Boiled Egg Timer
How long it takes to boil an egg depends on how you like it and how high up you are — pick a doneness below, then add a little time the higher your elevation.
Bring a pan of water to a rolling boil, gently lower the egg in with a spoon, and start the timer for the doneness you want. The moment it rings, lift the egg into a bowl of ice water so it stops cooking.
- Higher up, a little longer — water boils cooler the higher you are, so eggs cook more slowly. Add about 1 minute for every 1,000 ft (300 m) above sea level.
- Bigger eggs, a little longer — jumbo or extra-large eggs need roughly 30 seconds more.
The alarm sounds only while this page stays open. Keep the tab visible for anything important. Why
🥚 Egg timers on Amazon
Prefer a timer that lives by the stove? Popular picks:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Disclosure.
How to boil an egg
Pick how you like your egg — poached, soft, medium or hard — and the time above the egg updates to match. Roughly: poached and soft leave the yolk runny, medium gives a soft, jammy centre, and hard sets the yolk all the way through.
Bring a pan of water to a rolling boil, gently lower the egg in with a spoon, then press Start. A rooster crows when the egg is done — tap Stop alarm to silence it, and cool the egg in ice water so it doesn't overcook.
The cook times assume roughly sea level — add a little time the higher your elevation (tap More instructions above). Running behind? Tap Reset to start over.
Want a plain countdown timer instead? Use the timer, or time something with the stopwatch.