How to use the egg timer
First choose a method. Into boiling water is the default: bring a pan to a full, rolling boil, lower the eggs in and start the timer as they go in. It is the most repeatable method because the clock starts from a known temperature. Cold-water start is the method British Lion Eggs gives: put the eggs in the pan, cover with at least 2.5 cm of cold water, heat, and press Start when the water is almost boiling. Its times are much shorter because the eggs have been warming up with the water.
Then pick how you like your egg (runny for dipping soldiers, jammy for ramen and salads, medium for a just-set fudgy yolk, hard for egg mayonnaise and devilled eggs), the size printed on the box — or duck or quail — how many eggs are going in, and whether they are from the fridge or at room temperature. The time appears on the egg straight away.
Once the eggs are in, turn the heat down so the water simmers steadily rather than rattling them about. The egg fills as the time runs down and the yolk on screen firms up to match the doneness you chose. +30 s adds a little time — or snoozes the alarm. Have your own favourite time? Type it in the custom box as minutes and seconds, such as 6:15.
When the alarm sounds, press Stop alarm (or Esc) and lift the eggs straight into cold water. If you were out of the room, the display counts up (+0:40) so you know how long they sat in the hot water. For peeling, press Start 2 min ice bath to time the cooling too.
Boiled egg cooking times
Where the numbers come from: the boiling-water times for room-temperature eggs follow Great British Chefs' published times (medium runny 5:00, hard 9:00), with about a minute added for eggs straight from the fridge and small steps for size. The cold-water times are British Lion Eggs' — 3 minutes really soft, 5 medium, 8 hard for large eggs timed from almost boiling — with jammy (4 minutes) in between; the other sizes are our estimates. Duck and quail times are our estimates from common kitchen guidance. UK egg sizes: small under 53 g, medium 53–63 g, large 63–73 g, very large over 73 g.
| Egg (boiling-water start) | Runny | Jammy | Medium | Hard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small, from fridge | 5:15 | 6:15 | 7:45 | 9:15 |
| Medium, from fridge | 6:00 | 7:00 | 8:30 | 10:00 |
| Large, from fridge | 6:30 | 7:30 | 9:00 | 10:30 |
| Very large, from fridge | 7:00 | 8:00 | 9:30 | 11:00 |
| Medium, room temperature | 5:00 | 6:00 | 7:30 | 9:00 |
| Large, room temperature | 5:30 | 6:30 | 8:00 | 9:30 |
| Duck, from fridge | 8:00 | 9:00 | 10:30 | 12:00 |
| Quail, from fridge | 2:15 | 2:45 | 3:15 | 4:00 |
| Large, cold-water start | 3:00 | 4:00 | 5:00 | 8:00 |
A runny egg has a set white and a completely liquid yolk. Jammy means the edge of the yolk has started to thicken while the centre is still glossy. Medium is set all the way through but still soft and deep yellow. Hard is firm and pale with no wet centre — go much beyond eleven minutes and a grey-green ring of iron sulphide forms around the yolk. British Lion's own boiling-water recipe gives a shorter 4 minutes for a gooey large egg; if you like a very loose white, start from that and use the custom box.
Why do fridge eggs need longer? An egg at 4 °C starts roughly 16 degrees colder than one at room temperature, and it takes about a minute of simmering to make up the difference. Cold eggs are also more likely to crack when they hit boiling water, so lower them in slowly.
Boiling eggs at altitude
Water boils at a lower temperature the higher you are, because there is less air pressure pushing down on it: roughly 1 °C lower for every 300 metres (about 1,000 feet). At 1,500 m water boils at about 95 °C, and in La Paz, at 3,600 m, at around 88 °C. Cooler water pushes heat into the egg more slowly, so the same egg needs longer.
