Here’s an easy hard boiled eggs recipe to make the perfect hard boiled eggs that are super easy to peel! For years I tried every method known to man. Then I found out the secret!
How To Make The Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs That You Can Actually Peel
I know Easter is a couple of weeks away but you need to buy your eggs now if you are going to hard boil them. For years I tried every method known to hard boil my eggs and have them peel easily. Nothing worked. Then I found out the secret.
The kids and I lived in the country for a while with our own chickens (That was a hoot. We were all afraid to touch them!). Anyway we did manage to pull the eggs out from under the hens and one of the first things I did was hard boil some.
What a mess. I couldn’t get the shells off to save my life. After several weeks of hard boiled egg disasters I was talking to an older woman and telling her my egg woes when she said “The fresher the egg is, the harder it is to peel.” Sure enough, she was right.
Over the years I have tested this theory by boiling a pan of eggs; half fresh and half a little older. Each time I do it half of them will peel and the other half won’t, no matter what method I use – starting them in cold water, rinsing them right away in cold water, bringing them to a boil and setting off the burner, adding vinegar and on and on. The older eggs would always peel like a breeze and the the new ones were a mess. So make your life easier on Easter morning and buy your eggs now.
Hard Boiled Eggs Recipe
eggs
water
Place eggs in a saucepan cover at least one inch over eggs with water. Bring to a boil. Turn down heat so you have a medium boil. Boil for 7 minutes. Place in a bowl with ice water to cool quickly and help them peel easier.
From: Terri
Hello! Love your site. I have a tip for making hard boiled eggs. After your eggs have come to a boil, wait five minutes. Then turn the burner off and put a lid on it. In 20 minutes, you will have perfectly boiled eggs. Works every time!
Deviled Eggs Recipe
6 hard boiled eggs
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. prepared mustard
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. vinegar (optional)
Paprika
Parsley, chopped
Shell hard boiled eggs and cut in half. Remove yolks and mash; add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. Heap into whites and sprinkle with paprika or chopped parsley.
Garlic Deviled Eggs
Add 1 clove pressed garlic to deviled eggs.
This easy egg salad recipe is another tasty recipe to help use up all those colored hard boiled eggs after Easter. You can make up a big batch and have it for several lunches. You can add lettuce leaves or celery for extra crunch. This recipe can be found on our cookbook volume 1.
Egg Salad Recipe
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 small stalk celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped, or 1 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Mix all ingredients. Best if chilled for 1 or 2 hours. Makes 4 sandwiches.
This golden morning sunshine recipe is a great recipe that you can use to make Easter morning or a few days after Easter. It’s a great way to use up all those colored eggs and have a tasty breakfast or dinner. You can find this recipe in our volume 1 of our cookbook.
Golden Morning Sunshine
(You can use more or less sauce and eggs to taste)
2 cups white sauce (recipe below)
4 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
Make white sauce. Once the white sauce has thickened, add eggs. Serve on toast.
This homemade white sauce recipe is super easy to make and is useful for enhancing all kinds of meals. It is easily adaptable for various recipes. White sauce and white gravy are essentially the same thing, so you can use it for biscuits and gravy or as a sauce for many main dish and breakfast recipes.
Easy White Sauce Recipe
(Recipe makes 1 cup. Double the recipe to use in Golden Morning Sunshine)
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. flour
dash salt
1 Tbsp. margarine
In a covered jar, combine milk, flour and salt and mix well. Shake until all the ingredients are dissolved.
Melt margarine in a 1 quart saucepan. Stir in flour-milk mixture and cook over low heat until mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Keep stirring until thickened completely.
This recipe equals 1 cup or 1 can of cream soup. May be easily doubled or tripled to fit your needs.
This hard boiled egg chicken supreme recipe makes a hearty casserole that is a great way to use leftover chicken or hard boiled eggs. It’s a nice variation that will please your family or guests!
