Air Fryer Eggs — Boiled, Scrambled & Fried
For hard-boiled eggs, cook them straight from the fridge at 250°F for 15–17 minutes, then drop them in cold water. Want a softer yolk? Pull them sooner: about 9–10 minutes for a runny centre, 11–12 minutes for jammy. No water, no pot, no watching a stove.
Scrambled and fried eggs work too, but they go in a greased ramekin or a small pan, not loose in the basket. A runny egg poured onto the mesh drains straight through into the drawer, which is a mess you only make once.
This page covers the two things most egg guides skip. Why air-fried shells crack and come out with little brown scorch marks, which is a different problem from boiling and has a different fix. And the one safe temperature that actually matters once you start cooking the egg out of its shell.
Converting a baked-egg recipe from an oven setting? The calculator does the maths.
Open Calculator →Hard-boiled eggs: time by yolk
One temperature, 250°F, and the time is the only thing you change. Lower and slower is the whole trick with shell eggs, because a screaming-hot basket cracks them. These are sourced starting points for a basket-style fryer, not a tested log. My reference unit is a Platinum 7.6L basket-style (AF-800B-W, 2000W), and even on one machine egg size and starting temperature shift these by a minute or two. Run one egg first and read the result before you commit a whole batch.
| Doneness | Air Fryer Temp | Time | Yolk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soft-boiled | 250°F | 9–10 min | Runny | Cold water right after. Peel warm. |
| Jammy / medium | 250°F | 11–12 min | Sticky, just-set | The ramen-and-toast egg. |
| Hard-boiled | 250°F | 15–16 min | Fully set, still yellow | Cold water stops the green ring. |
| Hard-boiled (firm) | 250°F | 17 min | Dry, pale | Past this the yolk turns chalky. |
A shell egg can't be probed with a thermometer, so these are timed cooks, not temperature ones. The moment they come out, move them into cold water for a few minutes. That stops the cooking, firms the white for peeling, and heads off the grey-green ring you get around an overdone yolk.
Why air-fried eggs crack (and get brown spots)
This is the part the recipe cards leave out. A boiled egg sits in moving water that spreads heat evenly and gently around the shell. An air fryer has no water. It drives hot, dry air and direct radiant heat from the element straight at the shell, and that does two things water never does.
First, the cracking. Heat hits one side of the egg faster than the other, the air pocket inside the wide end expands fast, and a shell that was already carrying a hairline flaw splits. Thermal shock finishes the job if you then plunge a fridge-cold egg into a hot basket, or a basket-hot egg into ice water. Three things cut it right down:
- Keep the temperature low. 250°F, not 400°F. The slower the shell heats, the less the inside fights the outside. This is the single biggest reason people's eggs crack.
- Let the eggs lose their fridge chill. Ten minutes on the counter before they go in narrows the gap between the egg and the basket. A straight-from-the-fridge egg into a preheated basket is the classic split.
- Cool them down, don't shock them. Cold tap water for a minute, then ice if you want them properly cold. Dropping a scorching egg straight into ice water is its own crack risk.
Second, the brown spots. Those little tan or brown marks on the shell are scorch from the shell touching hot metal, or from old grease baked onto the basket and element. They wipe off with the shell and the egg underneath is fine. If you want to avoid them, set the eggs on a rack or a perforated liner so they aren't pressed against the metal, and keep the basket clean. A greasy basket is the usual culprit, which is one more reason to stay on top of cleaning the air fryer.
Low and slow is the anti-crack setting
If your shells keep splitting, the fix is almost never the timing. It's the temperature. Drop to 250°F, bring the eggs up from fridge-cold on the counter first, and cool them in plain cold water before any ice. Cracks come from heat moving too fast through the shell, not from how long they cook.
Scrambled eggs in a ramekin
Loose egg and a wire basket don't mix, so scrambled eggs go in a greased, oven-safe ramekin that sits in the basket. Crack in two or three eggs, add a pinch of salt and a splash of milk, and cook at about 300°F for 8–10 minutes. Stir once at the halfway mark so the set edges fold back into the wet middle, otherwise you get a firm rim and a raw centre.
Here's the number the other egg pages don't give you. Egg dishes are safe at 160°F / 71°C, the USDA minimum for cooked eggs. That matters more for scrambled and baked eggs than for anything else, because a soft, glossy scramble can look done while still sitting under temperature. If you're cooking eggs for someone young, elderly, pregnant or unwell, cook to 160°F and skip the runny-yolk versions for them.
Air-fryer scrambled eggs come out more like baked eggs than stovetop ones, a touch firmer and more uniform. That's not a flaw, just a different texture. If you want the soft, folded curds of a good pan scramble, the stovetop still does that better, and I'll say so rather than pretend the basket wins every round.
Fried eggs
A fried egg needs a surface to hold its shape, so use a small oiled cake pan or a shallow ramekin that fits the basket. Preheat it, crack the egg in carefully to keep the yolk whole, and cook at about 350°F for 5–6 minutes for a set white and a runny yolk. Add a minute if you like the yolk firmer. The white sets from the bottom up, so the top can still look wet when the egg is actually done.
Basket-style vs oven-style — adjust for your machine
Most egg times you find online were timed on one machine and quietly assume you own the same one. With eggs that gap shows up fast, because a minute either side is the difference between jammy and chalky.
A basket drawer holds the eggs in a tight space close to the element, so it runs hot and cooks quicker. An oven-style unit has far more internal air to heat, so the same eggs usually need roughly 2 to 5 minutes longer to reach the same doneness. The times above came off a basket-style unit. If yours is the tall oven kind, start at the top of each range and expect to add a few minutes, then adjust from the first egg you cut open.
One accessory you can skip
You don't need a silicone egg rack to do this. Eggs sit fine straight on the basket floor, and a rack mostly just adds a thing to wash and store. The accessories actually worth owning for eggs are a timer you'll trust and an oven-safe ramekin you probably already have. Spend the money on neither if you can help it.
When the stove wins
I'll send you back to the hob when it's the right call, and eggs have a few of those. Poaching is one: an air fryer can't hold an egg in swirling water, so a true poached egg belongs in a pan. A big batch is another. The basket does maybe six to eight eggs in a single layer, so cooking two dozen for a crowd means several rounds, and at that point a pot of boiling water handles the lot in one go.
Where the air fryer earns its place is the small, hands-off job. Four or six hard-boiled eggs for the week while you do something else, no pot to watch, no water to boil. For that, it's genuinely easier than the stove.
What goes wrong, and the fix
- Shells cracking in the basket: temperature too high and eggs too cold. Drop to 250°F and let them sit out ten minutes first.
- Brown spots on the shell: contact with hot metal or a greasy basket. Use a rack or liner and clean the basket. The egg inside is fine.
- Grey-green ring around the yolk: overcooked. Pull at 15–16 minutes for hard-boiled and get them into cold water straight away.
- Hard to peel: very fresh eggs peel badly however you cook them. Slightly older eggs and a proper cold-water cool make it easier.
- Scramble firm at the edge, raw in the middle: you didn't stir. Stir once at halfway and cook to 160°F.
- Egg poured straight in and lost through the mesh: runny egg needs a ramekin or pan, never the open basket.
Eggs are a quick cook, so a short preheat helps the basket hold a steady temperature from the start. And if you're building a breakfast around them, the air fryer bacon guide covers the smoke and grease control that keeps the basket clean for the next batch of eggs.