Which Egg Poacher

If you still can’t manage to cook your eggs perfectly with all the tips in How to Poach an Egg, you can always buy an egg poacher for a fail-safe solution. Where there’s a will to serve up poached eggs, there’s a way!

There are several different types of egg poacher available. No one type is better than the others. The best egg poacher for you very much depends on your requirements, such as how you like to cook and how many people you regularly cook for. Here are the different egg poachers for sale at the moment – new innovations seem to be coming out all the time.

Egg Poacher Pans

An egg poacher pan is simply a shallow pan with a poaching insert and a lid. The egg poacher insert has several depressions which hold poaching cups. Each of the cups cooks one egg. You can get anything from a single egg poacher to a 6 egg poacher right through to a huge commercial poacher generally used in hotels which cooks lots of eggs at once. You generally don’t get instructions with these pans, so if you need to know how to poach an egg with an egg poacher, here is what you do.

To poach an egg with one of these pans, you add water to the pan and then put it on to boil. You must not fill the pan too full as you do not want the water to bubble into the poaching insert once it is in place, so you will usually only fill it half full. Once the water is simmering, put the insert on top and add a small amount of butter to each poaching cup you want to use. Then crack an egg into each. Put on the lid and wait for the eggs to cook. This will take about three to three and a half minutes depending how soft you like the yolks of the egg to be and it mat take longer if you want completely solid yolks (important for those who are vulnerable to soft boiled eggs). The pan lid on an egg poacher will normally be transparent. This allows you to keep an eye on your eggs as they cook so that you can see when the white has solidified enough.

When looking for a poacher to buy, check that it has a see through lid like this. The other thing you might like to look for is a stainless steel egg poacher. These are generally the best quality pans but I do like the poaching cups to be non-stick even with a stainless steel pan as I find that the eggs come out more easily.

Electric Egg Poachers

An electric egg poacher is almost identical to an egg poacher pan but instead of putting it on top of the stove, you plug it in as there will be a heating element in the base to cook the eggs. Many of these appliances double up as an egg cooker however as they also boil eggs to perfection so look out for one of these multi-function poached egg cookers if that would be useful to you.

Microwave Egg Poachers

Scrambled eggs have always been easy to cook in a microwave. (They are easy to cook on the stove for that matter). However other ways of cooking eggs tended to create a messy explosion due to the differing consistency of the white and yolk. There has only relatively recently been a solution to cooking poached eggs that way and a microwave egg poacher allows you to pop in your egg, close the lid and have perfectly cooked eggs in two minutes, saving both time and energy and costing a lot less than a conventional poacher.

Toast N Egg

There are a few appliances around these days which are is a handy combination of a toaster with an egg poacher attached. This gives you the chance to cook a very quick breakfast all in one machine. You don’t have to use either part together so you have the option of just toast or just eggs too.

Silicone Egg Poacher

Another recent innovation which came along with the trend for silicone bakeware are silicone poaching cups which you float on top of a pan of boiling water to cook your eggs. They are a great low cost solution to poaching and you can also use the cups for baking or as molds for making other items.

Oster 4716 Egg Cooker (Click Image for Details)	This Oster egg poacher and cooker is a great little appliance for poaching up to 4 eggs and boiling up to 9 with no fuss. You fill it with water, plug it in, put in your eggs and set the timer. Easy! Buyer reviews of this egg poacher cooker give it a good four and a half stars out of five which says a lot for any product. Free shipping. Click here for details.
Demeyere 4-Cup Egg Cooker Poacher (Click Image for Details)	This Demeyere egg poacher is a stainless steel 4 egg poacher of the highest quality (30 year warranty) and it has tough non-stick inserts for easier removal of the cooked eggs and a special stainless steel surface which keeps its shine. Can also be used for preparing small appetizers. Click here for details.
You can use this Nordic Ware 2 cup microwave egg poacher to cook a couple of poached eggs in no time. Place half a teaspoon of water in each of the 2 cups. Crack an egg into each cup and pierce the yolks lightly. Snap the lid of the poacher closed and microwave to taste. Breakfast is ready! Free shipping. Click here for more information.	Nordic Ware Microwave 2 Cavity Egg Poacher (Click Image for Details)
Progressive International Microwavable Four egg poacher (Click Image for Details)	A 4 egg poacher for the microwave which is just as fast as the 2 cup model above and not much more expensive (and you don’t have to cook 4 eggs if you need just 2 or 3). Buy this model if you need to cook more eggs at one time on a frequent basis otherwise stick with the 2 egg model. Both are equally good. Click here for details.
This Back to Basics egg and muffin toaster is a whole breakfast machine. It is a 4-slice toaster which makes egg-and-muffin sandwiches in about 4 minutes. The egg poacher toaster works with all kinds of bread including standard slices, English muffins, croissants and bagels. While they are toasting, the machine cooks your eggs. You can poach 2 eggs or boil up to 8. Each function can be used separately too. Free shipping Click for details. Also available Back to Basics 2 slice toaster poacher.	Back to Basics TEM4500 4-Slot Egg-and-Muffin Toaster (Click Image for Details)
HotSpot EggShell Silicone Egg Poacher - Set of Two (Click Image for Details)	These silicone egg poacher cups are made from FDA approved silicone, heat resistant up 675F. You can use them in the freezer or microwave too as well as for poaching by cracking an egg into each cup and floating in a pan of boiling water for 4 to 6 minutes. Dishwasher safe. Can be used as JELL-O molds too as everything is released very easily from the cups. Featured in Redbook. Coat the cup with oil or cooking spray before adding your egg for best results. Click here for details.
Nordic Ware Non-stick Egg Poacher Insert (Click Image for Details)	This Nordic Ware non-stick egg poacher insert for 10 inch to 12 inch skillets is ideal if you want to poach eggs over a pan of water but you don’t want to go to the expense of buying a whole poaching set. After all, most of us already own a skillet. Cooks 4 eggs at once. Free shipping. Click here for details.