How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs — Want to know how to make perfect hard boiled eggs every single time? In this post, I’m breaking down the BEST way to make hard boiled eggs.
The BEST Hard Boiled Eggs
The hardest part of any recipe that involves hard boiled eggs is properly hard boiling them. Too little time in hot water and the yolks are runny, too long and the yolks turn gray-green from the sulfur.
But although cooking hard boiled eggs perfectly takes time to master, the overall process is incredibly simple. To make these easy hard boiled eggs, all you need are eggs, water, ice, and a little patience.
In this post, I’ve included step-by-step instructions on how to make perfect hard boiled eggs every single time, plus the exact hard boiled eggs cook time you’ll want to use as well as my top tips for making the best hard boiled eggs.
Read through all the tips in this post before making your own batch of hard boiled eggs. You’ll be glad you did!
How to Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
Use a high-sided pan, place eggs into pan without crowding them, and cover with 1 to 2 inches of cold water. Bring the water to a rolling boil, not just some bubbles, which happen for a few minutes before the rolling boil begins.
After the water is really boiling, cover the pan, turn off the heat, place pan on an alternate burner, and wait.
While waiting for the hard boiled eggs to cook through, prepare an ice bath (large bowl, water, ice cubes).
Add eggs to the ice bath, wait 5 to 10 minutes, rap the wider or base end of each egg against the bottom of your sink. What you’re trying to do is pop the air bubble at the base of the egg. If you can pop it and get under the skin (membrane) you can sometimes peel off large sections of the shell at once. Score.
How Long Do You Boil Hard Boiled Eggs?
For my eggs, my pan, and my preferences, I prefer a hard boiled eggs cook time of 11 to 12 minutes, but experiment based on what works best for you. A 13- to 14-minute egg is still ‘fine’ in the sense that the yolks don’t go green on me, but they’re very dry, crumbly, and not my jam.
Can I Make a Larger Batch of Hard Boiled Eggs?
Yes, and as long as you follow the exact instructions in the recipe card below your hard boiled eggs should turn out fine. Just be sure your pot is large enough so your eggs aren’t overcrowded.
How Long Do Hard Boiled Eggs Last?
I store my peeled, hard boiled eggs in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
My Favorite Hard Boiled Egg Recipes
Now that you know how to make perfect hard boiled eggs, you can enjoy them so many different ways! Here are a few of my favorite recipes that use hard boiled eggs:
- Avocado Deviled Eggs
- Mediterranean Cobb Salad
- Healthy Egg Salad
- Healthy Mexican Breakfast Bowl (I made fried eggs for this batch, but hard boiled eggs would work too!)
Tips for Making the Best Hard Boiled Eggs
My tips for the best hard boiled eggs are as follows:
Use week-old eggs. Older eggs have lower acidity and will be easier to peel. I don’t use organic, farm fresh, or brown eggs. I use cheap, white, grocery store eggs. I typically get my eggs from Trader Joe’s, $1.99 for a dozen.
Don’t skip the ice bath. I know the ice bath seems like an unnecessary extra step, but do NOT skip this step! If you don’t immediately submerge the hard boiled eggs in an ice bath, the yolks will continue cooking on the inside and you’ll wind up with overcooked eggs.
Peel the eggs under cold running water. Sometimes they peel easier than others and there’s no rhyme or reason to it. I boil a couple extra eggs than necessary as insurance just in case I have a stubborn one. While I’ve heard adding baking soda and vinegar to the water can help make peeling easier, neither method has been foolproof for me so I skip it.
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How to Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- water
- ice cubes
Instructions
- Place week-old eggs in a high-sided pan and cover with cold water by 1 to 2 inches. Use a large enough pan so eggs are not crowded.
- Bring water to a rolling boil, not just lightly bubbling.
- After water is really boiling, cover the pan, turn off the heat, place pan on an alternate burner, and wait 10 to 12 minutes. While waiting, prepare an ice bath (large bowl, water, ice cubes).
- Place the eggs into ice bath and wait about 5 to 10 minutes before peeling. Rap the wider or base end of each egg against the bottom of your sink, and peel under cold running water.
