Egg Timer Get the app

How to tell if an egg is fresh

Put the egg in a glass of water: a fresh egg lies flat on the bottom, an older one stands upright, and a floating egg is old — inspect it very carefully or discard it. After cracking, your nose has the final word: a bad egg smells unmistakably wrong.

The float test

The classic, and still the quickest. Fill a glass with cold water and lower the egg in:

  • Lies flat on the bottom — fresh. Cook it however you like.
  • Stands upright on the bottom — older, but typically fine. In fact, this is your ideal boiling egg: eggs around a week old peel much more easily than very fresh ones.
  • Floats — old. Don't cook it sight unseen: crack it into a separate bowl, look, and smell — or simply discard it.

Why it works: an eggshell is porous, and moisture slowly evaporates through it over the weeks. The air cell at the blunt end grows as the contents shrink, and a bigger air cell means more lift. The float test is really an age test — and age isn't the same as spoilage, which is why a floater deserves a careful look rather than an automatic bin.

What the date on the carton means

In the EU, the best-before date on eggs is set by law at 28 days after laying. That makes the carton surprisingly informative: count 28 days back from the best-before date and you know exactly when your eggs were laid — and whether they're in the very-fresh window (great for frying) or the week-old sweet spot (great for boiling).

A best-before date is not an expiry cliff. Raw eggs keep for several weeks in the fridge, and an egg a few days past its date that passes the float test and the sniff test is very often fine — especially thoroughly cooked, say hard-boiled at 10:00. But the older the egg, the more the burden of proof shifts: test, inspect, and when in doubt, discard.

The sniff test and candling

The float test estimates age; the sniff test decides. Crack the egg into a separate bowl — never straight into the pan or the batter — and smell it. A good egg smells of almost nothing; a bad one is unmistakable, immediate and sulphurous. There is no ambiguity here, which is what makes it the definitive test.

Candling is the old inspector's technique: hold the egg against a strong, focused light in a dark room and look through the shell. You'll see the air cell at the blunt end — small in a fresh egg, large in an old one — and the shadow of the yolk. It takes a little practice, but it lets you judge an egg without opening it, which is exactly why graders still use it.

Match the egg to the job

Freshness isn't just a safety question — it's a cooking question. Very fresh eggs, with their tight whites, hold their shape beautifully and are the ones to fry or poach. Eggs around a week old are the boiling sweet spot: still perfectly good, and far easier to peel. Older eggs that pass the tests are best cooked through rather than left runny.

Once you've picked the egg, the rest is timing: 5:00 soft, 7:00 medium, 10:00 hard for a size-M egg straight from the fridge, lowered into boiling water. The tests on this page tell you the egg is good; Egg Timer makes sure the cooking does it justice.

Keep reading

Good egg found — now cook it right

Egg Timer knows the times for soft, medium, hard and extra hard on stove, induction and egg cooker — and rings like an alarm clock, even on silent.

Download on the App Store

Coming soon to the App Store

Frequently asked questions

Is a floating egg always bad?

Not always — floating means the air cell has grown, which means the egg is old, not necessarily spoiled. Crack it into a separate bowl and smell it before using it, or discard it if you'd rather not gamble.

How long do raw eggs keep in the fridge?

Several weeks. In the EU the best-before date is set at 28 days after laying, and refrigerated eggs that pass the float and sniff tests are often good somewhat beyond it — cooked through, cautiously.

What is candling?

Judging an egg by holding it against a strong light in a dark room. The size of the air cell at the blunt end shows the egg's age — small means fresh, large means old — without cracking the shell.

Are week-old eggs still good for boiling?

They're actually ideal. Eggs around a week old are perfectly good to eat and peel far more easily than very fresh ones, whose inner membrane still clings to the white.

What's the definitive test for a bad egg?

The sniff test. Crack the egg into a separate bowl and smell it — a spoiled egg is instantly, unmistakably obvious. If it smells wrong, discard it; if in doubt, discard it too.