Learn the best method for how to boil eggs to produce the perfect hard boiled egg every single time without any fuss.
Step 1: Place eggs in the bottom of a saucepan. Be sure not to crowd the eggs in the pan. They should fit comfortably.
Step 2: Fill the pan with cold water, 1 inch above the eggs.
Step 3: Bring the water to a rapid boil on the stovetop over high heat.
Step 4: Once the water comes to a boil, cover the pan with a lid and remove the pan from the heat. Do not lift the lid. Set a timer for the type of boiled egg you want, from 4 minutes to 12 minutes.
Step 5: Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
Step 6: When the eggs reach the desired cooking time, use tongs to remove the eggs from the hot water and immerse gently into the prepared ice water to cool, about 10 minutes.
Step 7: Gently tap the eggs against a hard surface and peel away the shell. Rinse the egg under cold water to remove any bits of shell and pat dry.
How many minutes should I cook my egg?
Soft Boiled (runny or very soft yolk) – 4 to 6 minutes
Hard Boiled (solid cooked yolk) – 8 to 12 minutes
TROUBLESHOOTING
Why does my yolk have a green circle around it?
Unfortunately, a green yolk means you’ve overcooked your eggs.
One of my eggs cracked while boiling. Can I still eat it?
Every once in a while an egg cracks while boiling and may leak some of the interior white and even yolk. The egg is technically still edible as it has been cooked, albeit a slightly different method. Usually I simply discard these eggs.
Why doesn’t my egg peel smoothly?
Sometimes when you peel the egg you may notice that bits and pieces of the egg come off with the shell. This is completely normal and will not affect the taste of the egg, only the appearance. There are many reasons why eggs do not peel smoothly. Fresh eggs are difficult to peel, while older eggs peel easier. There are many tips, tricks, and old wives tales as to how to peel an egg smoothly. Add a teaspoon of baking soda to the water, or a teaspoon of vinegar. Poke the bottom of the egg with a needle before cooking. Crack the eggs all over before putting them in the ice bath. These are just a few of the many tips and tricks out there.
I follow this exactly and have never had a green lining around my yolk since!
Not sure how it isnt common knowledge still, but as a chef, the best tip/trick/recipe/whatever I’ve ever been given is to steam my eggs (in a colander over a boiling stock pot). Steam for about 15 minutes. 99 of 100 eggs peel easier than ever before. I crack them and the shell pops off in two large pieces. 99 of 100 times, guaranteed.
I was making 3 Jumbo size scrambled eggs, and each one had 2 yolks. Jumbo eggs in the past were always single yolks… why the doubles? I know they are sold by the dozen but they also have a certain weight… if they had 2 yolks, would they be overweight Jumbos sold by physical size, or would they be undersized eggs the proper weight of Jumbos? If the dozen were weighed as 1 unit, would the dozen be overweight or would they be the proper weight? Does my question make sense? Is there a way to duplicate getting doubles in the future? (Egg whites make me gag!)
Double yolks are screened at the farm / distributions point (typically visually, shining a light through to see if there is one or more yolks). Thats my understanding… I’m not a farmer!! You likely bought free range “local”? Not sure of course, but a single yolk is the marketed norm; so doubles usually… hmm.. get discarded I guess?! Shame… cause they’re not as uncommon as we think, and they’re tasty all the same!!
And double yolk eggs make THE BEST cakes!!!
A double yolked egg is due to the chicken that laid it. Most often you see it in young layers, like pullets (female chickens under one year old.) But it can also be from bloodlines/breed. I see it usually in super fresh hens and in my production breeds like sex links and leghorns. Your grocery store white eggs are almost always laid by White Leghorns and grocery store brown eggs are usually laid by sex-linked breeds like Red and Blacks. Getting them in your egg carton is purely chance although more likely to happen in the early summer when the newest batch of pullets is reaching sexual maturity and starting to lay.
These timings is very good and now I can boil eggs according to my mood….thanks for sharing such a healthy info.
The size of the egg matters as well. I use extra large eggs for boiling as snacks, and I find that 10 minutes is usually perfect for creamy yolk and fully cooked white. The 5 minute ice bath is crtical for easy peeling.
When I try to make soft boiled eggs, I always end up with uncooked or half cooked whites when I try to boil them for the four minutes suggested. Any tips?
A soft boiled egg has a softer egg white. Have you tried these instructions?
I do 8 minutes.
If you are at a higher altitude, boiling point is a lower temperature and you’ll need to cook longer than at sea level. The higher the longer. ; )
Too feed a family eggs Benedict, there is a trick too cooking the eggs ahead of time. I was watching a cooking show filmed in Hawaii, they served Benedict using 3000 eggs in a week. I had left the room and missed how long too cook ahead the eggs. Boil for 3 minutes, the following day reboil for another 3 minutes. Should come out perfect. Can you verify the cooking method?
Eggs benedict are made with poached eggs, not boiled eggs.
The gray ring can be due to the egg being old, over cooked or from not placing the egg in cold water immediately after cooking.
The gray ring is always caused by over cooking.
Rachel is correct that the gray ring is only caused my overcooking. It’s a reaction between iron and hydrogen sulfide that requires sustained heat. It can’t happen because the egg is old. However, one of the ways of overcooking an egg is to not put it in cold water after cooking, Hot foods are still cooking after you take them off the heat. The cold water stops the cooking when you want it to stop by removing heat from the eggs quickly. So Anecia is correct that not putting your eggs in cold water can also lead to the gray ring.
Woo ?? and I don’t know before read your post and now I know how to cook egg prefectly helpful information
I find that my eggs peel easier if I do them as soon as they are cool enough to touch, in other words, still quite warm. You have to be careful, because the egg is more tender while hot, and will come apart as you peel, but the shell comes off usually with no problem. I have tried every other trick and this seems to work best for me. Just place shelled eggs in cold water until they cool all the way through.
I cook my eggs in the oven. Put eggs in a muffin tin, set oven to 325. Put muffin tin with eggs in the oven for 30 minutes. remove from oven and put in ice water until eggs are cold. crack and peel. Perfect every time. Haven’t had a disaster yet!
I do it this way every time and it turns Great. Never ever had a problem and so -so easy
Do you put water in each muffin spot or just the egg?