Sous vide cooking has revolutionized the way home cooks prepare food by allowing precise control over temperatures. This method is especially useful for cooking eggs, which can be tricky to get just right using traditional methods. Sous vide eggs come out consistently cooked with a creamy, custard-like texture every time.
With a basic sous vide cooker, it’s easy to achieve soft poached, medium boiled, or even jammy sous vide eggs to your exact liking. Sous vide eggs also require no special skills – just a few simple steps and a bit of patience while the eggs gently cook.
Read on to learn all about the benefits of sous vide eggs, and for a complete step-by-step guide to cooking eggs sous vide for flawless results.
What are the Benefits of Cooking Eggs Sous Vide?
Cooking eggs with an immersion circulator or other sous vide device offers several advantages over traditional boiling, poaching, or frying:
1. Consistent Results
Sous vide allows cooking at precise, controlled temperatures. This means your eggs will turn out exactly the same every time instead of having variations in doneness.
2. Easy to Peel
The gentle heating of sous vide makes eggs much easier to peel after cooking. No more wrestling to remove stubborn shells!
3. Customizable Texture
Cooking below boiling temperature enables unique textures like jammy yolksthat aren’t possible with standard methods.
4. Safe to Eat
Pasteurization via sous vide eliminates any risk of salmonella or other food-borne pathogens.
5. Nutrient Retention
The vacuum sealed bags and gentle heating help retain more vitamins and minerals compared to boiling.
How to Sous Vide Eggs: A Step-by-Step Guide
Ready to try your hand at sous vide eggs? Follow these simple steps:
1. Preheat Your Sous Vide Machine
Set your sous vide cooker or immersion circulator to the desired temperature. For soft eggs, 147°F (64°C) is ideal. For fully set hard boiled eggs, go up to 167°F (75°C).
2. Prepare Your Eggs
Gently place room temperature large eggs into a sous vide bag, allowing ample space in between each egg. Seal the bag carefully, removing any excess air.
3. Cook Your Eggs
Lower the sealed bag into the preheated water bath. Cook for 45 minutes for soft eggs, or up to an hour for firm eggs.
4. Serve or Store Your Eggs
Once done cooking, plunge the bag into an ice bath to halt the cooking process. Store sous vide eggs in the refrigerator for up to one week.
How to Get Perfect Sous Vide Eggs Every Time
Getting the most out of your sous vide cooker when cooking eggs is easy when you follow these helpful tips:
1. Use Fresh Eggs
Older eggs have runnier whites that can make peeling difficult. For best results, use the freshest eggs possible.
2. Adjust Cooking Time for Desired Texture
The longer eggs cook, the firmer they become. Refer to time and temperature charts to tweak for your perfect texture.
3. Season After Cooking
For evenly seasoned yolks, add salt, pepper, or other spices once eggs are cooked.
4. Chill Immediately if Not Serving Right Away
Shock sous vide eggs in an ice bath to stop the cooking process if you won’t be eating them immediately.
5. Experiment with Different Temperatures and Times
Part of the fun is testing different combinations to discover your ideal soft, medium, or hard boiled eggs.
Can You Overcook Sous Vide Eggs?
It’s virtually impossible to overcook eggs with sous vide, unlike traditional boiling where a few minutes can mean over or underdone eggs.
Sous vide eggs cooked for longer than the recipe states simply become firm throughout. While the yolk may be hard rather than runny, the eggs will still be tender and delicious.
What Are Some Recipe Ideas for Sous Vide Eggs?
From breakfast to appetizers to desserts, sous vide eggs shine in all kinds of dishes:
1. Soft Poached Sous Vide Egg Salad
Chopped eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, and vegetables come together for an easy egg salad showcasing velvety soft poached eggs.
2. Creamy Scrambled Sous Vide Eggs
For scrambled eggs that are smooth, rich, and custard-like, blend sous vide egg yolks and whites.
3. Rich and Custardy Sous Vide Egg Bites
Make your own copycat version of the popular Starbucks sous vide egg biteswith eggs, cheese, and veggies baked in a muffin tin.
4. Onsen Tamago Sous Vide (Japanese Soft-Cooked Eggs)
Experience authentic Japanese onsen eggs with eggs gently cooked sous vide in the shell.
5. Sous Vide Quail Eggs
Tiny quail eggs become the perfect one-bite hors d’oeuvres when sous vided in batches.
With just a few basic tools and ingredients, you can now make restaurant-worthy sous vide eggs from the comfort of your own kitchen. Adjust times and temperatures to achieve the precise doneness you love. Sous vide offers a foolproof path to finally perfecting your eggs.
