Fridge or room temperature eggs?
A recipe that just says "boil for 7 minutes" quietly assumes where your egg comes from. An egg straight from the fridge holds more cold that has to be pushed out before the yolk sets, so it needs noticeably longer than an egg at room temperature.
Fridge-cold versus room-temperature eggs
For a medium egg (58 g), lowered into water at a full boil at sea level and cooled in an ice bath afterwards. Fridge means 4 °C (39 °F); room temperature means 20 °C (68 °F).
| Doneness | From the fridge | At room temperature | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runny | 7:48 | 6:37 | 1:11 |
| Jammy | 8:36 | 7:26 | 1:10 |
| Fudgy | 9:30 | 8:20 | 1:09 |
| Hard-boiled | 11:20 | 10:12 | 1:08 |
Which should you use?
Either works, as long as the time matches. Follow the storage advice where you live: in some countries eggs are kept in the fridge, in others they are sold and stored at room temperature. What matters for boiling is to know which one you have and use the matching time.
An egg straight from the fridge can also crack when it meets boiling water, because the shell heats faster than the inside. Lowering it gently with a spoon helps.
Open the calculator and pick Fridge or Room for your egg.