How To Hard Boil Eggs
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Learn how to hard boil eggs perfectly every time with my TESTED and PERFECTED methods! This stove top recipe makes it easy to create hard boiled eggs with a creamy yolk and soft white exterior, perfect for Deviled Eggs, Egg Salad or Cobb Salad.
When you find yourself with dozens of eggs, one of the best things to do is cook up a big batch of hard boiled eggs! Hard boiled eggs pack in a bunch of nutrients, and they’re low in calories making them a healthy choice.
They’re a great source of lean protein, as well as vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron.
But how do you make perfect hard boiled eggs? Easy to peel, with no green ring, a perfectly soft and tender yolk without being undercooked? Seems impossible, but it’s not! It’s actually really easy to do.
Eggs are a nutritious, low calorie food that are an excellent addition to your weekly menu. Grate some on your avocado toast for breakfast, sprinkle on some toppings for a snack, chop them up for salads, make sandwiches, the possibilities are endless!
Table of contents
Instructions
- Prepare the water.
- Fill a large pot with water. You want there to be enough water to cover the eggs, about 6-8 cups.
- Bring the water to a rolling boil on the stove over high heat.
- Add 1 teaspoon baking soda to the boiling water.
- Cook the eggs.
- Lower the eggs into the boiling water in a single layer. You can do this one by one with a slotted spoon, or load them all into a steamer basket. This method is my favorite and makes it so easy to add the eggs and remove them from the pot at the same time.
- Cover the pot with a lid. Reduce the heat on the stove down to medium, and simmer the eggs for 11 minutes.
- Shock the boiled eggs.
- Use a slotted spoon to carefully transfer the eggs from the boiling water to a large bowl of ice water.
- Let them rest in the cold water for 15 minutes.
- Store in the refrigerator, or peel and eat immediately.
How to peel the eggs
Some people will say that baking soda is unnecessary when boiling eggs. I’ve always used this method, so I tried boiling eggs from the same carton, at the same time and temperature, one with baking soda and one without.
The six eggs at the top of the picture above were the eggs cooked with baking soda and the bottom six eggs were cooked without baking soda.
As you can see the shells from the eggs cooked in baking soda peeled off easily for perfect hard boiled eggs. The bottom six eggs were much more difficult to peel and I ended up losing part of the egg white on each of these eggs.
So let my experiment be a lesson, toss some baking soda in the boiling water for easy-to-peel eggs every time. Then follow these simple instructions to peel the eggs.
- After 15 minutes in an ice bath, remove the eggs one by one.
- Tap the eggs against a hard surface on the top and bottom, then on one side of the egg to crack the shell.
- Gently peel the shell from the hard boiled eggs.
- Pro tip! I recommend doing this over a colander in the sink, so that you can easily discard the shells in the trash when you’re finished peeling the eggs.
- Rinse the egg once it’s peeled to make sure you get all of the membrane and shell bits off.
If the shell is still hard to peel, place the cracked egg in a bowl of water and let it soak for a few, the water will work its way under the membrane making it easier to peel. You can also try this under running water.
Expert tips
- Remove the eggs from the refrigerator before you start to boil the water. This will give them a few minutes to warm up before adding them to the boiling water and will help prevent cracking in the water.
- The timing for this recipe is for large eggs, if you use a different size the cook time may differ.
- Don’t skip the ice bath!
- That green ring around the yolk you sometimes see comes from overcooking the eggs.
- Additionally, shocking the eggs in cold water will help to separate the membrane that holds the shell, away from the whites.
- Older eggs are easier to peel, so avoid using fresh eggs if possible. Most eggs from the grocery store are at least 1 week old when you bring them home, so they will already be good to go. If your neighbor has chickens and they bring you fresh eggs laid that morning, I recommend waiting at least one week to hard boil the eggs.
- You can use this same method to make soft boiled eggs, just simply set a timer for 6 minutes, instead of 11 minutes, to simmer the eggs in the boiling water.
Storage tips
- It is best to keep the shell on the egg while storing, as the eggs will stay fresh longer, when they’re unpeeled.
