Hard boiled eggs are the perfect healthy snack.
They’re high in protein and healthy fats, they’re cheap and portable, and they and can be enjoyed with just a pinch of salt or pepper or can be turned into something more elaborate and delicious.
You have to know how to cook them properly, though.
Ge it wrong, and you get rubbery, flavorless nuggets with crumbly cores. Get it right, though, and you get to enjoy every soft, moist, and flavorful bite.
And that’s what you’re going to learn in this article: how to make firm, juicy hard boiled eggs with creamy, chewy yolks.
How to Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
The number one mistake people make with hard boiled eggs is overcooking them.
That’s what makes the white tough and leathery, and the yolk chalky and dry.
The reason this happens is eggs are made of protein, and when proteins are heated, they contract.
Thus, when you cook an egg, its proteins gradually shrink, squishing the moisture out. Eventually, this makes it tough and dry.
That’s why cooking time is key.
How long you should cook the eggs for, though, depends on how you’re cooking them. Here are the two best methods.
Option #1: How to Boil Eggs Perfectly
Most people boil their eggs in the same way:
They fill a pot with water, toss in the eggs, and turn on the stove.
This gets the job done, but at a price: serious shell stickage.
When you cook an egg by gradually increasing the temperature of the water, it increases the likelihood that it’ll stick to the shell. And that means a seriously annoying peeling process.
Fortunately, the solution is simple: get the water boiling before you add the eggs.
This helps reduce the chances of them turning out sticky.
Specifically, you should fill a pot with enough water to cover the eggs by an inch or two, bring it to a boil, add the eggs, and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Then, cook them for 6 minutes for soft boiled eggs and 11 minutes for hard boiled.
Once the eggs have cooked, the next step is immediately immersing them in ice water for 10 to 15 minutes.
This allows the whites and yolks to cool and shrink away from the shell, making for much easier peeling. (And if you want maximally easy peeling, stick them in the fridge for 6 to 8 hours before eating.)
Option #2: How to Steam Eggs Perfectly
One downside to boiling eggs is they tend to come out tougher than when steamed.
Steam is a gentler method of cooking the eggs (it’s less dense than water and slightly cooler), and it tends to produce more more tender whites and softer yolks.
Steaming is also faster than boiling, because all you need to do is bring about a half-inch of water to a boil, and then put a steam insert with the eggs into the pot.
Like boiling, 6 minutes of steaming gets you soft boiled eggs, and 11 minutes gets you hard boiled.
How to Peel Hardboiled Eggs Easily
If you’ve abandoned hard boiled eggs because they’re too much of a pain to peel, I understand.
It’s not only annoying to chisel away at the shell like a lump of marble, you lose chunks of egg, too.
To avoid this, make sure you start the cooking process with boiling water, and end it with ice water and, if possible, refrigeration. It makes all the difference.
As for the peeling process itself, start by making small cracks everywhere on the shell (I like to do this by rolling it on a surface), and then simply peel the shell away.
(Doing this under running water helps get rid of the rogue shell fragments.)
How to Store Boiled Eggs
If you leave hard boiled eggs in their shells, you can store them in the fridge for up to a week.
An easy way to keep track of this is writing the day they were cooked on the shells.
Hard boiled eggs that have been peeled will last a week if you keep them in cold water or an airtight container.
The Bottom Line on How to Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
If you’re looking for a healthy, high-protein snack that’s easy to make, it’s hard to beat hard boiled eggs.
They’re also a perfect addition to salads, sandwiches, and many other meals.
If you don’t cook them properly, though, they’re hard to peel and harder to enjoy.
That’s why you should…
- Get the water boiling/steaming first, and then add the eggs.
- Cook them for 6 to 11 minutes, depending on your desired doneness.
- Give them a 10 to 15-minute ice-water bath immediately after they’re cooked, and then, ideally, stick them in the fridge for 6 to 8 hours.
Enjoy!
