How to hard boil eggs so they peel perfectly every time! Learn how to boil eggs the easy way with these step by step directions.
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How to Boil Eggs…the easy way!
Have you ever boiled a pan of eggs and had a terrible time peeling them? There you are, getting ready to make that batch of deviled eggs, only to have most of your egg come off with the shell. It’s one of the most frustrating things ever! The method I’m sharing today gives step-by-step directions and will take the mystery out of boiling eggs.
I don’t remember when I started using this method or where I found the directions. Like most of you, I’ve boiled eggs for many years. When my daughter was young, she loved tuna fish sandwiches. Since it was one thing I knew she would always eat, I made it fairly often. I always put hard boiled eggs in it, so I was making them quite a bit. When my son was in high school, he used to eat just the egg whites of 2 or 3 boiled eggs for part of his breakfast. I felt like I was boiling eggs all the time, so I had plenty of opportunities to fine-tune my procedure!
Does this method work with farm fresh eggs?
Update: I had a few questions asking if this method would work for farm fresh eggs. I have never used them, but evidently they are very hard to peel after they are boiled. I did some research and here’s what I found:
Follow the method in the recipe card until you get to step #13. For farm fresh eggs, let them sit in the ice water for ten minutes instead of just one minute. This should do the trick, and make the eggs easy to peel.
Boiled Eggs Peeling Tip
Just under the shell of the egg is a thin, milky membrane. After the egg is cracked, and as you are beginning to tear away the shell, find this membrane and pull it off with the shell. The shell sticks to the membrane like glue, but if you grab the membrane, they both come off together with ease.
How to Hard Boil Eggs
Ingredients
- 4-12 fresh eggs
Instructions
- Gently lay your eggs in a sauce pan that has a lid.
- Try to fill the pan with enough eggs so there is minimal movement while boiling.
- Cover with cold water.
- Put the lid on and heat on high.
- Watch closely and when it comes to a boil, reduce heat to low/medium and crack the lid.
- Boil for exactly 10 minutes. The water should be boiling constantly but not hard enough to overflow.
- Remove from heat and empty as much boiling water as you can into your sink.
- Set the pot down and stream very cold water so the pan overflows.
- Let the water stream for about a minute. Turn the water off.
- Immediately add ice cubes to the pan of cold water and eggs.
- Use as many ice cubes as you can fit.
- Gently push each egg into the bottom of the pan to crack the shell. This will let a little water in and aids the peeling process.
- Let sit for another minute. FOR FARM FRESH EGGS: LET SIT FOR 10 MINUTES.
- Start removing the eggs one at a time and peel them immediately.
- THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. DO NOT WAIT TO PEEL YOUR EGGS!
- Eggs can be stored in an air-tight container in refrigerator for 3 – 5 days.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you tried this method for boiling eggs, and love it, I would be grateful if you would come back and leave a 5 star review. It would help me so much!
I realize that most of you reading this already know how to do this, or have your own method. I wanted to share it because you just might learn something that you didn’t know. Plus, there’s a whole generation of would-be cooks out there who don’t know anything about boiled eggs, and might find it useful. My two kids would be part of that generation! Now it’s here for them if they ever need it.
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*Affiliate links included. Click HERE for my disclosure statement.
- navy flatware
- navy cast iron mini pot (4 eggs fit perfectly)
- Liberty Blue Transferware
- salt scoop
- navy plaid towel
Are you boiling store bought eggs? I ask this question because I have hens and the eggs are so fresh, they will not peel. I have read that some of the eggs we buy from stores are 45 days old when they reach the store. They peel pretty good using the ice water, but that does not make mine peel. Help please. I have even waited three weeks, but they just do not peel well.
I had a comment earlier that also said that farm fresh eggs don’t peel well. One reader commented that a little baking soda added to the boiling water works well. You could try that. I don’t have access to farm fresh eggs so I buy mine in the grocery. If you try the baking soda let me know if it works and I’ll add it to my post. Thanks!
Ann, love your tips. I just started using the ice trick to cool and peel the eggs recently. It has worked for me every time it’s so much easier. Though my fingers did get pretty cold, but so worth it. :)
Seems if I’m making tuna or egg salad, the eggs peel beautifully. If I’m making deviled eggs, not so much! Thanks for the tip. Stay warm. Bitterly cold in TN too, but no snow.
I use a similar method, but instead I empty the boiling water from the pot and then whack the eggs around (yes, I did say “whack”) in the pot so the shells crack, fill the pot with the eggs until overflowing with cold water for a minute or two and let them sit. The water gets under the cracked egg shell and then the shell just slips right off. Works every time! Added bonus: I get my frustrations out at the same time! ;)
This makes perfect sense. Thank you for sharing!
I’ve tried many different methods and it seems I never get one that works every time. Of course it may be me deviating a bit from the exact directions or something! I’ll have to try this one!
My mom always taught me to add just a small amount of apple cider vinegar to the water before you boil the eggs. If one of your eggs cracks while boiling, it will keep it in the shell and not let it cook all in the water. You can’t taste the vinegar in the eggs. Since I got an instant pot-it makes cooking and shelling so easy that I have never looked back. Especially since you can cook the potatoes and eggs at the same time for potato salad. But-you need to know this method too because you might not always have your modern conveniences-so thanks for the tricks! Love your blog!
Thanks for the info…..sometimes I can peel my boiled eggs….sometimes I have no whites left when I peel the eggs…will definitely give this helpful information a try. Thanks, and stay warm. It’s cold here in Mississippi, but nothing to compare with what you have going on.
Very helpful ….thanks :)
You know, I’ve been boiling eggs for years and I love this post as I never really knew the right way to do it! Sometimes they would peel easy and turn out great and other times, I ended up throwing half of them away! Thanks, Ann!!!
I’ve never used ice cubes, just the streaming cold water. I bet there are lots of people out there who will find this helpful! I’m pinning it for them :)
Ann a farm fresh egg never peels well, but I have never had difficulty with store bough eggs. I do similar to you, I use ice cold water. Beautiful photos :) Stay warm!