A while back, I received an assignment to round up the best egg poachers. I’ll admit I was skeptical from the beginning. No matter how many professional chefs, recipe developers, or stellar home cooks I consulted with, none actually used an egg poacher. To them, poaching an egg is such a delicate task it had to be done manually to get just the right texture. Like deep-frying potatoes or carving a chicken, poaching is a skill you practice and hone.
After a period of discouragement (and if we’re being honest, procrastination), I decided to take matters into my own hands — as well as the hands of some fellow Strategist staffers. I sat down at my computer and searched for egg poachers online, narrowing down the models I would eventually call in for testing. I based my picks on trusted brands, reader favorites from an old Strategist story on the subject, and ones I found with a notable number of positive reviews. It was an unscientific process but still resulted in a well-rounded list of eight egg poachers in a range of styles: electric machines, a microwavable gadget, specially built skillets, and a couple of small silicone poachers.
I sent out six to colleagues who each kindly volunteered their time to try one out. My only mandate was to use large room-temperature eggs and otherwise follow the instructions of their specific poacher. I kept two — the similar-seeming silicone holders you submerge in water in a pot — for myself.
The feedback that trickled into my inbox was … disappointing. It confirmed my suspicions! Writer Erin Schwartz, who tested the microwavable model, detailed eggs that had a doughnut of too-firm whites surrounding a runnyish yolk in the center. Associate editor Jenna Milliner-Waddell’s eggs stuck to the sides of her insert, a contraption with two nonstick pods and stainless-steel legs you add to a vessel of simmering water and cover with a lid to steam. This happened every time, even when she applied cooking spray. Senior editor Crystal Martin and writer Lauren Ro tried similar types: full pans with built-in holders for the eggs. Both said there were too many parts, called their respective models “cumbersome” to use, and in succinct conclusion, Martin added, “It’s lame.”
There were, in fact, some that worked okay. Two models in particular successfully yielded eggs closer to soft-boiled — certainly not a bad thing if you think you’d value a tool that helps with that technique. Senior editor Jen Trolio liked that her egg-poaching pan from Sur La Table was simple to use and described the resulting eggs as having evenly cooked whites with a runny-enough yolk in the form of a neat little puck. “You don’t get any wet, shaggy egg-white dripping all over, which seems useful,” she said. And some added pluses: “I like that it doesn’t plug in and is just a regular stovetop pan that happens to have an egg insert,” she said. “I also like that it’s stainless steel and glass — very normal and known materials for kitchenware.”
Writer Katherine Gillespie liked her electric Dash model, too (which boasts functions for cooking pretty much all styles of eggs). Though at the end of testing, she declared it’s far better at creating boiled ones than poached ones. “The poached eggs it makes don’t quite fit my definition of the term,” she said. “The yolk consistency is perfect, and you still get that satisfying liquid burst, but there’s a denser layer of egg white than you would get when using a traditional method. I think for anyone who’d want to bulk boil eggs for snacking on or putting in salads or making deviled eggs, this is a no-brainer buy.”
While Trolio and Gillespie were overall positive, I was stuck feeling like neither fit the bill of an egg poacher and I might have to make a plea to my editors to kill the whole story. Still, I committed to at least trying the two that were sitting in boxes in my own kitchen. As I said, they were similar: both a set of two plastic bowl-like gadgets with holes you insert fully into simmering water.
The first was abysmal. The holders themselves were unevenly weighted and tipped to the side in the pot. The eggs felt too big to fit well and subsequently spurted out spindly whites everywhere, leaving irregular protection around the yolks, which cooked too much by the time the whites were set. When all was said and done, they stuck a bit, too. I tried greasing. Same thing.
And then, finally — literally last in the lineup — I found a beacon of hope: the OXO egg poacher. It’s affordable, compact, humble in its build, a bright and appealing yellow — and, crucially, it works.
The contraption is built as two high-sided silicone bowls attached by their bottom surfaces with a fairly large hole in the center. You simmer water in a pot and place them inside so that the perforated part is fully submerged and the top (solid with a little tab so you can easily lift it when done) sticks out. Then you simply crack an egg into the upper chamber so that it gracefully slips through the hole into the bottom cage, which is small enough to create a more controlled environment than a whole pot filled with water. In other words, the egg stays fully contained. Still, the cage is big enough to leave room for it to sway and twirl around a bit without sticking, and the holes let water flow evenly around — to my mind the action that makes this so effective.
The process creates actual poached eggs with a delicate, but distinct, outer layer of soft whites encompassing a fully liquid yolk that streams out beautifully upon contact with your fork. My skepticism was proved (mostly) wrong — so much so that these now have a permanent spot in my cabinet — and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Update on July 24, 2024: Updated prices and checked stock for all products.
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