Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs: how could something so simple be so tricky to achieve? After years (truly, years!), we’ve finally cracked the code for shells that peel off with ease using one easy trick.
Table of Contents
- This recipe is…
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs Recipe Ingredients
- How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs
- How Long to Boil Eggs
- How to Peel a Hard Boiled Egg
- How Do You Hard-Boil Eggs So That They Peel Easily?
- How Long Do Hard Boiled Eggs Keep?
- Recipe Tip
- How to Serve Hard Boiled Eggs
- More Ways to Use Hard Boiled Eggs
- Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs Recipe
This recipe is…
If you do an internet search for “how to make hard boiled eggs” or “perfect hard boiled eggs,” you’ll find instructions that cover a strange, perplexing spectrum …and we’ve tried them all. We’ve baked our eggs, steamed them, poked holes in them, and boiled them with a bit of vinegar. We’ve also let our eggs “age” a bit in the refrigerator, following the logic that slightly older eggs peel easier. But while there were a few successful flukes, NOTHING produced consistent results.
So, we hit the books and started doing our own research on how to boil eggs…both inside the kitchen, and out. And after a lot of trial and error, we finally cracked the perfect hard boiled egg code. What’s the secret? No holes, no vinegar, no baking, steaming, or aged eggs. The secret we found was simply a drastic temperature change. THAT’S IT, FOLKS. That’s the method that we discovered yields perfect, easy-to-peel eggs EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
Follow our tips below on how to boil eggs so you’ll have a dozen on hand for classics like Egg Salad, Deviled Eggs, Cobb Salad, Nicoise Salad, and more!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- We’ve cracked the code for how to hard boil eggs that turn out perfectly every time!
- One recipe = a dozen perfect hard boiled eggs
- Use in dozens of classic recipes like egg salad, or check out our ideas for creative toppings
Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs Recipe Ingredients
How many other recipes do you know of that only require one single ingredient?
Eggs – That’s it! All you’ll need for this recipe is a dozen eggs, pulled straight from the fridge.
How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs
Here’s how to boil eggs to easy-to-peel perfection every time.
Step 1: Bring about 3 inches of water to a boil in a large pot. Once boiling, pull the eggs from the refrigerator. Using a slotted spoon or fitted strainer basket, carefully place or submerge the eggs in the boiling water. Boil the eggs for exactly 10 minutes.
Step 2: While the eggs are boiling, prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with at least 5 cups of ice cubes. Add enough water to cover the ice cubes.
Step 3: Use a slotted spoon (or the strainer basket) to pull the eggs from the boiling water. Immediately place them in the ice bath, making sure that each egg is submerged. Let them sit in the bath for at least 15 minutes.
Step 4: Once completely chilled, either peel the eggs and enjoy right away, or transfer to the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
How Long to Boil Eggs
That depends! Do you like your yolk gooey and soft-boiled or bright yellow (but not over-cooked) and hard boiled? Here are times for each:
- Soft-boiled – 6-7 minutes in the boiling water
- Hard boiled – 10 minutes in the boiling water
How to Peel a Hard Boiled Egg
You’ve soaked your eggs in an ice bath and now you’re ready to peel, except ‘peeling’ the eggs makes you a little bit nervous and you’re not exactly sure *how* to do that …DON’T FEAR – it’s easy! We like to peel our eggs over the sink with a running faucet at reach so there’s easy cleanup for any rogue shell pieces.
Grab a bowl for your peeled shells (you don’t want a bunch of those going down the drain), and set it in the sink. Start by tapping the egg on a hard surface (typically the inside wall of the sink) to get a little crack going and then start peeling from that weak-point. Once you start peeling, that shell is going to slide right off. Keep the peeled shells in the bowl so that you can easily dump them into the trash or compost bin.
How Do You Hard-Boil Eggs So That They Peel Easily?
How do we make it work? Simple. These are our 5 steps to PERFECT (and most easily peeled) hard boiled eggs:
- Boil the water. Does this even count as a step?! Start off by bringing water to a boil (enough water to cover your eggs).
