Air Fryer Poached Eggs
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Air fryer poached eggs are the easy way to poach eggs when you can’t stand at the stove watching a pot of swirling water. You just set the ramekins in the basket and walk away, and breakfast is ready in about 10 minutes!
Poaching eggs is a cooking technique that involves gently cooking an egg in hot water. The eggs come out soft and moist with a silky, runny yolk.
Mornings in our house are busy with three boys and homeschool, so I love any breakfast that comes together with very little effort on my part. The air fryer already makes so many breakfast foods easy, from soft boiled eggs to hard boiled eggs, and this poached eggs recipe is about to become your favorite way to make them, too!
Why This Recipe is a Family Favorite
I love this method for poaching eggs because everyone gets breakfast at the same time. That’s because you can poach several eggs in one batch instead of just one or two in a pot. Every egg comes out cooked exactly the same, so nobody ends up with the overcooked one.
Learn how to cook anything in your air fryer with our free cook time chart!
It only takes three simple ingredients, and once you know your air fryer’s timing, you can make perfect poached eggs any morning without a second thought.
Happy Kitchen Secrets
Here are my important mom-tested cooking tips for making this poached eggs recipe! I’ve made this countless times, so I can save you from a failed attempt.
- Start with steaming water. The eggs cook best when they go into water that’s already hot. You want it steaming and simmering, but NOT bubbling hard in the ramekins.
- Test one egg first. Every air fryer runs a little differently, so poach a single egg the first time to find your perfect timing. After that, you can make poached eggs in the air fryer in bigger batches any time!
- Don’t skip the cooking spray. Even surrounded by water, egg whites can cling to the bottom of the ramekin. A light coat helps them slide right out.
- Get them out right away. The hot water keeps cooking the eggs after the timer goes off, so scoop them out promptly if you want that yolk runny.
Ingredients and Equipment
You’ll want to add these ingredients to your grocery shopping list:
Large eggs are the main ingredient you’ll need for making poached eggs in the air fryer. You’ll also need water and cooking spray. Using spray olive oil or avocado oil will save a little time in the prep stage.
The one thing you really need besides your air fryer is a set of heat-safe ramekins that are 3.5 to 4 inches wide and hold 6 to 8 ounces. Before cooking, set them in your air fryer basket to see how many fit.
Every air fryer is different, so check out our favorite air fryers post if you’re looking for a new one.
Air fryer poached eggs are delicious as-is, but you can also serve them over toast, use them for making eggs Benedict, or pair them with crispy air fryer bacon and blueberry protein muffins.
How to Make Air Fryer Poached Eggs
For the full instructions with cook times, see the recipe card! ⬇️
Jump to Recipe
- Heat the water. Give each ramekin a quick spray, add water, and set them in the basket. Let the air fryer warm the water until it’s steaming before any eggs go in.
- Add the eggs. Carefully crack one egg into each ramekin, lower the temperature, and close the basket to let them poach. They’re done when the whites are set and the yolks are still runny.
- Lift them out. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to gently remove each egg, letting the excess water drip off before it lands on your plate.
Make it kid friendly: Little ones love dipping toast strips into a runny yolk, so cut a slice into sticks and let them dunk away. If you have a kid who just won’t eat poached eggs, sheet pan eggs are an easy way to feed everyone from one pan.
Storing and Reheating
Poached eggs are at their best right after cooking, but you can make them ahead and keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days.
As soon as the eggs come out of the air fryer, use a slotted spoon to move them into a bowl of ice water for about a minute. This stops the cooking so the yolks stay runny instead of firming up as they cool.
Once they’re chilled, take the eggs out of the ice water and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to eat, bring a pot of water to a gentle simmer and lower the cold eggs in for 1 to 2 minutes, just long enough to heat them through.
Scoop them out with a slotted spoon, let the water drip off, and serve right away.
Air Fryer Poached Eggs FAQs
Yes, you can poach as many eggs at once as you’d like, as long as there’s enough room in your air fryer. Set your ramekins inside the basket while the air fryer is cool to see how many will fit. You can poach one egg per ramekin in each batch.
To make poached eggs with a hard-cooked yolk, cook the eggs for an extra 2 to 3 minutes, and the yolk will be cooked through. For over-medium, cook them an extra 1 to 2 minutes.
No. Vinegar is used to help coagulate egg whites and keep them from spreading when you poach eggs in an entire pot of simmering water. But because air fryer poached eggs are cooked in individual ramekins, vinegar is not necessary.
You’ll need some kind of small, heatproof dish, because the water inside it is what gently poaches the egg. Glass custard cups about the same size as the ramekins in the recipe card work the same way.
In this recipe, 400°F is just for heating the water quickly. Once the eggs go in, lower the air fryer to 360°F so they poach gently, which usually takes 6 to 7 minutes.
After you make this recipe, please give it a star rating below and comment to let me know how it went!
Air Fryer Poached Eggs
Video
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon cooking spray or oil
- ¾ cup water
- 3 large eggs or more depending on how many ramekins fit in your air fryer
Instructions
- Spray or drizzle the ramekins with a 1 teaspoon cooking spray, then fill each ramekin with 4 tablespoons of water (from the ¾ cup water). Set the ramekins in the air fryer basket.
- Turn the air fryer to 400°F (204°C), and close the air fryer. Set the timer for 5 minutes to heat the water and bring it to a low simmer.
- Carefully open the air fryer. If the water is not yet steaming, close and heat the water for another 2 minutes.
- Open the air fryer basket and carefully crack an egg into each ramekin.
- Lower the temperature of the air fryer to 360°F (182°C).
- Close the air fryer and cook for 6-7 minutes. The eggs are done cooking when the whites are set and the yolk is runny.
- Use a slotted spoon or spatula to gently remove the eggs from the ramekins, letting the excess water drip off.
- Serve immediately with your favorite breakfast sides!
Notes
Nutrition
2026 Update: This recipe is still a favorite of ours! We updated the post to simplify the cooking instructions, and to add some helpful cooking tips. We hope you love it as much as we do!
It sounds soooo simple, however, I have tried.. and failed.. numerous times to make these. I have tried changing the cooking time, the temperature, pre-heating, not pre-heating, hot water from the kettle and still get them wrong. Some are so bad they have to get binned. My wife thought it was me so she tried and couldn’t get them right either. It’s a new air fryer too. Oh well, i’m afraid it’s back to the old method 🙂
to save time we could put the ramekins in the fryer empty and then add the water ?
I wouldn’t recommend it. The ramekins go into the air fryer with water to bring the water to a steaming point. If you put them in empty, they will just heat up but the water will cool them down when you add it.