Avocado Toast with Sous Vide Egg
Avocado toast is a pure masterpiece. For those of you who have had it, you already know the glory of this dish. For those of you who haven't let me give you the run down. Avocado toast is mashed avocados seasoned to perfection on top of a crispy piece of toast. Add a sous vide egg on top and you've got yourself an award winning dish. Think about this. Perfectly runny yolk mixing with creamy avocado in each bite. Ya, it's fantastic.
The only downside? Restaurants charge $10+ for a piece of toast, half an avocado and an egg. These ingredients do not warrant that high of a price tag... but the taste definitely does. This is why I wanted to create a recipe that could rival the best.
After testing several avocado mash recipes and egg cooking times and temperature, I found a worthy recipe. The key? Buying the freshest ingredients. Do yourself a favor and pick up a fresh loaf of bread from a local bakery. Buy pasture raised, hormone-free eggs. Hand pick avocados that are the perfect ripeness. It will make your avocado toast exponentially better, I promise.
Now go on and enjoy one of the simplest, most delicious pleasures in life - avocado toast.
Time and Temperature
After loads of R&D, we’ve found that cooking the eggs sous vide at 75C/167F for 14 minutes is the perfect combo. This time and temperature produces that perfectly runny yolk that you dream of. Then once the eggs are finished in the sous vide put them in a bowl of ice water to firm the whites.
Please make sure you have a reliable sous vide that accurately regulates the temperature of the bath or your results may vary (check out the Anova or Joule). Although we recommend this specific time and temperature for this recipe, feel free to check out our cooking guide for other options here.
Special Equipment
Sous Vide Machine – This one is obvious. To cook sous vide, you’re going to need a device to precisely regulate the temperature of the bath water. The two best sous vide machines in the game right now are the Anova Precision Cooker and the Breville Joule. The main difference between the two is that with the Anova you can control the device both manually and with a mobile device, and with the Joule you can only control the device by using your mobile device. Either way, both sous vide machines are top class and you can’t go wrong with either choice.
12-quart Container – Although you can use a basic stockpot for your sous vide cooking needs, I highly recommend buying a large plastic container. They are inexpensive and spacious, so you won’t have to worry about cooking a big roast in a small pot. I recommend a 12 quart Rubbermaid container, as it is BPA free, sturdy, and large enough for just about anything you will be cooking.
Container Lid – If you are going to buy a plastic container, I highly suggest buying a compatible lid for it. When you sous vide for a long duration, the heat of the water causes evaporation. With a lid, it eliminates a majority of the evaporation so you can cook for hours care-free.
Check out our full list of recommended gear here.
Avocado Toast with Sous Vide Egg
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 4 slices sourdough bread, toasted
- 2 ripe avocados
- 2 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- red pepper flakes, for garnish
- shaved parmesan, for garnish
- 8 slices bacon (optional)
Instructions
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Set sous vide machine to 75C/167F. Once temperature is reached, gently place eggs in the bath for 14 minutes.
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In a small bowl, combine avocados, lemon juice and garlic salt. Gently mash ingredients with the back of a fork until creamy.
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Remove eggs from sous vide bath with tongs. Immediately place eggs into a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes.
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Spread mashed avocado mixture on warm toasted bread, then garnish with red pepper flakes and shaved parmesan. Place sous vide egg and bacon (optional) on top, and enjoy!
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(Optional) Preheat oven at 175C/350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place strips of bacon on it. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven and flip the bacon with tongs. Return to oven for another 15 minutes, or until desired crispiness.
Recipe Notes
High quality ingredients are the key to making this recipe the best it can be. Make sure to pick up fresh bread and hand select perfectly ripe avocados.
Shelby T says
Wow I love this avocado toast recipe! Those sous vide eggs were a fantastic compliment to the avo mash and toast.
Cyndi Hench says
Maybe I missed a sentence, but how are you putting the egg into the sous vide bath? In the shell? In a ziplock bag? Mason jar?
Jason Veselak says
Hi Cyndi, you put the whole egg (shell on) directly in the water. Make sure to gently lower them in with a slotted spoon or tongs so they don't break!
LFK says
I have been looking for a good, foolproof approached to poached eggs for some time. I did not like the consistency of the whites here, they were unpleasantly gelationous, not set the way I'd hoped. I think the recipe should also discuss how the eggs are to be removed from the shells.
Perfect poached eggs seem to be a hard thing to find. America's Test Kitchen sous vide approach uses 167 F for 12 minutes,. Comments for the ATK approach indicated a fair bit of dissatisfaction as well.
https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/10178-sous-vide-soft-poached-eggs?incode=MASAD00L0&ref=new_search_experience_1,
Serious Eats appears to use the method described here. Commenters voiced dissatisfaction as well.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/10/sous-vide-soft-poached-eggs.html
The best success I've had is with a different ATK recipe modified to incorporate a Julia Child's technique. She pricked the end of an egg with a safety pin and parboiled the egg for 15 seconds. After doing this, I continued the ATK recipe: cracking the egg into a tea cup, heating 6 cups of water to a boil (the same water used for parboiling), adding 1 t salt and 1 T vinegar, pulling the Dutch oven off the heat, allowing the water to become still, gently tipping the egg into the water, covering the pot, and removing the egg after 4 minutes. This approach avoids yolk breakage while manipulating the egg over a colander to discard loose whites. It also has the advantage of allowing use of older eggs, as parboiling process sets the loose, older whites layer so it doesn't feather out. Finally, it allows for direct monitoring of how well the whites are set.
https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/9473-perfect-poached-eggs?incode=MASAD00L0&ref=new_search_experience_2
Jason Veselak says
Hi there, thank you for the feedback! I've done that ATK modified recipe you mentioned at the end and they turned out fantastic, but for simplicity purposes, I tried to make it the least complex as possible. This post needs a big update as I no longer do 145F for 45 mins and have started doing 167F for 14 minutes, which I find very enjoyable.
I plan on making a huge update to this post and posting a new, lengthy recipe on the perfect sous vide poached egg where I will dive deep on the various different cooking times, temps and methods. Thanks again for your insight!
LFK says
Thanks for the response.... It's great when a food blogger is willing to engage in some back and forth to improve culinary results!
I've been so frustrated by not being able to obtain good poached eggs that I continued searching after my last comment... Another way to go is Jamie Oliver's hack of placing cracked eggs in Pam coated squares of plastic wrap tied off with twine and poaching those. I tried sous vide cooking those at 6 minutes at 180 F (a simmer temperature) and wasn't quite satisfied, but I think the method has promise. It's also good for doing multiple eggs at once and adding flavorings.
Yet another is Thomas Keller's approach of cracking the egg into a cup containing 1/2 cup of white vinegar and letting that stand for 5 minutes to congeal the whites. A commenter suggested that the vinegar could be reduced to 1 tablespoon with good results. I might drain off the vinegar through a strainer before adding the egg to hot water. This will be my next attempt.
It also looks like Kenji Lopez-Alt has enhanced his 145 F/45 minute approach be removing the loose white and transferring the egg to water jutt off a simmer to harden off the whites.
Jason Veselak says
Wow you are getting me excited to start experimenting with these methods! I will join you on the quest for reliable, perfect poached eggs. Thank you again for sharing all your insight and research. Let's continue sharing our test results.
Jim says
Once you plunge the poached eggs into the ice bath, don't they end up cold? How do you warm them up without rulning the consistency?
Jason Veselak says
Hi Jim, the idea is to keep the eggs in the ice bath long enough to solidify the outer whites, but not to make the inside yolk cold. However, sometimes that happens, so I'd recommend running the eggs under hot water to warm them back up. Enjoy!