- Add the eggs to the pot. Once simmering, pull your eggs from the refrigerator and slowly place them in the water (using a slotted spoon). The more slowly you place them in, the less likely they are to crack.
- Boil. Boil to your desired doneness (see below).
- Transfer to an ice bath. After the timer is up, use that same slotted spoon to transfer them to an ice bath (just a bowl full of half ice and half water). Let the eggs chill there for at least 5 minutes.
- Peel + enjoy. Bask in the pure pleasure of a shell that just slides right off the whites. It’s the most satisfying feeling in the whole wide world. Once peeled, enjoy on their own or in your favorite boiled egg recipe (see below for some YUMMY ideas).
How Long Do Hard Boiled Eggs Keep?
Hard boiled eggs keep for one week (7 days) in the fridge. We recommend keeping them in an airtight container so that you don’t get punched with that pungent boiled egg smell every time you open the fridge!
Recipe Tip
Toppings – Have fun getting creative with hard boiled eggs toppings! We like:
- Capers, smoked salmon, and fresh dill
- 3-Ingredient Paleo Ranch
- Mustard, mayo, and chives
- Chives and diced red onion
How to Serve Hard Boiled Eggs
This recipe will give you 12 hard boiled eggs to enjoy however you’d like. Try them in a classic recipe like Egg Salad or Deviled Eggs. Or, slice them lengthwise, and add your toppings like the suggestions above and enjoy as a snack, or as a protein-add to a salad or bowl.
More Ways to Use Hard Boiled Eggs
If you tried this recipe for Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs, or any other recipe on the Fed & Fit website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝comments below!
Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
Ingredients
- 12 large eggs, chilled
Instructions
- Bring about 3 inches of water to a boil in a large pot. Once boiling, pull the eggs from the refrigerator. Using a slotted spoon or fitted strainer basket, carefully place or submerge the eggs in the boiling water. Boil the eggs for exactly 10 minutes.
- While the eggs are boiling, prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with at least 5 cups of ice cubes. Add enough water to cover the ice cubes.
- Use a slotted spoon (or the strainer basket) to pull the eggs from the boiling water. Immediately place them in the ice bath, making sure that each egg is submerged. Let them sit in the bath for at least 15 minutes.
- Once completely chilled, either peel the eggs and enjoy right away or transfer to the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
Recipe Notes
- 3-Ingredient Paleo Ranch
- Capers, smoked salmon, and fresh dill
- Mustard, mayo, and chives
- Chives and diced red onion
Nutrition
This is the way my mother has done eggs, always perfect. I tried to reinvent the wheel with no success, stick to what works♀️. Thank you! My mother will be happy to say I told you so. Haha.
LOL! They come out perfectly every single time!!
This method works every time.
Thanks for making such a simple recipe even simpler and fool proof.
I have tried all the tricks – thumb tack hole, baking soda, salt in the water – this is the first time EVER that all of my eggs have been super easy to peel! AMAZING! It works!!!
Okay tried your new way for me of doing hard boiled eggs. The first egg in the boiling water just slightly hit the bottom of the pot and that was enough to crack it a little bit and yup, Cooked whites all over the pot. So back to my tried and true way of doing one or a dozen hard boiled eggs which the shell comes off in 2 pieces and the odd occasion the shells comes off in 3 pieces. 1)Put eggs in a pot filled with water that just about covers them, cover with the pot with a lid 2) Bring to a rolling boil 3) turn off heat and let the eggs sit there with the lid covered for 10mins. I have left for much longer and they still come out perfect so don’t worry if you can’t get to them right at the 10 min. mark. Try it and let me know how you love it.
I started doing “boiled” eggs in my instant pot…I’ll never look back! It’s amazing! 5 minutes on steam, 5 minutes on a natural press release, and 5 minutes in the ice bath. It’s better than any stove top version…and like you, I’ve tried a LOT. Just consider it. 🙂
Yayyy 🙂 I will have to try this! Hard boiled eggs are my nemesis, and I always end up undercooking them. I finally gave up on Thanksgiving and bought pre-peeled and pre-hard boiled eggs at the grocery store so I could make deviled eggs!