Hard Boiled Egg Recipe – Chicken Supreme
2 cups chicken, cooked and diced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 cup rice, cooked
1 (4 oz.) can mushrooms
1 cup celery, diced
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. onion, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup Ritz crackers or corn flakes, crumbled
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
Mix everything but the cracker crumbs and butter. Pour into a 2 quart greased baking dish. Mix cracker crumbs and butter and sprinkle on top of casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until heated through and bubbly.
More Tips for using Leftover Hard Boiled Eggs
You can use chopped up leftover hard boiled eggs in so many ways:
- Sprinkle chopped hard boiled eggs on salads (especially good on spinach salads).
- Spread them on top of cream soups (like potato soup).
- Use leftover hard boiled eggs in tuna salad, chicken salad or ham salad.
- You can add almost anything to meatloaf too and that includes hard boiled eggs.
- Leftover hard boiled eggs also make great breakfast burritos. I know we usually use scrambled eggs but once the eggs are mixed with everything else, no will know or care that the eggs are not scrambled.
- Don’t freeze leftover hard boiled eggs. They can become very rubbery and taste nasty.
For more easy recipes for simple things like like how to make hard boild eggs, check out our cookbook:
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if you can find them use brown eggs when you want boiled eggs for breakfast or for hard boiling.
I know there is no nutritional advantage but when your eyes get older you can see if you have gotten all the shell off.
Nothing worse than a piece of egg shell in your teeth or a childs mouth. It takes some of the fun out of them.
grandma, what a great tip! I realized when I read it that I just hardboiled brown eggs and it was so easy to get all the shell off – I just didn’t realize why! Guess it’s brown eggs for me from now on!
I will share that with my visually impaired patients and family members!
I’m not a farm girl but I did learn this one from a farm boy (my husband worked on one). We’ve always found that after the kids played with the eggs and they’ve sat out for a day or two that we didn’t want to peel them anyway because we wouldn’t eat them after being out. We tried refrigerating them but the die comes off so we just invest a couple of dollars in a dozen eggs to die and throw them away after they’ve played for awhile. The rest of the eggs are plastic filled. (for which we recycle each year and add new things)
I did not know this–thanks for letting me know. For years, I thought that I must be the most inept woman on the planet because I could not manage to peel an egg without destroying it. Now I can die in peace. yea!
My mother in law has passed on a little secret that makes it alot easier to peel boiled eggs. When you put your eggs in the water to boil, sprinkle a lot of salt in the water (About 1/4 of a box of salt). The peelings will come right off! Good Luck!
I don’t know that I agree with the old egg theory. We lived in Ethiopia and the eggs from the states were 5 months or more old….They would not peel without a pock-marked mess. You had to cook 2 doz or more to get a dozen for deviled eggs. Since then I’ve learned to add a tablespoon or so of salt when starting the eggs. This destroys the membrane holding the shell and liquid together. I cook for 5 minutes, then let sit in covered hot water for 15 min. This prevents the yolks from darkening. If I plan to use them right away, I will shake the eggs in the pan when I pour off the hot water and add cold water (two times. Be sure and pour off the hot water in 15 min and rinse and let sit in cold water.
i just read on the internet that if you rinse ur eggs in cold water and then let them set you should be able to peel them without making a real mess …
not sure if this will work … but its worth a try… also, what the others said too… adding salt…
but you are right jill … this is the best time to buy eggs bc they are so cheap now…
thanks for posting this :D …
ps i would be leery of putting my hand under the hens too… hehehe :D..
