How To: The Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg
Easter is right around the corner and with the holiday comes the usual mass retailer fan-fare: pastel colored sundresses, chocolate bunnies, and eggs that go on sale for the lowest prices you will see all year. An integral part of spring for many of us is a batch (or three) of deviled eggs. But what you might not know is that even plain, at only 65 calories and 6 grams of protein per egg a hard-boiled egg is a tasty, portable snack.
Perfect hard-boiled eggs
Undercooked hard-boiled eggs are always a disappointment to open when the yolk oozes out, and overcooked eggs have that unappetizing green ring around the yolk. Luckily, a perfect hard-boiled egg with a golden yellow crumbly yolk is as simple as boiling water if you follow just a few easy steps. All you need is the right-sized pan with a good-fitting lid and your eggs. Keep in mind that eggs that are are a little older peel more easily, so consider boiling an older carton of eggs rather than a newer one (eggs have a shelf life of three to five weeks).
1. Determine how many eggs you are boiling – always make at least one extra in the case of the accidental Humpty Dumpty – and then select a sauce pan with sides at least two-inches high that allows all the eggs to lie uniformly on the bottom of the pan. A small sauce pan works fine for two or three eggs; a four-quart sauce pan works for a dozen.
2. Gently place the eggs on the bottom of the pan.
3. Sprinkle the eggs with about a teaspoon of salt and fill the pan with lukewarm water so the eggs are covered in about an inch of water.
4. Place the pan on the stove on high heat and monitor until the pan comes to a full, rolling boil.
5. Turn the heat completely off, cover the pan with a lid, and set a timer for 12 minutes.
6. After 12 minutes, take the lid off, drain the water and run cool water over the pan. Add some ice to quickly cool the eggs down. The quicker they cool the more easily they will peel.
7. Crack and peel the eggs immediately under cool running water, even if you are not eating them right away.
8. If you are not eating them right away, store in an airtight container that has a dry paper towel in the bottom to absorb any moisture off the eggs. Boiled eggs can be safely stored in the fridge for up to one week.
Enjoy!
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Daisy, Health Editor. Daisy is a lawyer married to a lawyer (insert lawyer jokes here) living in a small condo in a big city. She breaks up the legal-speak by blogging about life in Chicago, which is filled with cooking, sailing, distance cycling, urban escapades and the antics of their neurotic beagle, Rhett Butler. In the summer she enjoys patio dining with cocktails and in the winter wonders what she was thinking when she moved here. 
Absolutely the best method ever!
Should the eggs be at room temperature or can they be straight out of the fridge before cooking? I remember reading somewhere that it’s better to allow them to come to room temperature first… I will definitely be trying this method because I HATE that green ring that always shows up on mine lol Thanks for the recipe : )
I take them straight out of the fridge, but I definitely use lukewarm water so they warm up slowly – so letting them sit out for about 20 minutes before hand isn’t a bad idea at all!
Just made some and they are the best hard boiled eggs I’ve ever had! Thank you so much for posting this!! : )
Of course!
Non-cooks like me definitely need this tutorial. I can never remember if I put the eggs in *before* or *after* boiling the water.
This is where I publicly admit to having the hard-boiled egg recipe flagged with a post-it not in my crappy better homes and gardens cookbook that i’ve only ever used to learn how to make chicken salad and hard boiled eggs.
so thanks for this.
Of course! Consider your confession safe with me.
Was it wrong that I giggled the entire time I read this?
YES HEATHER.
I also find that putting them in a rice cooker basket for 21 minutes, and then transferring them to an ice bath is a pretty effective method as well.
Hard boiled eggs are tricky little suckers.
Right?!
I love hard-boiled eggs, and I eat them all the time. Your instructions are pretty much my own, almost word for word!
The one difference?
I don’t drain the pot and then put cold water in it, because I’m clumsy with that sort of thing. I create a separate ice bath in a large bowl, and then I transfer the eggs to the ice bath using kitchen tongs. It’s easier and takes less time.
Kitchen tongs are the best kitchen utensil known to man. I don’t know how I lived without them.
Great tip!
seems so simple, but this is the ONE thing I have not been able to master in the kitchen… so I let my mom do it (then the mess of dying them happens at her house, too- win-win.)
Thanks for the tips.
I don’t consider myself a slouch in the kitchen, but I made hard-boiled eggs for the FIRST TIME EVER tonight. And I did so because I had good, clear, step-by-step directions to follow.
And they turned out GREAT.
Thanks, Daisy!
Any time!! I’m glad I could help!
I didn’t need any eggs for Easter, so I saved this ’til now. Great article! Best hard-boiled eggs I’ve ever managed, which is great, because I love to eat them and have rarely made them since I usually messed them up.
Thanks!
I’m so glad! Enjoy those eggs :-)
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