Daily Meal Asks: What's Your Go-To Egg Poaching Method?

Poached eggs, aka the key to the perfect eggs benedict, or the best way to "put an egg on it," have a notoriously finicky cooking method. There might be nothing more frustrating than trying to poach an egg before you've even had a cup of coffee and ending up with a trail of stringy egg whites chasing the yolk around a pot.

In fact, it's so notoriously difficult that there are an endless number of how-tos online (including our own) that all seem to proclaim the greatness of their own perfectly honed method. Home goods companies have gotten in on the fun too and released creative egg gadgets to help make poaching eggs more approachable. Some of these rely on the simplicity of using a microwave, while others just make the classic boiling water method more accessible with unique pans and molds. Like all good trends, TikTok has joined the party as well, as influencers have shared their own Instant Pot hacks for poaching eggs.

The point is, that there are so many "expert" opinions out there on the matter of poaching eggs it can be hard to know which is actually the best. So, we asked our readers what their go-to egg poaching methods were to see whose advice is actually being followed out there in the real world.

A grand total of 567 Daily Meal readers were happy to share their preferred egg poaching methods with us for this survey. The options covered much of the egg poaching spectrum, and there was a clear and decisive victory that stood well above the rest.

Coming in as the least popular options were some of the more automated methods. Using an Instant Pot to poach your eggs was the least favorite option, and only earned 54 votes, or about 9%. Just above that was using an electric egg maker which had 11%.

One of the most classic methods for poaching eggs fell right in the middle of the pack. The "Whirlpool Method" which involves stirring a simmering pot of water into a spiral before adding the egg had 17% of the vote. The next highest method was to use a microwave which brought home nearly 20%, but it fell far short of the ultimate winner.

Slight over 41%, or 236 readers, proclaimed that using stove-top egg poaching pans was the best method to poach an egg. Pans like this one from Sur La Table are simple-to-use molds that eggs can rest in as they are gently heated on the stovetop. SFGATE points out that these tools allow you to easily cook multiple eggs at a time as well. The clear glass lid also takes the guesswork out of poaching eggs by making it easy to watch as they take on that perfect, pearly white exterior.