Hard boiled eggs are a staple in my house. They’re a convenient, grab-and-go source of protein, but my kids tend to make an “eww” face when they see an egg with a greenish colored yolk. That discoloration comes from overcooking the egg. To get perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs that are also easy to peel, use these tips.
Let the eggs warm up before you start to boil them.
This is actually the most recent tip I learned for making perfect hard boiled eggs, thanks to the Fixate 2 cookbook. For years, one or more of the eggs I boiled would crack while they cooked, which meant the whole refrigerator would smell like an egg, and the cracked eggs can’t stay fresh for as long as the others.
Now, I put them in a pot, fill it with water, and let it sit out for about 10 minutes (while I do a thousand other little things around the house) before boiling the water. Perfect shells, every time.
Bring water to a boil, turn off the heat, let them sit for 10 minutes.
I learned how to cook from watching my mom in the kitchen and from watching Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals when I was in college. She’s the one who taught me the best way to cook hard boiled eggs.
- Place eggs in cold water.
- Heat water to a boil.
- Turn off the heat, leaving the pot on the burner
- Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes.
- Put the eggs in an ice bath or rinse them in cold water until the shells are cool.
- Store the eggs in the refrigerator for up to one week. (I use a black marker to make an “x” on the hard boiled eggs so they don’t get mixed up with raw ones and mark the carton with the date I boiled them.)
Use a spoon to peel.
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I think this next tip was from another Food Network Star, Tyler Florence. To make peeling eggs easier, insert a spoon between the egg white and that thin membrane underneath the shell. Move the spoon around to slide the shell off of the egg. Voilà!
Immediately shocking your eggs in cold water after cooking them as I mentioned above should also help with peeling later, but I’ve encountered plenty of stubborn shells over the years. The spoon trick always helps peel hard boiled eggs more quickly.
If you’re making a big batch of hard boiled eggs to dye for Easter, remember to check out my ideas for what to do with leftover Easter egg dye.