We always cooled our eggs with cold running water and about three changes of water, and it really does help, unless your eggs are really fresh. I had to stop buying fresh local eggs because even with the cold water trick they were a mess to peel.
and speaking of hens/chickens… my hubby was sharing a video yesterday about some woman in washington state who decided to take up almost or most of her yard and make it sustainable living (growing her own crops, using rain water, having chickens) … well those hens were soooo beautiful… they were so sweet and eating out of her hand… my friend had chickens and they were never like those…
and the potatoes! … 1 potatoe could easily feed 3 people… thats how big they were…
hubby said they are like little documentaries… and he will be sending me the links, which i will share with all of you…
“how much food can i grow on my property?” was the name of this … on you tube or google it (on the videos) … but he will send the links for me …
oh and jill, do you remember the story about me making homemade soap? well, i showed my daughter your video (thank goodness you made one!) and she said to me “mom they used fels napa soap, which is smaller than the zoot soap you use and they only used a part of it… you used the whole bar! mom no wonder the garbage men were so upset at you! … and dont forget about all the bubbles coming up in all of the drains!”…
jill, fels napa is only 5.5 oz where zoot is 14.5 oz! … hehehehehe :D :D … no wonder i had all that trouble…
i told my daughter that i would be making the soap again but using ur method! … she informed me that she will be there to make sure i measure correctly … heheheee… we had such a good laugh over that too…
it really was a sight to see with all those bubbles… and my hubby yelling “my septic!”…
and him yelling “rose! you trying to save a few pennies is killing my septic”… hehehehe :D…
i do want to try to make the soap again but my daughter is right … we will do this together…
thanks for posting that video jill and tawra… it does help alot! … :D
If you will put a tablespoon of baking soda in your water when you boil your eggs, the shells will peel right off. And I use fresh yard eggs all the time.
this is what my son was taught in cooking school (Red Seal Chef)
I always had a problem getting the shells off eggs and then I read to let the eggs come to a boil, AFTER they come to a boil, cover them and put them on another burner for 10 to 15 minutes…I genenerlly then sit for 15 mins. Then pour the hot water off, add cold water with several ice cubes and then remove the shell. The secret is do not let them sit for a long period of time. Also I tap the egg against my sink and gently squeeze the egg until the entire shell appears soft and then remove. This works for me.
Dottie, this is what I do as well. I got this tip from America’s Test Kitchen. For soft-boiled eggs, I let them come to a boil and sit for three minutes instead of ten then put them in ice water for a few minutes..
Jeanne
the other nite i was at walmart and in the dairy section they had a huge selection for the eggs and those rolled cookies from pillsbury and of course butter… and on top of the case was all the boxes to do the coloring of the eggs…
i saw this and i immediately thought of this post/blog…
the lady who was restocking the eggs said they couldnt keep the eggs on the shelf… i agreed and said i think that the walmart has the best prices for htis holiday (i normally look in the ads and compare the prices)… she agreed and said lots of the customers were saying hte same thing…
We have hens & solved our “hard to peel” problem with some help from a friend in NC whose husband worked in the poultry division of the school of agriculture at UNC Charlotte. Definitely too fresh is the whole problem & has to do with the evaporation of liquid through the semi-permeabl shell. Easy fix:She said to let them set out for one week – but I just don’t have the room for a weeks worth of eggs on my countertop.
So after trying to peel boiled eggs at one day & two days old, finally at three days they peeled like ‘store bought’.
Each day we collect, wash & sanitize our eggs. I let them sit out at room temperature for three days. They are organized by using plastic bins with clothespins which are labeled in a day in/day out fashion.
I have always started my eggs in unsalted, cold water over med heat. Once at a rolling boil I set a timer for 5 min. After boiling 5 min, remove from heat pour off hot water, add cold water & peel immdediately.
Hope this helps anyone with hens.
Nancie,
Were you Embassy here in Ethiopia? Very interesting that you used 5 month old eggs! I just use local eggs and usually have a terrible time peeling them. :) Oh, well, perhaps I’ll try some of these suggestions.
You can leave eggs out on the counter for three days??? I thought they had to be refrigerated all the time.
Yes you can leave fresh eggs out for even 2-3 weeks and they will be fine. You don’t have to worry trying to figure out if an egg is spoiled or not either. If they smell awful like a “rotten egg” then you know you can’t eat them because they are spoiled but other wise they are fine to eat.
In Costa Rica they never refrigerate the eggs
If the eggs are NOT washed, they will last longer. The natural coating protects them.