Notes
- I store my hard boiled eggs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Egg Recipes:
100-Calorie Cheese, Vegetable and Egg Muffins — Healthy, easy, and only 100 calories! You’ll want to keep a stash on hand!
White Cheddar and Dijon Baked Eggs — Fast and easy comfort food that’s ready in 15 minutes! The Dijon and cheese just jazz these eggs right up!
Eggs In Hell with Italian Sausage — Sometimes called Eggs in Purgatory or shakshuka, this easy dish includes eggs poached in tomatoes with sausage and garlic for tons of flavor! Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or breakfast-for-dinner!
Easy Eggs, Sausage, and Hash Browns Skillet – Hearty comfort food that’s worth getting out of bed for! Great for brunch or as breakfast-for-dinner! Ready in 30 minutes and packed with big flavors!
Creamy and Crispy Hash Browns Frittata – Creamy eggs with crispy hash browns and made in one skillet!
Asparagus, Peas, and Smoked Gouda Frittata – Even the pickiest eaters will eat green vegetables in this healthy and easy 25 minute recipe!
Sweet Potato and Mozzarella Egg Skillet – Easy, cheesy comfort food that’s ready in 15 minutes!
great
Making the hard boiled eggs may look like a trivial task, but there are so many things that may go wrong. Thank you for the detailed instructions!
I completely agree! Anyone who really likes hard boiled eggs and has made them has struggled and suffered through lots of problems in this seemingly ‘trivial task’ but as we know, many things can go wrong. Glad you appreciate my detailed instructions!
Thank you for the first method for easy to peel eggs that has actually worked! I have farm fresh eggs so have no eggs that are a week old and this method still worked! Thank you
So glad the method worked for you – even with farm fresh eggs! Yay!
Before I became a Certified Aromatherapist I was a Professional, Private, and Personal chef for over 25 years. I have to tell you the method above is pretty much how we did it from my early days when I was working my way up through the ranks in Monterey, CA. Then as a Chef’s apprentice in San Francisco…and later through out my career and as most recent as last week. I would only add that the larger the egg the better, because the relative ratio of that “air bubble” is larger as well as the fact that larger eggs have thicker membranes and can “survive” the heating process better without adhering to the egg whites. Thanks for the tip Avery, I know many many people(and even “professional” chefs who struggle with to no end and dread having to make boiled eggs because of it.
I used to use your method above, but still found that the eggs didn’t always peel. I now use this method and even the free range eggs that would not peel are no longer a problem. Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in a large saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Place large eggs in the basket (no more than will cover the bottom). Cover, cook 12 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool. Drain, crack and peel. Problem solved.
Sorry, but the yellows in those halves of boiled eggs don’t look done.
They’re not OVERdone. They are done though. If you like really dried out (overdone) yolks, allow the eggs to remain in the water longer.
Honestly this is so helpful. We don’t eat hard boiled eggs, but I always boil them for Easter and then they get ripped to shreds when I peel them (but the dog doesn’t mind, lol).
That’s exactly why I posted it this time of year – all those Easter eggs :) Ginger may be disappointed this year if she doesn’t get as many raggedy bits. lol
This sounds familiar. ;)
I know we’ve talked eggs mannnnny times :)
Thank you for these tips! I never thought about using old eggs, but I guess I normally do because it’s when I’m like oh no these are about to go bad, and I need to eat them. lol! These tips are going to help me from getting the yolk green though. Every time I over cook or they’re green.
Glad the tips will hopefully help you!
There is nothing worse than a hard boiled egg that does not want to be peeled!! I think you hit on 2 things I ‘ve also noticed. The age of the eggs and just using the regular white grocery store eggs. I use the same cooking method as you but the peeling can be so unpredictable with expensive organic eggs. That baffles me a bit but saves me a few bucks!!
I know what you mean, the fancier the egg seems to be, the worse it seems to peel and you’re literally watching as your money is going down the drain in raggedy, torn up, inedible chunks of peel/egg!