Learn how I cook hard boiled egg perfect every time! Plus, my tips and tricks on how to cook farm fresh eggs and peel them flawlessly for your deviled eggs.
I love hard-boiled eggs! They’re effortless and filling snack. Most days I like to simply cut them in half, sprinkle some salt & pepper and eat.
When I feel fancy though, I make deviled eggs. If you’ve been reading my blog for any period of time, you probably know that my in-laws love those deviled eggs.
So yeah, I’ve cooked and peeled many, many hard-boiled eggs in my life. For the longest time, I cooked them in cold salted water and shocked them in iced water immediately after. But when my mother-in-law started providing farm fresh eggs, it had become tricky to peel the perfectly flawless eggs. I’d end up with ugly, mangled ones more often than not, or worse, half of the egg white peels with the shell! Sure, they’re good enough to eat, but not for presentable deviled eggs. So I had to experiment with different methods to cook farm fresh eggs in a way that it’ll be easy to peel them too. And I found my perfect method!!
I won’t lie to you that you’ll get 100% flawless eggs every time. But with a little bit more care and gentle hand, you’ll get close to flawless eggs most of the time. That method is STEAMING. That’s right, I steam my eggs right from the fridge over simmering water. I don’t have any scientific, or non-scientific explanation as to why, but it works every time.
You can use a steamer basket, or steamer pot for this. Bring about 1-2-inch water to a boil and place cold eggs (right from the fridge) in a steamer basket over the simmering water. If you’re making deviled eggs, cook the eggs for 14 minutes, and then immediately drop them into iced water.
Once they’re nice and cool, it’s time to peel.  Gently tap and roll it on a counter to crack the shell all over. Then put them back into the water and soak for about 15 minutes or so. What we’re trying to do here is to seep water through the cracks and in between the egg and thin membrane under the shell. And then carefully peel the hard shells to reveal flawless (hopefully) hard-boiled eggs. Now you may get a blemish or two here and there, but nothing too bad. If it’s still hard to peel, dip it in the water to moisten, or peel under running water.
To show the process from the start to end, I made a quick video for you. Take a look:
By the way, there’re other benefits to steaming eggs. 1. This gentle cooking method yields nice and soft (not rubbery, overcooked) whites. 2. And no green ring (yikes!) around egg yolks, which is caused by overcooking.
Now, hard-boiled eggs are not just for deviled eggs. As I mentioned above, it’s my go-to snack. Some like their egg soft-boiled with golden runny yolk in the middle. If you like yours soft-boiled, simply steam the eggs for 6.5 minutes. This is considering the eggs are cold, right from the fridge. If you’re using room temperature eggs, it might take a little less time.
I like mine somewhere in between with not runny, yet soft and not dry egg yolks, like the one below. ???????????????? It usually takes about 8-10 minutes of steaming. And sprinkle of salt is an absolute must!
Hope this post was helpful. Share your tips and tricks on how to easily peel hard-boiled eggs in the comments below.
PS: I don’t own one of those fancy egg cups, hence the shot glasses. Classy, I know. ????
Perfect Hard Boiled Egg Every Time
Instructions
- Bring about 1-2-inch water to a boil and place cold eggs (right from the fridge) in a steamer basket over the simmering water. For soft-boiled eggs, steam the eggs for 6.5 minutes. For had-boiled eggs, steam for 14-15 minutes. Then immediately drop the eggs into iced water.
- To peel the eggs, gently tap and roll each egg on a counter to crack the shell all over. Then put them back into the water and soak for about 15 minutes or so. What we’re trying to do here is to seep water through the cracks and in between the egg and thin membrane under the shell. And then carefully peel the hard shells. If it’s still hard to peel, dip it in the water to moisten, or peel under running water.
Katie says
Yay what beautiful eggs!  Funny thing I had to quickly boil some last night to have them ready for coloring and I was NOT paying close enough attention – got the green ring.  Oh well, I will definitely be saving this post for next time! 🙂  Thanks for sharing, found you at Link Party Lolapalooza!Â
Shinee says
Thanks, Katie!
[email protected] says
What an interesting take on cooking hard boiled eggs – not to boil them at all:). I’ll have to try this. Do you think it works well for store-bought eggs as well as farm fresh?
Shinee says
Oh yes, store-bought will work just as well. I love this gentle cooking for all kinds of eggs. Hope you’ll like it too, Laura.
Hannah says
I just made hard boiled eggs for the first time using this recipe, with only 3 eggs and in a 1.5 quart pan. They came out great! Thanks for sharing!!!!
Shinee says
Awesome, glad you tried it, Hannah! 🙂