Poached eggs elevate a dish with their simple elegance but they can be so tricky to make without a mess.

11:05, Sun, Feb 2, 2025 | UPDATED: 11:05, Sun, Feb 2, 2025

Poached eggs on toast with avocado, asparagus, tomatoes and sprout for healthy breakfast

I tried a new way to poach an egg — it has changed the way I make them forever (Image: Getty)

There's something ever so special about a poached egg. It has a subtle elegance that a boiled, fried or scrambled egg just doesn't have. 

Less oily than its fried version and softer than a boiled egg, it elevates any dish, especially a breakfast or brunch, as its yolk oozes out on to a crunchy piece of toast below. 

But another thing that makes the poached egg feel special is that getting it right takes skill. A poached egg is not easy to cook and it's very easy to make a mess or even ruin the whole thing.  

So when I read about a new way of making a perfect poached egg in just one minute with no pan needed, I knew I had to give it a go. It seemed to good to be true. 

A raw egg in a small glass

The first thing you need to do is crack your egg into a glass (Image: Steffan Rhys)

In fact, it works exactly as sold. I ended up with a perfectly round poached egg, with none of those stringy bits left either hanging from a sorry-looking egg or floating around in some horribly cloudy pan water. 

Here's how to cook a perfect poached egg without a pan

1. Crack your egg into a glass — you can also use a mug here. In fact, I was a bit worried that a glass would crack in the microwave so please use your judgement.

2. Pour some water into the glass — I used around the same volume of water as there was egg, with maybe an extra drop added too. 

The raw egg in the glass seen from the side

The raw egg in the glass before any water was added — I added roughly the same amount of water (Image: Steffan Rhys)

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3. Put the glass, mug or whatever microwave-safe vessel you are using in the microwave, and microwave on high for one minute. 

4. Using oven gloves or a towel to protect your hands from the heat remove your vessel from the microwave and then remove the egg from the water. It should be perfectly smooth and with a moist middle. But microwave strengths vary — so you may need to experiment before you find the right time for your perfect poached egg. 

For other ways to cook the perfect eggs, you can try this air fryer poached egg method and this method to get "fluffier and tastier" scrambled eggs.