Unless you want to use them for Easter eggs…this is what I do for easy peeling eggs everytime. After they have boiled rinse and fill pot with cold water..then I crack each egg a few times all over egg. Return to water and let soak for awhile. Once the water gets in between the shell and membrane they will peel easily…patience!
I am 62 and still learning every single day! Here are the steps to nearly perfect hard boiled eggs:
Place eggs in a pan and cover with cold water with a splash of vinegar.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Boil for about 7 minutes; then cover and turn off the heat.
After about 20 minutes, drain the water from the eggs and replace the lid. Getting a firm hold on the pot and lid, shake the pan up and down to crack the eggs.
Cover with cold water and let them sit till the water is able to seep under the shells.
Then (SURPRISE!) peel the shells from the eggs. If they were properly cracked, the shells will peel right off beautifully….great for deviled eggs…Good Luck…Happy Easter!
I have found the most incredible “The BEST” series of cookbooks from the Illustrated Cooks series that takes one single recipe and tests it to perfection, maybe making it 25 different times before their testers agree it’s “The BEST!”
THEY say (and it worked for me) that “The Best” way to cook and peel hard boiled eggs is to put the eggs into cold water, bring to a boil, remove from heat and cover leaving for FIVE minutes, then straining and adding the eggs to ICE water.
Once they’ve cooled (leave for 10 minutes) then you must start at the air sack (largest end) of the egg, crack the egg all over very thoroughly and THEN peel to perfection!
It worked AMAZINGLY well with fresh eggs!
My mom has chickens – has the same problem with fresh eggs not peeling. She’ll buy a dozen from the store, and use the hardboiled fresh yolks for deviled egg filling in the hardboiled store whites and the fresh whites for tuna salad.
I had the same problem Christine. I took all the methods – boil for so many minutes, put in cold water etc. but each time I did them I did it with 1/2 old and 1/2 new and the new ones were always harder.
No, eggs don’t have to be refridgerated at all….I buy my eggs from the local farm shop in trays at a time. Sometimes I buy two trays, that’s 60 eggs. I usually keep them in a basket and they are absolutely fine. I’ve never had a bad egg keeping them like that. One thing I will say though – don’t keep them anywhere near anything with a strong smell, such as paraffin, because the shells are porous and will absorb the scent and you’ll never get rid of it!!
As for boiling eggs, I find I get the perfect boiled egg by putting my eggs in a pan and filling with cold water. Sometimes I put a dash of vinegar in – that stops the whites spreading if the shell happens to crack. Then I bring the eggs to the boil, and then I turn them down to a simmer. At the same time I put the bread in the toaster….when the toast pops up, my eggs are ready! Works every time!!!
Then, if I want to make them hard boiled and peel them, I just give them a couple more minutes in the simmering water, then plunge them into cold water and leave them for about 5 – 10 mins, then they peel super easy! :)
You can prevent the shells from cracking by poking a small hole in the rounder end of the egg with a pin. Works every time – no cracked shells.
After cooling eggs in ice water, I crack them all over on the side of my sink, then take a regular sized spoon and slip it under a crack on the big end, continue on around, the shells come off easily. we have hens too and have had good luck with this idea which i picked up from a newspaper article.
I saw Martha Stewart use a sharp knife to cut through the (the long way if you’re making deviled eggs) hard-boiled egg, shell and everything. Then you take a spoon and scoop the egg out. Works with old and fresh eggs alike. I’ve tried it and I am amazed every time at how easy it is.
For EGGS, a day on the counter (at room temp.) is equal to a week in the refrigerator. So if you want “older” eggs for hard-boiling that will peel easily, just put on the counter for a day (or two). I’ve been doing this for 50+ years and it works every time. Just remember, if an egg floats, it is probably “bad”.
Whenever i make hard boiled eggs i add a splash of olive oil to the water as it boils, then i set the pot in the sink and run cold water into it for a couple of minutes. Always seems to work for me. Also on the garden post….check out aquaponics.
