch of boiling water in a medium saucepan. Once the eggs go into the pot, we cover it and cook them for exactly 6 1/2 minutes before shocking them under cold running water. Given this delicate dance of time and temperature, we wondered if it was possible to reheat a soft-cooked egg without overcooking the perfectly runny yolk. We tested reheating dozens of eggs until we found a method that warms the yolk only to 110 to 140 degrees so it stays runny.

For up to six unshelled, refrigerated soft-cooked eggs, bring 1/2 inch of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Using tongs, gently place the eggs in the boiling water, cover, and cook for 3 1/2 minutes. Remove the eggs with the tongs and serve; the yolks will remain warm and runny for up to 15 minutes. We don’t shock the eggs when reheating because we’re relying on the principle of carryover cooking to gently warm the yolk (which is already cooked perfectly) without cooking it further. (Note: We found that we couldn’t give guidelines for reheating soft-cooked eggs that have simply cooled down versus chilled in the refrigerator. The exact temperature of the eggs—and therefore the reheating time—depends on how long they have been sitting at room temperature.)

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