The egg boiling time calculator I built because I kept failing

I have a confession: I've been cooking eggs for probably 25 years and I still can't reliably get a soft-boiled egg right. Every time I'd set a timer, I'd second-guess myself. Did I account for the egg being straight from the fridge? Does "large" in my country mean the same as "large" in that recipe? Is 7 minutes actually right, or did I misremember?

And then there's the opposite problem: hard-boiled eggs that come out with that unappealing green ring around the yolk because I boiled them for 14 minutes when 11 would have been fine. I was eating it anyway, but I was annoyed. So, so annoyed.

Why not just Google it?

I tried. I really did. Google gives you a million results, half of which say "boil for 6–7 minutes for soft," but none of them ask: what size are your eggs? And almost none factor in whether the eggs are cold or at room temperature – which, as it turns out, changes the cooking time by a solid minute or more. I'd end up cross-referencing three different tables and still guessing.

I wanted something I could open, punch in two variables, and get a single number. No scrolling. No ads. No 800-word backstory about a grandma in Tuscany (though I'm sure she makes great eggs).

What the tool actually does

It's dead simple: choose your egg size (small, medium, large, extra-large), choose whether they're fridge-cold or room temp, and pick your target doneness – soft, medium, or hard-boiled. Hit calculate, and it tells you exactly how many minutes to boil them from the moment the water returns to a rolling boil.

No timer built in (your phone has one), no unit conversions, no fluff. It's a calculation, not a lifestyle brand.

A few honest caveats

This works best for standard chicken eggs boiled at sea level (if you're in Denver, you'll need to adjust for altitude – sorry, I haven't cracked that yet). It's based on a consensus of times from Serious Eats, Mark Bittman, and my own trial-and-error. It's not perfect, but it'll get you closer than a random guess. And if you like your eggs borderline raw or practically petrified, you can always add or remove 30 seconds.

Update after two weeks of using it: I've made perfect soft-boiled eggs four mornings in a row. It feels like a superpower, but really it's just not being lazy about temperature.

Why I'm sharing it

Because egg boiling shouldn't be a source of low-grade stress. It's breakfast, not a science experiment (even though technically it is a science experiment). If you've ever peeled an egg only to find it's either too runny or too crumbly, give this a shot.

No affiliate links, no sponsored content, no "egg-citing new hack" nonsense. Just a calculator made by someone who was tired of guessing wrong.