It was so interesting reading all of these comments on how to, or how not to, hardboil eggs that peel easily. So I’ll add my two cents! First, I’va tried all of these suggestions and the one hint that I’ve used for years that actually works on eggs of all ages is adding about a tablespoon of vinegar to enough cold water to cover the eggs. Then bring to a full boil, take off of the heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes. Immediately pour off the hot water and run under very cold water until eggs are cool enough to handle. Crack evenly all over. Peel from the large end under cold running water. Voila! Perfectly peeled eggs. The whole process takes about 30 to 35 minutes.
Just found this video on my FB feed and thought it was really interesting. Haven’t tried it but it will sure be fun trying it after I get my Easter eggs all boiled and colored. By the way, saw someone who had colored the peeled eggs and made their deviled eggs as colored deviled eggs for Easter. Another fun idea I may try since I’m planning to make quite a few eggs. Anyway, here’s the URL for the video showing a fun and cool way to peel hard boiled eggs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JjyMWiVRVwo
Ok this is really interesting Julia. Will have to try it.
Julie! Thanks for the video! It wins for easiest egg peeling by far!! I’m trying this today!
I have tried every method in the books or on the Internet to get nice looking hard boiled eggs out of fresh eggs. The only method I have found that works with fresh is to steam them. I use a Chinese bamboo steamer and steam over boiling water for about 20 minutes. Then I put the eggs in ice cold water. Only have a problem with eggs from one of my chicken. She lays a kind of weird eggs with a softer shell and it will stick to the egg in places.
To Janice –
Does that chicken who lays the eggs with a softer shell have enough calcium in her diet? Just wondering…
Great article – for some reason I manage to ruin every hard boiled egg I touch :) One of the favourite things are devilled eggs so this will come in handy.
IM 69 YRS OLD AND LOVE AND USE BOILED EGGS. THE PEELING THEM WAS DRIVING ME DINGEY!!
I FOUND THE PERFECT SOLUTION!!!!! LOVE LOVE IT NOW!!
I HAVE A POWER PRESSURE COOKER XL NOW. YOU TAKE THE RACK THAT
COMES WITH IT PUT THE EGGS ON THE RACK IN ITS POT AND ADD A CUP OF
WATER AND CLOSE POT, PER DIRECTIONS – COOK FOR 4 MIN.
LET STEAM OUT-AS PER DIRECIONS. I PUT THE EGGS IN COLD WATER.
THEY PEEL LIKE A DREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BEST THING IVE FOUND IN A LONG TIME!!
LOVE THE ELEC. PRESURE COOKERS!!!!!!! U HAVE ONE YET??
BE A GOOD TOPIC FOR YOU LADIES.to explore.
Hi! I have always had a hard time with hard boiled eggs and peeling them. I have been using an electric pressure cooker for a couple of months and they now turn out perfect every time…not a bad one in the bunch! LOL
To make hard boiled eggs easy to peel, steam them just as you would steam vegetables. I steam for about 10 to 15 minutes gently with a lid to cover. I also turned the eggs once during steaming but you don’t have to. I only tried this once so far and the eggs were significantly easier to peel. Most of them anyway. After steaming, plunge the eggs into an ice water bath to stop the cooking process and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes or longer in the ice water. Worked quite well!
I use my instant pot for perfect eggs. Pressure cook them for 5 minutes, natural release for 5 minutes, and an ice water bath for 5 minutes.
I use the instant pot for many other things as well, including making yogurt. It was a great purchase for me.
Y’all need to search “steaming” for hard boiled eggs. Does not matter whether they are fresh. I steam eggs every week right away after buying them from the store. I’ve also steamed fresh yard eggs from people who raise chickens. We steam ours for 12 min but I’m sure every recipe is different. Then I run cold water over them and dump in ice water to cool. I crack them and roll them in my hands or on the counter but most of the time the shells just break and come off almost in one piece!