Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to low (so that there's no bubbles) and use skimmer to gently and slowly add the eggs to the water. Then, turn the heat back up to a boil. Set a timer and cook the eggs for 6 to 7 minutes for soft-boiled eggs and 12 to 14 minutes for
You might have heard that you should drop your eggs into room temperature or cold water and then bring the water to a boil. This is a myth. In our tests, bringing the water to a boil first and then lowering the eggs into the bath made for easy peeling and more accurate timing.
Here's a hard-boiled egg tip that we know to be true: Starting your eggs in hot, already-boiling water makes them easier to peel. In a column for Serious Eats, cookbook author and food columnist J. Kenji López-Alt found that "starting cold resulted in eggs that had just over a 50% success rate for clean peeling.
Fill a medium saucepan with boiling water – you'll want to fill it about 2/3 full. Return the water to a boil. Or, if you don't have an electric kettle, you can bring the water to a boil in the saucepan. Carefully add the eggs to the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.
4 minutes for slightly set yolk and set white. 5 minutes for a medium cooked firmer yolk and white. 6 minutes for hard boiled with lightly soft yolk. 8 minutes for firmly hard boiled.
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 the eggs at least five minutes in the ice bath before you try to peel them—letting them cool may help make it easier to peel them, but it's also so you don't burn your hands.
It's important to start the eggs in cold water — bringing the water and eggs up in temperature together ensures even cooking and prevents cracking. Bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat, then immediately remove the pan from the heat. Cover, and let stand for 10 minutes. Carefully pour out the hot water.
Tips for Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs:
Don't cover with the lid or you won't be able to see when the water starts boiling. Set a timer as soon as the water is at a boil (keep watch for the start of the boil so you aren't guessing at your timings).
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.
Chef Ramsay opts to boil his eggs for four and a half minutes to keep the egg's center slightly soft. When your eggs are finished boiling, drain the water and run the eggs under cold tap water in the pot. According to Chef Ramsay, cooling the eggs as quickly as possible prevents their yolks from turning gray.
Carefully place the eggs in a large saucepan; add cold water to cover by one inch, and bring to a rolling boil. Cover pan; remove from heat. Let stand 12 minutes, then drain and rinse under cool water. To store, keep eggs unpeeled in the refrigerator, up to 4 days.
As soon as the water begins to boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Leave the eggs in the hot water for anywhere from 10-12 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs. The 10-minute eggs will have vibrant, creamy yolks, while the 12-minute yolks will be paler and opaque, with a chalkier texture.
Some people prefer to peel their hard-boiled eggs before storing – and that's A-OK. You'll just need to take a few extra steps: Transfer hard-boiled eggs to a bowl of cold water immediately after cooking to help them cool down faster. Peel the eggs under running water.
It is important to bring them to room temperature first and then use them. If you put cold eggs directly in hot water for boiling, there are high chances of them cracking up. This is because the gases heat and expand within the shell and expand pressure, thus causing them to crack.
Boil for 6 – 7 minutes over medium-high heat for perfect hard boiled eggs. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a large bowl of ice water and let them cool for a few minutes. Or you can place them under cool running water to stop the cooking. This will also help the eggs peel easily.
According to our friends at Delish, adding a teaspoon of baking soda to your boiling pot of water will help the shell peel off seamlessly. Why? The alkaline in the baking soda will help your egg whites loosen up from the shell, making it easier to peel.
Let the water come to a gentle boil. The water will boil a bit more quickly with the lid on, but it's fine to leave it off if you'd rather keep an eye on the eggs. You can stir the eggs very gently every now and then to make sure they've not settled at the bottom, where they'll cook less evenly and break more easily.
Sometimes a tiny touch is all we need. This recipe takes a few simple flavors and turns them into something exquisite. With a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of fresh pepper and sea salt, a few chopped herbs (we love basil and parsley), and pickled shallots, these hard-boiled eggs go from basic to epic.
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.
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.