Kitchen Timer
Tap what you are cooking and the timer sets itself — eggs, rice, pasta, tea, anything that goes wrong when it is left a minute too long.
How the kitchen timer works
Tap what you are cooking and the timer sets itself. Eggs, rice, pasta, tea, anything fried — the lengths below are the ones that go wrong when they run a minute long, so they are worth timing rather than guessing.
Press start when the food goes into the pan, not when you tap the preset. The ring empties as the time runs down, the remaining minutes appear in the browser tab, and the tone plays until you stop it. If you need a little longer, the +1 min button extends a running timer without resetting it.
Eggs
The four egg presets are the same egg cooked for different lengths, lowered into water already at a rolling boil and then held at a steady simmer:
- Poached, 1 minute 30 — no shell in the way, so the white sets fast and the yolk stays liquid.
- Boiled, 3 minutes — a loose white and a fully runny yolk, the soldiers-and-dippy-egg version.
- Soft-boiled, 5 minutes — set white, jammy centre. The one that suits ramen and salads.
- Hard-boiled, 10 minutes — firm throughout. Cool them in cold water straight away, or the yolk picks up a grey ring.
Starting from cold water rather than boiling adds two to three minutes to all of them, and a fridge-cold egg takes longer than a room-temperature one. Size matters too: a large egg needs roughly thirty seconds more than a medium.
Rice, pasta and curry
Start the pasta timer once the water has returned to a full boil after the pasta goes in, and drain it a minute early if it is going to finish in a hot sauce — it keeps cooking in the pan.
Rice has two presets because the varieties differ. Parboiled and quick-cooking rice is already partly cooked, so ten minutes is enough. Ordinary long-grain rice needs the full twenty, lid on, and then a rest off the heat before you fluff it.
The biryani preset covers the dum — the sealed, low-heat finish after the layers are assembled, not the masala or the part-cooked rice that come before it. The chicken karahi timer runs to the point where the oil separates from the tomatoes, which is the signal the sauce is ready rather than a fixed clock time; check it as the timer nears zero.
Tea infusion
Tea is the clearest case for a timer. Green leaves release their tannins quickly and turn bitter if they are left, which is why Japanese green tea gets two minutes and cooler water, around 70°C rather than boiling. A tea bag is the same: two minutes, and after that you are making it more bitter rather than stronger.
Chinese green tea, black tea and oolong all sit at five minutes with fully boiling water. Fruit tea has no tannin to stew, so eight minutes only deepens it. White tea is the outlier — delicate leaves, cooler water and a full ten minutes to draw anything out at all.
If your tea is weak, use more leaf rather than more time. Time controls bitterness; quantity controls strength.
Fried and grilled
Fried and grilled food is where a minute either way is visible. French fries take seven minutes in the fryer; chicken nuggets take five deep-fried but twenty baked, which is the difference people most often get wrong. Instant ramen needs three minutes off the heat with the lid on.
Two of the presets are per side: a beef burger patty at four minutes and a grilled cheese sandwich at three. Run the timer, flip, run it again. A personal thin-crust pizza takes twelve minutes in a properly hot oven.
Every one of these assumes the pan or oven is already up to temperature. Starting the timer while the fat is still heating is the most common reason food comes out underdone.
Questions people ask
How do the presets work?
Tap what you are cooking and the timer sets itself to that length. Press start when the food goes in, not when you tap.
Are the egg times for boiling water or cold?
They assume the egg is lowered into water already at a rolling boil, then held at a steady simmer. Starting from cold water adds two to three minutes.
Why does a poached egg only need a minute and a half?
Because it is cooked in bare simmering water with no shell in the way. Ninety seconds sets the white and leaves the yolk liquid; two and a half minutes firms it up.
My hard-boiled eggs have a grey ring. What went wrong?
They were cooked too long or cooled too slowly. Stick to ten minutes and move them straight into cold water.
Should I time pasta from when it goes in?
Start the timer once the water is back to a full boil after adding the pasta, and drain a minute early if it will finish in a hot sauce.
Why is the rice timer twenty minutes but quick rice ten?
Parboiled and instant varieties are partly cooked already. Ordinary long-grain rice needs the full absorption time, then a rest off the heat before fluffing.
What does the biryani timer cover?
The dum stage — the sealed, low-heat finish after the layers are assembled. Preparing the masala and part-cooking the rice happen before you start it.
Why does green tea need less time than black?
Green leaves release their tannins quickly and turn bitter if left. Japanese green tea also wants cooler water, around 70°C rather than boiling.
Does leaving a tea bag in longer make it stronger?
Past a couple of minutes it mostly makes it more bitter, not stronger. Use more tea rather than more time.
What does “per side” mean on the burger and sandwich timers?
Run the timer once, flip, then run it again. The preset is the time for one side.
Are these times for a fryer or an oven?
Each preset says which. Deep-fried nuggets take five minutes; the same nuggets baked take twenty.
Can I add a minute to a running timer?
Yes — the +1 min button extends it without stopping the countdown.
Can I set my own time instead?
Yes. The hours, minutes and seconds fields below the timer override any preset.
Will it still count down if I put my phone away?
It runs while the page is open. Keep the screen awake if you want the alarm to sound reliably in a busy kitchen.
Where to go next
This page is kitchen timer. The rest of the site starts from world clock and time zones, where you can read the time in any country, territory or US state.
- Countdown timer — count down from any length you set
- Sand timer — turn the glass and watch the interval run
- Stopwatch — count up, with laps and splits
- Alarm clock — ring at a set time while the tab stays open
- World Clock — the current time in every country, territory and US state