Make wobbly soft half-boiled eggs just like the ones served in Singapore coffee shop (kopitiam) with this very easy recipe to go with amazing kaya toast. You can also use an air-fryer to cook the half-boiled eggs.

It’s usually about 6 am when I went to kopitiam (an old school coffee shop) with my dad when I didn’t have school. Sleepyhead I was but I love going to kopitiam with him. He would order me half-boiled eggs, kaya toast, and hot tea with condensed milk. The half-boiled eggs always accompanied by white pepper powder and few drops of soy sauce. I can tell you, it’s one of my most favorite memories with him. One that makes me smile and tear up at the same time. I miss you dad! This post is definitely for you 🙂 A childish thought “Do they have Kopitiam in heaven?”
WHAT ARE HALF-BOILED EGGS?
Half-boiled eggs are different with soft-boiled eggs. Half-boiled eggs do not maintain their shapes after you crack the shells. The white and the yolks are literally only half-cooked. You need a spoon to eat half-boiled eggs. Soft-boiled eggs usually refer to the softness and creaminess of the yolks but the whites are usually fully-cooked. Though to be honest, the two terms are used interchangeably when one talks about kopitiam style half-boiled eggs. Some will still refer to them as soft-boiled eggs. too.
INGREDIENTS
You only need 4 things to make a perfect half-boiled eggs:
1. Chicken eggs: You can use white or brown chicken eggs. The cooking temperature will differ slightly.
2. Water: Of course you need water to cook the eggs 🙂
3. Soy sauce: This adds nice umami to the half-boiled eggs
4. Ground white pepper: It’s a must for me to have ground white pepper to go with the half-boiled eggs. It’s just not the same without it
HOW TO MAKE PERFECT SINGAPORE COFFEE SHOP HALF-BOILED EGGS
Half-boiled eggs are made by cooking the eggs in water that has been boiled vigorously, heat turned-off and then eggs are submerged in the boiled water and covered with a tight-fitting lid to let the residual heat cooks the eggs until they are half-cooked. Here’s the step-by-step:
1. GET THE EGGS OUT FROM THE FRIDGE: Let them sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes

2. BRING WATER TO A ROLLING BOIL: While waiting for the eggs, bring water in a saucepan to a rolling boil

3. TURN OFF HEAT AND LOWER EGGS INTO THE WATER: Use a spoon to lower the eggs into the hot water

4. CLOSE THE LID: The residual heat will gently cook the eggs

5. SET TIMER TO 7 MINUTES: I suggest using digital timer on the stove or your phone for accuracy

6. REMOVE EGGS FROM THE WATER: When the timer is up, use a spoon to quickly remove the eggs from the hot water to a bowl to stop the cooking process

HOW TO PEEL HALF-BOILED EGGS
These coffee shop half-boiled eggs are really very very soft and it’s almost impossible to be peeled like regular hard-boiled eggs or soft-boiled eggs. Here’s how my mom usually does it:
1. CRACK IT: Use the back of the spoon to gently crack the egg shell

2. OPEN IT: Use your hand to open it up at the crack and let the yolk slips out into a bowl

3. SCRAPE IT: Use a spoon to scrape the remaining egg white that clings to the inner shell. The egg white is very soft and custard-like

4. SERVE IT: serve it in a bowl with few drops of soy sauce and freshly ground white peppercorns. HEAVEN!

COOK’S TIPS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Timing is everything when it comes to cooking eggs, especially half-boiled eggs like this. The cooking time can vary between 1-2 minutes
1. WHITE EGGS VS BROWN EGGS
Brown eggs might have “thicker” shells compare to white shells, so you might have to add another minute or so, in other words, you will have to experiment, but 5-6 minutes is the minimum I would imagine
2. SIZE OF EGGS
The eggs that I used were large grade A white shells and about 58 grams each. Large eggs will need longer time
3. TEMPERATURE OF EGGS
IF YOU LET THE EGGS OUT FOR 5 MINUTES : You need 7 minutes for white eggs, about 8 minutes for brown eggs
IF YOU LET THE EGGS REALLY COME DOWN TO ROOM TEMPERATURE (30 MINUTES ON THE COUNTER): You need 5 minutes for white eggs, about 6 minutes for brown eggs
4. FOR FIRST-TIMER MAKING HALF-BOILED EGGS
I suggest starting with 4 eggs at a time to get the hang of it.

