No-Fail Instant Pot Hard and Soft Boiled Eggs

These Instant Pot eggs could not be simpler! If you are looking for a 100% foolproof method for how to cook eggs in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker, you have found it. Jump to the Instant Pot Hard and Soft Boiled Eggs Recipe or read on to see our tips for making them.

We’ve been making hard boiled eggs for years using our reliable stovetop method. The stovetop method is easy and practically hands-off, but I have to admit that these Instant Pot eggs method might just beat it.

What I love about this recipe is that you can use it to make hard boiled eggs as well as soft boiled eggs. You can even add two or twelve eggs to the pot and the recipe will work.

Bonus, using an Instant Pot or pressure cooker to cook your eggs makes eggs that peel easily. If you’re like me and hate peeling eggs, Instant Pot eggs are for you. The peels literally slide off. Amazing! We were curious as to why this is the case and found that Alton Brown attributes this to the high temperature and the speed at which the eggs are heated inside the pressure cooker.

Use this pressure cooker eggs recipe to make eggs for ramen, deviled eggs, salads, and a healthy snack.

Here’s What You’ll Need To Make Pressure Cooker Eggs

• A pressure cooker — we are using an Instant Pot, but this method will work for other brands.
• A metal trivet or metal steamer — our Instant Pot came with one that fits at the bottom of the cooker.
• 1 cup of water
• Eggs — you can use as many as will fit, in one layer, in the bottom of your pressure cooker.
• A bowl filled with ice and cold water to stop the eggs from overcooking.
• A slotted spoon or tongs for transferring the cooked eggs to the ice bath.

How To Make Pressure Cooker Eggs

Are you ready to see how easy these eggs are to make? You are looking at three steps:

1. Add water to the bottom of the pot, add a metal trivet, and then place eggs on top.
2. Seal the lid and cook on High Pressure for 3 to 7 minutes (cook time depends on how done you want the yolks to be).
3. Manually release the pressure and transfer the eggs to a bowl with ice water. After a few minutes in the ice bath, you can peel the eggs.

How Long To Cook The Eggs

Depending on what consistency you want the yolks to be, you will cook the eggs in the pressure cooker for three to nine minutes. In all cases, we immediately release the pressure inside the Instant Pot.

• At 3 minutes, the egg yolks will be soft and runny in the center with whites that are just set.
• At 4 to 5 minutes, the egg yolks will be jammy and bright yellow in the center with firmer whites.
• At 6 to 7 minutes, the egg yolks will be mostly set and the whites firm.
• At 8 to 9 minutes, the egg yolks will be completely cooked (these are perfect for making deviled eggs).

For snacks, deviled eggs, and chopped eggs for salads, I like cooking at high pressure for 7 to 8 minutes. For eggs perfect for soups like ramen, I stick with the runny middles that 3 minutes creates.

Pressure Cooker (Instant Pot) FAQs

Pressure cookers have been around for ages, but recently they seem to be all the rage (especially the Instant Pot). Before using your model, make sure that you read the manual that came with it. Here are a few FAQs:

How many eggs can be cooked in an Instant Pot? This is up to the size of your pressure cooker. We have the 6-quart model and can fit 10 to 12 eggs, depending on their size. The eggs should be in one layer.

Should I use the egg setting on my Instant Pot? To be honest, we don’t actually use the egg setting and instead simply cook the eggs by pressing the high pressure button.

What does manual release mean? In the recipe below, we ask that you manually release the pressure in the Instant Pot. To do this, check the instruction manual that came with your specific model. In general, though, there will be a simple way to quick release the pressure built up inside the pot. For our model, there is a quick release button that I press to release the pressure.

How long does the pressure cooker take to cook eggs? Technically the cook time is between 3 and 9 minutes (depending on how done you’d like the eggs to be), but there will be additional time needed for the pressure to build in the pot before the cook time starts counting down. For us, our cooker took about 5 minutes to pressurize.

More Instant Pot Recipes: Try our Easy Applesauce, Instant Pot Pot Roast, and this Easy Salsa Verde Chicken.

More Easy Egg Recipes

• Here’s our stovetop method for cooking hard boiled eggs.
• If you love scrambled eggs, you must give our perfectly creamy soft scrambled eggs a look.
• Make deviled eggs! Use this recipe to make hard boiled eggs that are perfect for deviled eggs.
• Add one of your perfectly cooked eggs to avocado toast. Here’s my favorite avocado toast with egg.