Poached eggs can be cooked in the microwave easily if you use poach pods. I use poach pods to poach eggs in the microwave and it suddenly occurred to me that others might be wondering if it’s safe to use poach pods in the microwave.  They’re made of silicone and silicone is microwave safe – so why doesn’t everybody do it?  Is it dangerous? Does something bad happen?

Pin It:  Use Poach Pods in a Microwave

Can I Microwave Silicone Egg Poach Pods?

YES!! you can use silicone egg poachers, called poach pods, in the microwave – they’re marked as microwave safe on the product information tag.  They are completely safe – and yes, that’s how I make my poached eggs in the microwave oven.  

I used to use the more common rigid plastic microwave poachers, but I never got a good result from those, to be honest.  But in the poach pod (so long as I don’t get distracted) they’re much quicker, easier and better looking. I’ve never had an egg ‘explode’ while poaching it, but you’ll be using a lid in any case.

If you’ve already got some poach pods, but have lost the instructions, I wrote the instructions out a few months ago: How to Use Silicone Egg Poachers – I find this is a great way in case I lose the instructions that come with things!

So, how do you do it? Here’s the method that works for me:

Poach Eggs in a Microwave in a Poach Pod: 

• You need a jug or a bowl, with a lid.  When you poach an egg in a pan you cover the pan and the steam’s trapped in the egg poacher and cooks the upper-side.  It’s the same in a microwave.
• You can use any microwave safe bowl and any lid.  I’ve used my trusty Pyrex jug before and placed a random plastic lid on top that fitted.  Sometimes I’ll use my noodle bowls to cook them.  So I took photos of how both of those look, to show you: I prefer using my noodle bowls as the lid’s a better fit for keeping the steam in.
• Place about 1.5-2″ of water in the jug or bowl.
• Cold or hot water?  You can use either – if you use boiling water then the egg will cook quicker.
• Oil the poach pod, and float it in the water.
• Place an egg into the pod (one egg/pod, if I’m cooking two I’ll use the noodle bowl as there’s room to poach two eggs at a time).
• Fit the lid onto the bowl or jug and microwave on full power for 1 minute.  Here’s where timings get tricky – it’s something you will have to experiment and work out for yourself as there are many variables: the power of your microwave, the size/number of your eggs, whether you’ve used hot or cold water.
• After 1 minute remove the bowl from the microwave and stand it for 1-2 minutes.  You can peek to see if it’s done after 1 minute.  If you find you didn’t microwave it for long enough in the first instance, simply replace the bowl in the microwave and give it another blast for 10-30 seconds.

Serve: When you’re happy it looks right, tip out of the pod onto your toast or plate.

The first time you do this you might find it needed a little less time, or a little more.  As you do it more often you’ll nail the right amount of time for your microwave, your eggs, your taste.

These poach pods are easier to use and easier to wash up than the rigid plastic poached egg makers, they produce a better result too.  There’s more control with these, I find. 

Poached egg – with a runny middle!  Perfect every time, once you know how your own eggs work in your microwave oven!

The shape is certainly a lot better than the shape of other microwave poachers as it’s more natural shaped, how you’d expect a poached egg to look.

The poached egg in this image was done using: a Lidl Simply egg, using boiling water, microwaved in a noodle bowl for 1 minute, then left to one side for 1 minute and tipped out onto the toast. Photo ref 072041306.

Total Cost:

This is a frugal snack or breakfast, ideal if you’re on a diet too, or people who want to eat a lot of protein cheaply.  One egg cost me £0.07 and one slice of toast was £0.02.  So that’s a £0.09 breakfast!  You can’t beat that.

2022 Update:

The price of bread and eggs has moved on since I first wrote this!

One egg now costs about 10p; one slice of toast is still about 2p. The cost of poached egg on toast is closer to 12p – but now people are thinking more about the energy cost of poaching an egg in the microwave and using a toaster to make bread.

At an April 2022 price of approximately 30p/1kW of electricity, using appliances with the following wattage, I’ve done the maths below:

• Toaster watts: 1000 watts, 30p/hour, 1p/minute (3 minutes = 3p)
• Microwave watts: 800 watts, 24p/hour, less than ½p per minute

The energy cost to cook poached egg on toast is 3-4p.