Forum: cooking.stackexchange.com
Tags: <eggs><microwave>
Title: Boil an egg in the microwave
Question: Is it possible to boil an egg in the microwave?   Ideally without having to pierce the shell first

Answers:
sents: text: It's possible to blow open the door of your microwave if you try it on high for too long.
text: For best results, watch it from about a foot away.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/646/eswald
score: 5
sents: text: I decided to post this as an answer instead of a reply to @AttilaNYC .
text: I think you're better off just boiling it.
text: I'm a big of fan of doing and cooking stuff fast; however, eggs are too perfect and to lean to do that.
text: Boil the damn water, dump your egg in it until it's done.
text: I don't love, but I like this site .
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/87/dassouki
score: 4
sents: text: Be careful putting whole eggs in the microwave.
text: A relative of mine was burned on her face (fortunately not severely).
text: After removing the egg from the microwave it exploded.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/1989/jwalkerjr
score: 3
sents: text: I've been using the Nordic Ware Microwave Egg Boiler for a few years.
text: Depending on the size of the eggs, you'll need between 6.5 and 8 minutes at 1100 watts.
text: Once you've settled on a brand and size of eggs, you can get them perfect every time - hard boiled, soft yolk etc.
text: by tweaking the cooking time between those two values.
text: Fantastic gadget, 4.5+ stars on Amazon with over 1200 reviews.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/33943/Dan Dascalescu
score: 3
sents: text: ** DO NOT MICROWAVE EGGS, NOT EVEN IN A BOWL OF WATER.
text: ** I feel especially strongly about the grossly understated and potentially life-changing danger of doing so, there is no exaggeration.
text: I speak from personal experience, not it-happened-to-someone-I-know.
text: Don't risk serious burns and high speed flying egg shell fragments JUST DO NOT TOY WITH THIS at all
text: ; I had and it was just luck that I did not end up losing my sight, just blistered eye lids and face.
text: If you must use a microwave, heat a big bowl of water ALONE WITHOUT EGGS (put some baking beads in the water to minimise superheating).
text: Then take the hot bowl of water out of the microwave and put the eggs into the hot water to cook.
text: Wrap the entire bowl with a thick towel as insulation to preserve the heat.
text: You do not need to maintain a boil or water at close to boiling point to cook eggs Water makes up nearly 90% of egg white and nearly half of egg yolk.
text: So an egg is >75% water.
text: Microwave cannot distinguish between water in a container and water in the egg and just heat one part preferentially or selectively.
text: Fats in the egg yolk also have dipoles capable of absorbing microwave for heat conversion too.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/49834/user110084
score: 1
sents: text: I have heard that you can wrap each egg in a piece of alum.
text: foil, being sure all shell is covered.
text: Put in a micro safe dish with water to cover fully or preheat a sufficient qty of water then add eggs.
text: The foil prevents the microwaves from penetrating the shell and causing exploding eggs.
text: The water is supposed to prevent arcing.
text: Timing would depend on amt of eggs and water, and whether you preheated.
text: * WARNING * I HAVE NOT tried this myself, but it sounds reasonable
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/23276/Carl D
score: 0
sents: text: I admit I haven't tried this in the microwave, but it should work and avoid the exploding-egg possibility altogether.
text: What you would do is, take a large microwave safe container - the larger the better, really.
text: Fill it with water, though leave room for the egg(s).
text: Heat the water until boiling hot.
text: Carefully add your egg, and leave it in the microwave, door closed, until it's cooked - how long will depend on your ratio of egg to water and how cooked you prefer it, but to give an idea
text: four eggs would take about a half hour .
text: The hot water cooks the egg, and since, beyond heating the water, the microwave is never actively aimed at the egg it won't have an opportunity to explode.
text: The technique would work even if the hot water is kept, say, on the counter - though the residual heat in the microwave, and the insulation of its walls, will help keep the heat up
text: so the egg cooks faster, in the same way turning off the stove but keeping the pot on the still heated surface keeps the heat up a bit.
text: If you use the same container and roughly the same amount of water each time, you should be able to figure out pretty precisely what works in your microwave with a little trial and error.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/47365/Megha
score: 0
sents: text: I've had eggs explode trying to hard boil them.
text: Just add salt to the water and they no longer explode...
text: I've tried to research why that prevents the explosion, but can't seem to find the science behind it ....
text: BUT ....
text: Trust me ...
text: It does work.
text: I do 3 eggs in 6 minutes on HI now.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/83241/John Albe
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
There are microwave egg boilers, but cooking an egg in a microwave can cause it to explode and should be done with caution. It may be easier just to boil it.
Boiling eggs in the microwave can cause the egg to explode. It is just as easy to boil them on the hob. Alternatively, try a Nordic Ware Microwave Egg Boiler.