Yes, There's A Way To Reheat Soft-Boiled Eggs Without Overcooking The Yolk. Here's How

A perfectly soft-boiled egg is a thing of beauty. While the whites are soft, yet firm enough to withstand peeling of the shell, the golden yolk within is just-set on the outside. Inside you'll find a gorgeously jammy or runny interior. While there are many different ways to cook eggs, this method suits so many different dishes. Soft-boiled eggs are perfect with a vibrant beet salad, or as a topping for ramen. But it also means that you must either make them "to order," or risk them overcooking during reheating in the microwave — doesn't it?

Actually, there is a way to reheat soft-boiled eggs so that the yolks stay creamy even after they've undergone a second "cook." To achieve this, you can leave the shell on your already soft-boiled egg, and stash it in the fridge until you're ready to use it. 

Fill a mug or other tall-sided heat-resistant container, like a glass measuring cup, with hot water from your sink — as hot as your sink will allow, in fact — or use a small pan of water heated on the stove. And then you'll just submerge the soft-boiled egg in the water for one to five minutes, depending on how much you cooked them beforehand, and how cooked you want them after this second application of heat. You can either leave the shell on the egg, or peel it before submerging — just keep in mind it will take slightly longer with the shell.

Soft-boiled egg yolks can run the gamut from runny to just-set with a jammy middle, and it all depends on how long you boil them for initially. To boil eggs with a jammy yolk, you'd cook for about seven to eight minutes, for example. If you know you're going to be enjoying your eggs reheated later on in the day, or even the week since they'll last for a couple of days unpeeled in the fridge, you can boil them for less time than usual first so that the yolk is runnier. Then when you submerge them in the hot water, they'll be perfectly done to your liking.

The exact timings will depend on the size and temperature of your eggs, as well as how many you're cooking. As a rule of thumb, for runny yolks you'll want to boil large eggs for around six minutes; for jammy yolks post-reheat, boil them initially for slightly longer. But don't cook them too long, or you could end up with fairly solid middles once reheated, which is not the desired result. 

It's also important to keep an ice water bath nearby so that as soon as your eggs are done boiling, you can toss them in and stop the cooking process. They should stay in there for no less than 15 minutes and then go directly into the refrigerator, ready to be reheated once required.