What's the difference between a 6-minute and a 7-minute egg?

Mostly the centre of the yolk. At 6:00 the yolk is still largely liquid; at 7:00 it's thick and jammy with a soft heart. The white is firm in both — the last minute belongs almost entirely to the yolk.

Can I make medium eggs in an egg cooker?

Yes — plan 10:00 total from the moment you switch it on. Egg cooker times include the heat-up phase, which is why they're longer than stove times.

Do medium eggs need the cold-water shock?

More than any other doneness. Carry-over heat keeps cooking the yolk after the pot, and the jammy stage is narrow. A brief cold rinse stops it exactly where your timer stopped.

How do I peel a medium egg without wrecking it?

Give it a brief cold-water shock first — that stops the cooking and helps the shell release — then tap and peel gently. A medium egg gives more under pressure than a hard one, so take your time.

Can I cook several medium eggs at once?

Yes, but give them room. A single layer and plenty of water, so the boil recovers within seconds of the eggs going in. A crowded pot drops below boiling for a minute or more, and that minute comes straight out of your 7:00.

Medium boiled egg time

A medium-boiled egg takes 7 minutes: size M, straight from the fridge, lowered into water at a rolling boil. You get a fully firm white and a jammy yolk — thick and creamy at the centre, just set at the edge. On induction, 6:30; in an egg cooker, 10:00 total including heat-up.

What "medium" actually means

Medium is the doneness people mean when they say "jammy": the white is completely firm — no wobble, no glassy patches — while the yolk is thick, glossy and creamy, set at the rim and soft at the centre. It sits exactly between a runny soft-boiled egg at 5:00 and a sliceable hard-boiled egg at 10:00.

Because the yolk firms up gradually from the outside in, every 30 seconds in this range visibly changes the centre — which makes medium the most personal of the four doneness levels.

The 7-minute method

Bring enough water to a gentle rolling boil to cover the eggs.
Lower the fridge-cold eggs in one by one with a spoon.
Start the timer: 7:00 on the stove, 6:30 on induction.
Keep the water at a steady boil throughout.
When the timer rings, take the eggs out and rinse them briefly under cold water.

The cold rinse is not optional at this doneness. An egg carries enough stored heat to keep cooking after it leaves the pot, and a jammy centre is only a minute away from fully set. A brief shock stops the yolk exactly where the timer left it — and makes the shell a little more cooperative when you peel.

Adjusting the 7:00 reference

7:00 assumes a size-M egg straight from the fridge on a regular stove. Shift it when your setup differs:

Variation	Adjustment
Size S	about −30 s (around 6:30)
Size L	about +30 s (around 7:30)
Size XL	about +60 to 90 s (around 8:00–8:30)
Room-temperature egg	roughly 30–60 s less
Induction hob	6:30 — faster boil recovery
Egg cooker	10:00 total from switch-on, incl. heat-up

The full matrix of sizes and doneness levels is in the egg size chart. Whatever you adjust, keep the method itself constant: boiling water, spoon, timer, cold rinse.

What happens inside the egg at 7 minutes

The jammy stage isn't only a matter of taste — it follows from two proteins setting at two different temperatures. Egg white firms up at roughly 62–65 °C, yolk at about 65–70 °C. Heat travels inward from the shell, so there's always a temperature gradient from the outside of the egg to its centre.

Seven minutes is where that gradient sits in the right place: the white has been past its setting point long enough to be firm throughout, while the centre of the yolk has only just reached the low end of its own range. That's the jam — thickened, glossy, not yet crumbly. It also explains why the last minute matters more than the first: from about minute six the yolk's centre is crossing its setting range, and every 30 seconds moves it measurably.

Common mistakes that cost you the jam

Most medium eggs fail for mechanical reasons, not culinary ones:

Too small a pot, too many eggs. Cold eggs pull heat out of the water. Six fridge-cold eggs in a small saucepan can collapse the boil for a minute or more — and that minute comes straight out of your 7:00. Plenty of water, single layer.
A simmer instead of a boil. Water at around 90 °C cooks noticeably slower than the rolling boil the times assume.
Skipping the rinse. Carry-over heat is worth roughly a minute of cooking here.

To check an egg without cutting it open, spin it: a boiled egg spins fast and evenly, a raw one wobbles and stalls as the liquid inside drags against the rotation. It separates cooked from raw, not 7:00 from 9:00.

Where a medium egg belongs

Medium is the doneness that travels: firm enough to peel and halve, soft enough that the yolk still dresses the dish. In ramen, hot broth warms a halved egg through without cooking it further and the yolk loosens into the soup. On toast, a jammy egg mashed with a fork spreads like a sauce — a 5:00 egg is too loose for that, a 10:00 egg too dry. In a salad, halves hold their shape instead of collapsing into the leaves. Peeling a 7-minute egg takes slightly more care than a hard one, because the centre still gives under pressure — the techniques in how to peel boiled eggs help.

Everyone's jammy point is slightly different — some swear by 6:45, others by 7:15. Egg Timer ships Medium at 7:00 for the stove, 6:30 for induction and 10:00 for the egg cooker, and the one-time Pro upgrade lets you nudge any time in 15-second steps, remembered per doneness and appliance.

Your jammy egg, every time

Egg Timer has Medium preset at 7:00 — and lets you fine-tune every time in 15-second steps with the one-time Pro upgrade. No subscription.

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