Rather than a fixed "add a minute" rule, the timer uses the standard heat-conduction model of egg cooking (worked out by Charles Williams and popularised by Peter Barham): cooking time grows with the logarithm of how far the egg has to travel from its starting temperature towards the water, compared with how close the yolk centre has to get. The timer works that out at your boiling point and at 100 °C and scales the sea-level time by the ratio, using the right yolk target for each doneness (about 62 °C runny, 65 °C jammy, 70 °C medium, 77 °C hard). The effect is smaller than simple rules of thumb suggest: about 14% longer at 1,500 m and about 30–40% at 3,000 m. Worked examples for a large, fridge-cold, jammy egg:
| Altitude | Water boils at | Jammy, large, from fridge |
|---|---|---|
| Sea level | 100 °C | 7:30 |
| 1,000 m (3,300 ft) | 96.7 °C | 8:10 |
| 1,500 m (4,900 ft) | 95 °C | 8:30 |
| 2,000 m (6,600 ft) | 93.3 °C | 8:55 |
| 3,000 m (9,800 ft) | 90 °C | 9:50 |
Enter your altitude in metres or feet and every time in the table updates. Below about 1,000 m the difference is under a minute, so most of the UK can ignore it. The correction is capped at 5,000 m; above that, a pressure cooker is the reliable answer. It is a model rather than a kitchen test at altitude, so treat the first batch as a check and adjust with +30 s.
Tips for perfect boiled eggs
- Use enough water. Eggs should be covered by at least 2 cm, and the pan shouldn't be crowded, or adding them will knock the water off the boil and every time will run short. Cooking more than six eggs? Set the egg count and the timer adds 30 seconds (boiling-water method).
- Simmer, don't gallop. Once the eggs are in, turn the heat down to a steady simmer. A hard boil bangs the eggs together and cracks them.
- Stop the cooking. An egg keeps cooking from its own heat for a couple of minutes. Soft eggs should go to the table at once; jammy, medium and hard eggs should go straight into iced water.
- For easy peeling, older eggs (a week or more) peel more cleanly than very fresh ones, and cooling in iced water for two minutes helps the membrane come away. Tap the wide end first — that is where the air pocket is.
- Cracked shell? A splash of vinegar in the water helps the escaping white set quickly and seal the crack.
The timer keeps accurate time from timestamps anchored to the wall clock, so you can switch to a recipe in another tab and the alarm still sounds on time, and a phone screen that locks mid-boil still shows the right time when you unlock it. Cooking a second batch to a different doneness? The link under the controls opens it in a separate timer tab. It is the same engine as our online timer, which is better if you are timing several things at once — and for a longer session in the kitchen, the Pomodoro timer keeps work and breaks in rhythm.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I boil an egg for a runny, dippy yolk?
With the boiling-water method, a medium egg straight from the fridge needs 6 minutes and a large egg 6 minutes 30 seconds; room-temperature eggs are about a minute quicker. With British Lion's cold-water start, a large egg needs just 3 minutes from when the water is almost boiling. Serve at once, because the yolk keeps setting.
Should I start eggs in cold water or boiling water?
Both work; they just need different times. Boiling water gives more repeatable results because timing starts from a known temperature. The cold-water start used by British Lion Eggs is gentler on shells, and you time it from when the water is almost boiling: 3, 5 and 8 minutes for large eggs. Choose the method at the top and the timer uses the matching table.
How much longer do eggs from the fridge take?
About a minute longer than eggs at room temperature for medium, large and very large eggs, and 45 seconds for small eggs. The egg starts around 16 degrees colder, so it needs extra simmering to reach the same yolk temperature. Lower fridge-cold eggs in slowly to stop the shells cracking.
How do I adjust egg boiling times for altitude?
Enter your altitude and the timer works it out. Water boils about 1 °C lower for every 300 metres, so heat reaches the yolk more slowly. Using the heat-conduction model of egg cooking, an egg needs about 14% longer at 1,500 metres and roughly 30–40% longer at 3,000 metres. A 7 minute 30 second jammy egg becomes about 8:30 at 1,500 m and 9:50 at 3,000 m.
Will the egg timer still go off if I switch tabs or lock my phone?
In a background tab on a computer, yes: the alarm is booked in advance on the audio clock. The countdown is anchored to the wall clock, so if your phone locks it shows the right time when you unlock it and rings then if the eggs are done. A locked phone usually cannot play the alarm itself, so tick Keep screen on or turn on notifications.
Why is there a green ring around my hard-boiled egg yolk?
It is iron sulphide, formed when sulphur from the white meets iron in the yolk after long cooking. It is harmless but looks unappetising and usually comes with a rubbery white. Stick to the hard-boiled time in the table rather than going longer, and cool the eggs in iced water straight away.