Instant Pot Poached Eggs by Natalie

I think just about everyone has an Instant Pot by now, right? If you’re one of the handful who don’t and aren’t familiar with Instant Pots, they are electric pressure cookers with a slew of other functions.

You can use the Saute function to brown meat before you pressure cook it, all in the same pot. It also makes the BEST cheesecakes and bone broth in just 2 hours using the pressure cooker function. (Not together, though. Ew.)

You can also make rice and yogurt in it or use it as a slow cooker. It’s pretty much my favorite kitchen appliance. (Sorry, stand mixer. You’ve been dethroned.)

My favorite use? Eggs. I know that seems basic, but once I started making hard cooked eggs in my Instant Pot, I never went back to boiling.

What really blew my mind was making poached eggs in my Instant Pot, which is what I’m going to chat about today. I’ve also got an amazing Southwest Eggs Benedict recipe for you, so stick around for a few minutes.

 
 

To poach eggs in an Instant Pot, you’ll need some silicone poaching cups. I found some inexpensive ones on Amazon.

And I’m willing to bet everyone has a glass measuring cup. You’ll need that, too.

 
 

To prep your Instant Pot, pour a cup of water in the bottom of the insert pot, then put the wire rack on the bottom. (Your Instant Pot will come with a rack. No worries.)

It’s easier to place the poaching cups on the wire rack and then pour the egg into the cups using a glass measuring cup. Cracking the egg into the measure cup first also allows you to check for broken shells and to make sure the yolk isn’t broken.

You can fit up to five silicone poaching cups in there, but that fifth one is a tight fit and might produce some wonky looking poached eggs. If you’d like them to look uniform, then just use four. You could also just do one if you’re having a solo brunch.

 
 

Set the Instant Pot on manual (I use the “manual” or “pressure cook” button) for 3 minutes.

This is super important: Once the pressure-cooking time has ended, IMMEDIATELY switch the steam valve to venting and get all that steam out. You’ll want to get those eggs out as quickly as you can because if you leave them in there with all that steam for just a minute longer, you’ll overcook the yolks.

Trust me on this.

Once you get the cups out, you can remove the eggs by running a big spoon along the bottom and lifting it out—kind of like scooping an avocado half out of its skin.

 
 

See? It comes right out.

 
 

I turn mine upside down on a paper towel-lined plate to soak up any extra moisture. Sometimes a little water will accumulate on top of the eggs from the Instant Pot.

This particular yolk was at the bottom of the poaching cup so it nearly leaked out when I was taking it out of the cup. Most of the time it won’t be like this. But even so, the yolk stays in the egg pretty well.

 
 

Now it’s time for the fun part.

Traditional eggs benedict calls for ham, but I swapped that out for a browned Mexican chorizo patty on my English muffin. (I realize this looks like a hamburger, and putting a poached egg on a hamburger is also an excellent idea.)

I also topped it with an avocado slice and a drizzle of chipotle-lime Hollandaise sauce.

That sauce is the most delicious thing I have made all month. Truly. And I made it in my blender in about 5 minutes. (Directions in the recipe below!)

 
 

I added a pinch of dried chipotle powder to make it more pretty. And delicious.

 
 

If you eat a gluten-free or low carb/paleo diet you can use roasted sweet potato slices in place of the English muffin. I actually preferred that way and loved the bit of sweetness from the potatoes.

Seriously, if batch cooking poached eggs doesn’t convince you to buy an Instant Pot, I’m not sure what will. It makes such a fun, little brunch option! And since the eggs cook so quickly, it’s easy to make multiple batches for a small crowd.