A perfectly hard-boiled egg can be an elusive thing, even for those of us who cook–and cook with kids underfoot, and into everything, all the time. I’m here to help fix that! Hard-boiled eggs are a super easy, nutritious go-to food that I have on hand all of the time and, when you follow these easy directions for how to hard-boil eggs perfectly, you may too. They’re great to have around for any meal of the day, but especially for one of the five quick school day breakfast ideas. I’ve rounded up for you.
How to Hard Boil Eggs Perfectly
First, let’s talk about cooking perfect hard boiled eggs which can be quite simple. It just requires a little timing. Follow this method for foolproof results every time:
1. Gently arrange eggs in a single layer in the bottom of a saucepan. This is a rare case when using older ingredients is better than using fresh ones, since older eggs will peel easier. Don’t worry if you only have fresh eggs, though. Read on for other ways to ensure an easy peel.
2. Cover eggs by 2 inches with cool to room temperature tap water and set on the stovetop over high heat.
3. Bring water to a boil and cook eggs for 1 minute. After the minute, take the pot off of the heat, cover and allow the eggs to sit for 10 minutes.
4. Drain the eggs. If you’re going to use them right away, roll them on the counter to crack the shells slightly and dunk them in an ice water bath for about 2 minutes. Cracking the eggs before plunging them in cold water will help them peel easily.
If you plan on storing the eggs, plunge them in the ice water bath without cracking the shells first. You can leave them in the cold water for as little as 2 minutes, but the longer you leave them in the ice water bath, the higher the likelihood that the eggs will peel easily when you’re ready for them. Once you remove the eggs from the cold water, you can store them in their shells in the fridge for up to a week.
Photo by Mustafa Bashari on Unsplash
Thanks for the tip to crack the shells and then dunk in ice water. I’ll have to try this method. I’ve always found the peeling part to be so painful as to make the entire hard boiling process not worthwhile. I’ve also heard that adding things to the water, like baking soda, can help produce an easy peel, but that hasn’t worked as well for me. Salmon recipe looks good too. My kids love fish for breakfast (seriously)…
We prefer and buy very fresh local eggs here on the coast and they were miserable to peel after being cooked in water any number of ways. However, I read about and tried covering and steaming to hard boil the eggs and it was wonderful….. used colander or steamer and cooked for about 20 -22 minutes. Then rinsed in cold water to halt cooking. They were cooked perfectly, no green ring around the yolk and the best part? The shell came right off – easily. Have to watch so as not to have it all evaporate.
Eggs are typical harder to peel, but only because people are doing it wrong!
Instead of covering Eggs with Water, add just a half Inch of Water (Comes to a boil faster = You save Energy, Money and Water = Win Win Win), that way, you Steam the Eggs instead of Boiling them.
When done, add them to Cold Water for a Minute or so… Either transfer back to the Pot with a Lid, or a different Container with a Lid, and gently shake for 5 – 10 Seconds, and you’re all done 🙂
In Asia this is actually a competitive event!