AIR-FRYER HALF-BOILED EGGS
I recently just tried out cooking half-boiled eggs in an air-fryer and they worked out great. There’s no need to boil water or anything else. Simply put the eggs in the air fryer basket and air fry at 200 F (100 C) for 10 minutes (for 55-60 grams egg with a shell) and then wait for 2 minutes before removing from the air fryer. Get one egg out to test and see. Simple as that!
Breaking that yolk with a spoon and scooping it into my mouth was the highlight of the whole experience for me! I don’t eat it with any other peppers! only white pepper powder!! It’s never the same without it.
Mom made half-boiled eggs at home every morning for us too before we headed to school. This often accompanied by cream crackers sprinkled with sugar and soaked in hot milk. So the cream crackers were soft when we ate them! It sounded so strange and probably gross you think, but it’s like THE thing back in those days! ohhh…the good old days!

DID YOU MAKE THIS SINGAPORE COFFEE SHOP HALF-BOILED EGG RECIPE?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!

How To Make Half-boiled Eggs (Coffee Shop Style)
Ingredients
- 4 large chicken eggs (about 58 gr each)
- 4 cups rolling-boiled hot water
- White pepper powder
- Soy sauce
Instructions
- I suggest not cooking too many eggs for the first time if you are trying out because you may find yourself having to experiment with the timing to get to the right consistency
STOVE-TOP METHOD:
Get the eggs out from the fridge first:
- Get the eggs out from refrigerator 5 minutes before getting ready to cook. This is important because if it’s cold from the fridge, the eggs might crack when coming into contact with the hot boiled water
Cook the eggs with residual heat:
- Bring 4 cups of water to a rolling boil in a saucepan. Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the stove. Use a slotted spoon to gently lower the eggs into the water and cover with a lid and set a timer for 7 minutes. Please note that this time is what works for me. You may have to experiment +/- with the time to get to the right consistency because the size of eggs, the temperature of the eggs, the heat on your stove, etc. So many variables are at play here
Test one egg for doneness:
- After 7 minutes, use a spoon to get the eggs out and submerge in cold water or you can immediately use the back of the spoon to crack the shell and let the egg slip out into a bowl. Use the spoon to scrap the remaining egg whites clinging to the inner shell
- The egg white should be white in color and runny, soft custard-like, while the yolk appears to be whole but it's very soft and very runny when you break it with a spoon. If you see this, then you have yourself kopitiam style soft-boiled eggs, If the white is still transparent, it needs another minute
AIR-FRYER METHOD:
- Put the eggs in the air fryer basket. There's no need to preheat the air fryer. Set the temperature to 200 F (100 C) and air fry for 10 minutes if the eggs are cold from the fridge. If the eggs are at room temperature, set the timer to 8 minutes. When the timer is done, I waited for another 2 minutes before I get them out from the air fryer. I found that the white is usually not really cooked through if I get them out straight from the air fryer. The time is just for reference, your air fryer may differ slightly. You will need to experiment with the timing a little bit
- The egg white should be white in color and runny, soft custard-like, while the yolk appears to be whole but it's very soft and very runny when you break it with a spoon. If you see this, then you have yourself kopitiam style soft-boiled eggs, If the white is still transparent, it needs to be cooked for another minute or so
Serving:
- Season with ground white pepper and a little bit of soy sauce and if you have a toast, I like to mop the yolk with the toast! HEAVEN!
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20 comments
Airfryer soft boiled eggs were perfect!
Yay! I’m glad it worked out for you with the air fryer TG! Do you mind sharing at what temperature and for how long did you do that ?
