Bring water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to moderately high and cook eggs at a gentle boil, uncovered, 10 minutes. Pour off hot water. If using eggs right away, shake pan gently so eggs bump into one another (to crack shells).
Place eggs in a medium pot and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and turn off the heat. Let the eggs cook, covered, for 9 to 12 minutes, depending on your desired done-ness (see photo).
Most fried egg recipes will tell you that using a lid to cook fried eggs is a must. Placing a lid on the pan helps cook the egg with steam, while preventing it from overcooking. Trying to fry eggs without the help of a lid will result in a longer cook time, which may burn the egg whites.
If your saucepan does not come with glass lid, cover with lid anyway and leave an inch open so you can see when the water starts boiling. Keeping the lid on helps keep the steam in and eggs cook faster. If you cook without lid, eggs will need to be cooked by 1-2 minutes longer once the water starts boiling.
A boiling start for 30 seconds to a very gentle simmer for 13 minutes, then an ice bath at the end makes perfect, easy-to-peel hard-boiled eggs.
Hard-cooked eggs may be difficult to peel if they are very fresh. This is because an egg shrinks inside during storage, which pulls the inner membrane away from the inside of the shell. For this reason, a hard-cooked egg will peel more easily if it has been stored for 1 or 2 weeks before it is cooked.
To avoid getting a green yolk, cook your eggs just long enough to reach the desired doneness—no more. And quickly plunge the cooked eggs into cold water to stop the cooking process and minimize the iron-sulfur reaction. Some people also say that the cold-water plunge makes eggs easier to peel.
Give Eggs Time To Cool
Shocking your recently boiled eggs by submerging them into a bowl of ice water is key. The quick cooling of the hard-boiled eggs causes the egg whites to contract, freeing them from the membrane. If you let them cool for about 15 minutes, the peeling is much easier.
Bring water to a rolling boil. Once water is boiling, add the eggs and adjust the temperature to maintain a rolling boil. Start a timer for 12 minutes and prepare an ice bath. When the timer goes off, remove eggs from the pot and immediately place into ice bath for at least 10 minutes before peeling.
Hard boiled eggs should be cooked for about 10-12 minutes. This timing avoids a powdery, dry yolk that comes from overcooking while keeping it solid enough for applications like devilled eggs or egg salad.
A tiny bit of salt actually permeates the egg shell. It's not enough for you to taste it, but it does help with peeling.
The vinegar in the water makes the eggs easier to peel. Here's why: The vinegar's acid not only dissolves some of the calcium carbonate in the shell, it also helps the whites set faster. Running the hard-boiled eggs under cold running water as you're peeling, meanwhile, helps the shell separate from the membrane.
The eggs should be cold and come directly from your refrigerator. Once you've added all the eggs to the boiling water, turn the burner down to a simmer. Again, the amount of time you boil them for will vary depending on how you want them cooked.
Bring your eggs to room temperature before boiling. If the eggs are too cold, the shells may crack during cooking. Place the eggs in a saucepan of cold water. Place the pan over medium heat.
— Drew H., Oakland, Calif. If you boil an egg for five or 10 minutes, it becomes firm and cooked. If you boil it for hours, it becomes rubbery and overcooked.
For one to four eggs, bring the water to a rolling boil, cover the pot, and turn the heat down to its lowest setting for 12-14 minutes. For five to eight eggs, cook for 15 to 18 minutes. For nine to one dozen eggs, cook for 20 minutes. After cooking, transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water.
Once the water is at a rolling boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot with the lid. Allow the eggs to sit in the hot water for the following times according to the desired doneness: 3 minutes for SOFT boiled; 6 minutes for MEDIUM boiled; 12 minutes for HARD boiled.
As soon as eggs start to boil, let boil for 10-12 minutes (I do 11 minutes). Set timer to help. Immediately remove from heat and set pot in a clean/cleared out sink.
Bring water to a boil over high heat. Let the water rapidly boil for 30 seconds, cover and remove from heat. Let sit 4-12 minutes. 4 minutes for jammy eggs or 12 minutes for fully hard boiled eggs and 8 or 10 minutes for somewhere in between.
Gently lower in fridge-cold eggs. Lower the heat slightly – so the eggs don't crack due to being bashed around but water is still at a gentle boil. Start the timer – 6 minutes for runny yolks, 8 minutes for soft boiled, 10 minutes for classic hard boiled, 15 minutes for unpleasant rubbery whites and powdery dry yolks.