It might seem like a basic skill, but boiling eggs can be tricky! Here are my tips on how to hard boil eggs for a great result.
When my friends and I got into a conversation about how to hard boil an egg, everyone had their own methods including some interesting sounding contraptions!
I thought I’d share with you some tips and how I hard boil my eggs.
How to hard boil eggs
1.
Place egg/s in a saucepan covered in cold water.
2.
Bring water to the boil.
3.
Take off heat and let stand for 10-15 minutes.
4.
Run under cool water to cool the egg.
5.
Peel off the shell.
Tips…
- Use an egg at room temperature, this stops the shell from cracking.
- Use a slotted spoon to take eggs out of the saucepan.
- Run them under some cold water so you can easily peel away the shell.
- Don’t put them in the fridge to cool, it makes them harder to peel.
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28 comments
Your post today about boiling eggs is very timely for me. I’ve been trialling a few different ways of boiling eggs, but still don’t seem to have cracked it. My problem is that a day or two later when peeling them they don’t want to come away. In fact, after my last experiment the shell cracked and crumbled under our fingers making it even more difficult to peel it off. Your steps seems very similar to ones I have tried. I have heard of putting vinegar in the water and wonder if this might be the solution, but is there a taste in the cooked egg?
I put my eggs into a saucepan of cold water with about half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, bring to boil then stand off heat for ten minutes. Run under cold water to stop cooking process. I have tried so many tips but bicarb is the one that works for me, no more shelling problems.
Vinegar will not flavor the eggs. I boil mine, drain and then “bounce” them around in the pan, cracking the shells and THEN cover with cold water, the shells peel right off after the eggs cool, haven’t had a failure yet 😀
I have also heard that the fresher the egg – the harder it is to peel. We have chickens and if I am making hard boiled eggs – I try and use the oldest eggs rather than ones that have just been laid. Funnily enough, my “girls” have not been laying much lately ( this happens in the colder weather ) so I asked hubby to buy a carton of eggs the other day as I have been using a few for back to school baking. I decided to make mashed egg sandwiches for my daughters’ lunches today so I boiled up some eggs last night before going to bed. I ran some cold water into the saucepan to cool them and just left them in the pot overnight. When I peed them this morning – the shells came away beautifully. Now I’m wondering – was it that they just cooled in the water or were those store bought eggs a bit old ?
I know this has nothing to do with eggs, but I need help . I’ve got a recipe that calls for 2 packages (20sheets)of graham crackers i’m going to use honey tiny teddy”s but how much is the big question???? please can someone help
and some vinegar in the water
In my thermie!
I didn’t consider this when I bought it, but one of the things I love my Thermomix for is boiling eggs. I’ve spent years trying to perfect the art- and my Thermie, boom, perfect everytime.
Must admit, I haven’t boiled an egg in there yet. How do you do it?
The guide is in the EDC. It is so easy, put water in the bowl, eggs in the rice basket. Set the timer for whether you want soft or hard boiled, walk away and leave until it beeps at you. Fantastic!
I have always had a hard time getting the perfect hard boiled egg with timing and what not but I tried your technique today and it was great. Perfect egg and so easy, im converted to your method!
I’ve been cooking eggs this way for years as it saves on fuel. However, if you like a ‘ coddled ‘ egg with a soft or runny yolk, only leave the egg in the hot water for 5 minutes. It’s delicious with soya sauce and Aromat. If you put a lid on the pan it boils quicker.
Lol, my “technique” for boiling eggs is:
1. Put eggs in pot and cover with cold water
2. Place on heat
3. Go do something else while waiting for water to boil
4. Completely forget about the eggs, then panic when I do remember them
5. Remove from heat and run under cold water
6. Peel and marvel at the fact they’re perfectly hard boiled
LOL, love step number 4!!!
This is my technique too 🙂 mostly step 4 !
This is so my technique too!!! Lol
Yep this is how I mostly do it too. Especially the ‘Marvel’ bit.
After boiling your eggs drain and put them in a pan with a lid. Cover the eggs with ice cold water put lost of ice in water. Leave in water for 10 minutes. Drain water leaving an in charge on bottom of pot. Then cover the pan and shake the eggs like bumper cars they practically peel them selves.
Agreed!… Except I roll mine on the bench u til they’re crazed like a broken windscreen. Peel like mandarins then!
I think I remember reading somewhere to add 1 teaspoon of either vinegar or bi carb soda to the water – makes for easy peeling
My granddaughter loves hard-boiled “cracky” eggs, and at 4 years old, she now wants to peel them herself. I found a great method on-line for hard-cooking eggs – I now steam them! I put up to a dozen into my veggie steamer basket, and let the water in the pot below come to the point of steaming – then let them go for about 25-30 minutes; then plunge them into an ice-water bath for a couple of minutes. They peel so easily, and are cooked all the way through!
To peel the egg easily, hit the bottom of the egg on a hard surface, tear off a small piece of the shell, and slide a spoon into the opening. Then, making sure the spoon has slid underneath the egg’s membrane, you start to rotate the egg in your hand. The spoon should loosen the shell so that you can peel it away all in one piece.
Great tip, thanks Emma!
I have a Rollie and it’s actually very useful and great to use. The video you have above is a little cheesy but you shouldn’t judge the product on that alone!
I sell ‘rainbow eggs’ as too fresh to hard boil. The carbon dioxide in the inner membrane hasn’t had time to transfer over to the shell and so it sticks and your peeled eggs look like Martian landscapes. Oh and rainbow: brown, cream, white and blue ?
Sounds very intriguing Farah! Kat x
In France, the traditional recipe is to boil eggs for 10 minutes and run cold water on them straight away.
I’ve tried your recipe and will definitely “boil my eggs the australian way” from now on.
They are always perfectly cooked, soft and ….it saves energy too.
Thank you for this tip.
Oh, thanks for sharing this, lovely! I’m so glad you had success with this method. I’ve always found I get the best results cooking them this way.