Thanks to your recipe and I finally scored it 🤣🤣. Always fail to make half boiled egg until my kids always reject me when I offer to make them one. I hv yet to try the air fryer method. Shall give it a try tomorrow.
I couldn’t be happier to know that you nailed it ha..ha..! it can be tricky to get it right! Let me know how the air fryer version works out for you if you do give it a try 😉
Very good, I tried it and it turned out better than last time! I recomend five stars.
I tried it with bread and it turned soo good! Yummy! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Diana, I’m happy to know that you enjoyed it 🙂 Thank you for letting me know!
I’m using an aluminium saucepan with a lid and it seems to be overcooked even at 5 mins 😭
Will be my 3rd try tomorrow, I’ll see if 4 mins is the charm.
Hi Sarah, I know it can be a bit tricky sometimes with the timing. 7 minutes may not work for everyone. Some said theirs were still undercooked at 7 minutes and some, like yourself, overcooked at 5 minutes. I hope 3-4 minutes may work for you. It can take some experiments sometimes.
I love that there’s a way to make these in an air fryer! Have you found a way to steam or otherwise make them perfectly in an Instant Pot?
Hi, I haven’t tried an Instant Pot! that would be my next mission soon 🙂
Sorry, forgot photo. And can’t manage to insert it.
So sorry that you can’t attach a photo here 🙁 but you can tag me on Instagram @whattocooktoday if you are on IG. You can also email it to me at [email protected] or share it on Facebook. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Please let us know how it goes if you try it! (If you get good results, obviously we’d love the details to try to reproduce it if it works well for you!) 😊
Wonderful recipe, just what I have been looking for, for years. I didn’t quite get the eggs right. The white of one was hardly set. Although the other was fine and they were next to each other in the water. But I’ll take longer than 7 minutes next time. As they were large, brown eggs. I ate them with microwaved asparagus (1 min @ 800) and with toasted multigrain rye bread. As we can’t find bread to match the Singapore white loaves. I used dark soy sauce and had to replace the white pepper with black. The little bowl of sauce in my photo is thick yogurt mixed with touches of Colmans English Mustard and Heinz Salad Cream. It goes well with asparagus and hard boiled eggs. Not needed this time, though. Thank you for your time and thoughtful expertise.
Hi Anne, I’m so glad the recipe worked out for you. Wow, just reading what you ate with the eggs made me hungry LOL! Thank you for sharing and for letting me know!
Hi, thanks for sharing.
I like half boiled eggs, I literary drink it from the saucers here in Singapore when I have it in coffee shop or Kopitiam! (I know I know…. it doesn’t look nice for an aunty to do so, but,I don’t care! LOL)
At home, I use a Thermo cup to make the half boiled eggs. I will place the eggs (not in fridge at all) in the cup and pour the boiling water to cover the eggs, then cover the cup with its lid.
I’ll time it either 5 or 6 min. However, I only occasionally get the right yolk, it’s harden most of the time…. The 5 or 6 min doesn’t matter in my case.
Any tips?
Regards,
Wendy
Hi Wendy, I would do the same, drinking it from the saucer when my mom made it for me 🙂
When you say thermo cup, does that mean the stainless steel thermos type with tight-fitting lid ? It sounds to me that you may not even need 5 minutes with the way you are doing it because the thermo cup probably preserves the heat much better than for example I just boil the water in a saucepan. I would experiment with 3-4 minutes, probably try 4 minutes first and see if that gives you the right yolk!
Thank you so much for sharing! I grew up with these eggs when visiting family back in Indonesia and the taste is so comforting to me. I’ll definitely be making these!
Hi Claire,
I can relate to you. This soft boiled egg was what I grew up eating as a kid and it’s definitely a comfort food for me. I hope you like how it 🙂