- Hard boiled eggs that have not been peeled will stay good for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. Peeled hard boiled eggs should be eaten within 2-3 days.
- Seal them in an airtight container to prevent the smell from leaking into the fridge.
- While it is possible to freeze hard boiled eggs, it is not recommended to freeze them whole since the egg white’s texture will be rubbery once defrosted. However, the yolks freeze great! Simply separate the egg yolks and seal them in an airtight freezer-safe container, then defrost in the fridge when you’re ready.
Ways to use them
Enjoy hard boiled eggs as a snack, or use them in recipes. Here are some of the best ways to eat hard boiled eggs.
Simply slice them in half and top the eggs with any of these for a little snack.
- Salt and pepper
- Mashed avocado or guacamole
- Hummus – try the eggs topped with this Spicy Sriracha Hummus!
- Everything Bagel Seasoning
- Homemade Ranch Seasoning
- Seasoned salt
- Mustard
- Hot sauce
Or use your perfect hard boiled eggs in these recipes.
- Slice them and add them to your favorite green salad, or make a Cajun Turkey Cobb Salad or this Healthy Cobb Salad.
- Avocado Egg Salad – put it on toast or make it into sandwiches!
- Cheddar Ranch Instant Pot Potato Salad
- Classic Deviled Eggs (pictured above) or Deviled Eggs with Relish
- Bacon and Blue Deviled Eggs
- Dice them and sprinkle on top of Grilled Asparagus
- Add slices to deli sandwiches
- Add medium or hard boiled eggs on top of Miso Ramen soup.
More easy egg recipes
Plenty of eggs in the fridge? Put them to use with these tasty recipes.
- Egg Muffins
- Sous Vide Egg Bites
- Spinach Frittata with Bacon
- Breakfast Burrito
- 10 Minute Caprese Avocado Omelette
Hard Boiled Eggs
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Add 6-8 inches of water to a large pot. You want enough water to cover the eggs.
- Place the pot of water on the stove over high heat and bring to a boil.
- Once the water has come to a rapid boil, add the baking soda.
- Gently lower the eggs into the boiling water using a slotted spoon, or by placing them in a steamer basket and lowering it into the water.
- Cover the pot, turn the heat on the stove down to medium and cook the eggs for 11 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, use a slotted spoon to remove each of the eggs from the pot and immediately place them in an ice bath.
- Leave the eggs in the ice bath for 15 minutes.
- Remove the eggs from the ice bath and peel immediately to eat or use in a recipe. Or place them in the refrigerator unpeeled to peel and eat later.
- When ready to peel the eggs, tap the eggs against a hard surface on the top and bottom, then on one side of the egg to crack the shell.
- Gently peel the shell from the hard boiled eggs.
- Rinse the egg once it’s peeled to make sure you get all of the membrane and shell bits off of the egg.
Notes
- Remove the eggs from the refrigerator before you start to boil the water. This will give them a few minutes to warm up before adding them to the boiling water and will help prevent cracking in the water.
- The timing for this recipe is for large eggs, if you use a different size the cook time may differ.
- Older eggs are easier to peel, so avoid using fresh eggs if possible. Most eggs from the grocery store are at least 1 week old when you bring them home, so they will already be good to go. If your neighbor has chickens and they bring you fresh eggs laid that morning, I recommend waiting at least one week to hard boil the eggs.
- You can use this same method to make soft boiled eggs, just simply set a timer for 6 minutes, instead of 11 minutes, to simmer the eggs in the boiling water.
- It is best to keep the shell on the egg while storing, as the eggs will stay fresh longer, when they’re unpeeled.
- Hard boiled eggs that have not been peeled will stay good for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. Peeled hard boiled eggs should be eaten within 2-3 days.
- Seal them in an airtight container to prevent the smell from leaking into the fridge.
- While it is possible to freeze hard boiled eggs, it is not recommended to freeze them whole since the egg white’s texture will be rubbery once defrosted. However, the yolks freeze great! Simply separate the egg yolks and seal them in an airtight freezer-safe container, then defrost in the fridge when you’re ready.
Nutrition Facts
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