Cooking hard boiled eggs seems like it should be one of the easiest culinary techniques. However, there are so many things that can complicate the cooking process, and despite what seems like a simple technique, can quickly turn into a disaster.
This time of year most people are gearing up to boil tons of eggs for the traditional Easter egg dying, but hard boiled eggs make a quick and easy breakfast or snack and can be added to a number of recipes (hello BLT Egg Salad Sandwiches!), so mastering this cooking technique is a must!
To help you conquer the hard boiled egg, I am here with another installment of ‘cooking basics!’ I’ve boiled a lot, let me emphasis a lot, of eggs in my day and I have learned a few tricks and tips to achieve that perfect hard boiled egg → not cracked, perfect yellow yolk, easy to peel, boiled eggs!
So let’s get to it!
A few things that can affect your hard boiled eggs:
Too fresh: Very fresh eggs are hard to peel. For best results use eggs that are 5+ days old.
High altitude: If you live at a high altitude follow the directions below and allow eggs to sit covered for 15-20 minutes.
Salt: Adding a little salt to the cooking water can help the eggs peel more easily.
Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs:
Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
Printable Version
Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Wait Time 17-18 minutes
1 dozen eggs
½ – 1 teaspoons salt (optional)
Place eggs in a single layer in a large pot. Cover with 1 to 1 ½ inches cold tap water.
Place pot on stove top and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil eggs for one minute. Remove from heat and cover pot with a tight fitting lid. Let eggs sit in hot water for 9-10 minutes for medium-sized eggs, 11-12 minutes for large eggs, and 14-15 minutes for extra large eggs.
Meanwhile fill a large bowl with ice and cold tap water. After eggs have sat in water for instructed amount of time, use a slotted spoon or tongs to transfer eggs to bowl of ice water. Allow eggs to cool in ice water for 5 minutes.
Peel cooled eggs by tapping them gently on cutting board or the edge of the bowl. Starting at the larger more rounded end, begin peeling the eggs. The larger rounded end has a small indention that will help the peeling process start more easily.
Peeling eggs under cold running water or in the bowl of ice water will also help in the peeling process.
Peeled eggs should be eaten immediately or stored in the refrigerator, in an air tight container, for one day. Hard boiled eggs in the shell can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.
If you are on Pinterest I’m sure you have seen the posts about perfect hard ‘boiled’ eggs that are baked in the oven. I hadn’t tried this technique until fairly recently and it totally works! Last December I went to cook at a hunting lodge for a bunch of hunters and one of them said that baking eggs was the only way he made hard “boiled” eggs and they came out perfect every time. I started trying it and low and behold, perfect, easily to peel hard “boiled” eggs baked in the oven. The only downside to the baked version, is that some brown spots may appear on the shell and on the cooked egg whites (you may also notices the egg whites will appear to have a yellowish tint). This really isn’t a problem unless you want picture perfect eggs, like for deviled eggs. But for snacking or diced to go into recipes this method is just fine!
Baked Hard “Boiled” Eggs:
Baked Hard “Boiled” Eggs
Printable Version
Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 22-23 minutes
1 dozen large eggs
Place one egg into each cavity of a muffin tin. Place muffin tin into a cold oven. Turn oven on- to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake eggs for 22-23 minutes.
Meanwhile fill a large bowl with ice and cold tap water. After eggs have baked for instructed amount of time, use tongs to transfer eggs to bowl of ice water. Allow eggs to cool in ice water for 5 minutes.
Peel cooled eggs by tapping them gently on cutting board or edge of bowl. Starting at the larger more rounded end, begin peeling the eggs. The larger rounded end has a small indention that will help the peeling process start more easily.
Peeling eggs under cold running water or in the bowl of ice water will also help in the peeling process.
Peeled eggs should be eaten immediately or stored in the refrigerator, in an air tight container, for one day. Hard boiled eggs in the shell can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Note: You may need to experiment with the baking time, as all ovens are different. Also, the size of the egg may affect the baking time.
Now that you know how to create perfect hard boiled eggs, check out the following recipes from around the web that use hard boiled eggs!
Lemon Caper Deviled Eggs (Kitchen Concoctions)
Guacamole Deviled Eggs (Skinny Taste)
Classic Deviled Eggs (Kitchen Concoctions)
25 Fun Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs (Six Sisters’ Stuff)
Curried Egg Salad (Kitchen Concoctions)
Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad with Soft-Boiled Eggs (Naturally Ella)
BLT Egg Salad Sandwiches (Kitchen Concoctions)
Baked Scotch Eggs (Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)
Southwestern Cobb Salad (Kitchen Concoctions)
Great tip! Thanks!