Do your hard-boiled eggs look like they’ve been through a grinder? Learn how to make perfect hard boiled eggs every time and avoiding wasting half the egg in the peeling process!
Fresh eggs are great- they’re healthy, offer a cheap source of protein and taste great – but they absolutely suck for making pretty hard boiled eggs. Allow me to explain- as an egg “ages” oxygen permeates the shell, the more oxygen within the shell, the easier it is to peel the egg.
How to Properly Hard Cook an Egg
First, how to properly hard cook an egg notice I said, hard cook, rather than hard boil- hard cooking is when you cook the egg throughout so that both the yolk and the whites are firm. Hard boiling an egg often overcooks the egg resulting in a green-tinted yolk that is hard and dry.
While it’s safe to eat a “hard-boiled” egg, they aren’t quite as tasty and if you’re using them in a recipe such as egg salad- you might find that you’re using more mayo to make up for the overly dry yolks.
- Place eggs in saucepan large enough to hold them in a single layer.
- Add cold water to cover eggs by 1 inch, add 1/2 tablespoon of salt to the water.
- Heat over high heat just to boiling.
- Remove from the burner and cover the pan.
- Let eggs stand in the hot water, covered.
- 12 minutes for medium eggs
- 15 minutes for large eggs
- 18 minutes for extra-large eggs
- Cool completely under cold running water or in a bowl of ice water.
- Peel and eat, or store unpeeled in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
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Eggs- The Good, The Bad, The Ugly!
How to tell if an egg is bad: Place eggs in a bowl of water, if the egg floats, the egg is bad. Eggs that have gone bad float due to the gases that have built up within the egg.
If the egg “stands” it will create perfect hard-boiled eggs. This means that the egg has aged enough to allow just the right amount of oxygen into the shell, allowing for easy peeling.
If the egg immediately sinks to the bottom- it’s too fresh and will not peel well, resulting in eggs that look like these:
Store-bought eggs are often several weeks old by the time you purchase them. Most of the time these eggs are ready to be hard-cooked.
See also: How to Tell the Age of Eggs
it doesn’t much matter how you boil an old egg. they peel pretty well, no matter what. the trick is to grab an egg from under the hen, boil it and have it peel perfectly.
here’s how you do it.
put enough water in the pan to cover the eggs. bring the water to a boil. add the eggs, gently.
there is less chance they will crack if they are at room temperature. boil 13 to 15 mins for large eggs. Start timing from when you put the eggs in, not when the water reboils.
When they are done, drain and add cold water. When they have cooled, they will peel perfectly.
I stopped having trouble peeling boiled eggs (even hen fresh) since I started adding a handfull of salt to the water. Saw this on a cooking show and it works every time. use lots of salt and not just a sprinkle.
This is exactly how I do my eggs. 🙂
add 1 tsp baking soda to the water for easy peel eggs even fresh ones 🙂
I do this as well, even with our hen’s fresh eggs, and it (nearly) always works!
i have used this same method for years. my mom taught this to me. it works every time!
I have always added vinegar to the water with mixed results on the peeling. Never thought of salt or baking soda, off to the store I go, I abso lutely hate beat up eggs after peeling them.:chicky:
This is how I cook my eggs though I let them sit for 30 minutes.
If you happen to have an Instant Pot, put the rack in and dump in 1 cup of water in with 16 eggs. Set it on steam for five minutes under high pressure. Cool the eggs immediately.
They practically fall out of the shell.
5 minutes for hard
2 minutes for softer
I lucked out and found an unloved Instant Pot at a thrift store.
Another note on the Instant Pot for the eggs, this was just too funny. I was showing my brother-in-law how easy eggs were to peel by quickly rolling one to crack the shell and giving it a squeeze. It popped out and flew across the room.
I also tried it out on new eggs. They’d been laid that morning. Only one out of the dozen didn’t peel on easy mode.
For the perfect peelable egg, this works best…
Bring pot of water to a full boil.
While it is boiling, use a gravy spoon to slowly submerge the eggs in the boiling water.
Let water boil with eggs for 9 minutes.
Take pot off heat and immediately take pot to sink drowning the eggs with cold water.
Eggs will peel perfectly every time!