The default emergency protein in my fridge? Perfect hard-boiled eggs. They’re tasty, portable, and packed with great nutrition – what’s not to love?

Here’s how to make perfect hard-boiled eggs that are never overcooked (I hate the gray-green sulfur ring around overdone yolks) and are easily peeled:

Grab a bunch of large, pastured eggs, and use a pin or thumbtack to poke a hole in the fat “bottom” end of each of the eggs.

(By the way, you may have heard that super-fresh eggs aren’t the best for hard-boiling ‘cause they’re more difficult to peel; from my experience, that’s true. Try to use eggs that are at least a week old. But if you’re “stuck” with really fresh eggs – poor you! – the techniques I use will still help maximize the peel-ability of your eggs.)

Make sure the needle goes just far enough to piece the shell. (Quick tip: It’s easiest to keep the eggs upright by leaving them in the carton while you poke ’em.)

Someone poking a small hole into an egg with a needle to make perfectly hard-boiled eggs.

Gently place the eggs in a deep, medium saucepan and fill it with cold water. Make sure the eggs are in a single layer, and at least 1 inch below the surface of the water.

Water filling a saucepan with eggs inside to make perfectly hard-boiled eggs.

For every 3 cups of water or so, add ½ teaspoon of baking soda. (The sodium bicarbonate’ll help the eggs separate from their shells, making them easier to peel.)

Place the uncovered pot on the stove and crank the heat to high. Once the water comes to a roiling boil, set a kitchen timer for 1 minute.

Water boiling in a saucepan with eggs inside.

When the minute’s up, take the pot off the heat, cover it with a lid, and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes. Set a timer – we want to be precise about this!

A saucepan is covered with a lid.

While you’re waiting, fill a large bowl with ice and water.

Then, once the timer goes off, remove the eggs from the pot and transfer them to the bowl of ice water.Completely submerge the eggs in the ice water for 5 minutes.

Perfectly hard-boiled eggs are resting in an ice bath to cool.

Then, fish the eggs out of the icy water, gently rap them against a hard surface to crack the shells, and peel each egg starting from the bottom end (where you poked the pinhole). Don’t wait until the eggs are completely cool – they should still be warm to the touch.

A half peeled perfectly hard-boiled egg.

The shells should come right off, with no fuss or muss.

A hard-boiled egg on a cutting board.

The result: Perfectly cooked eggs, with no ugly gray-green rings around the yolks, no foul odor, and no telltale divots in the whites.

A perfectly hard-boiled egg cut in half to showcase the yolk.

If you aren’t eating these eggs right away, store them in the fridge in a sealed container for about a week.

What are you waiting for? Boil some eggs!

(Update on 6/13/14: Serious Eats just posted The Food Lab’s definitive method to boil eggs. Mind blown.)

(Update on 11/7/18: I only cook hard “boiled” eggs under pressure in an Instant Pot these days!)


Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2021).


PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

4.34 from 6 votes
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Servings 6 eggs
Here’s how to make perfectly-cooked hard-boiled eggs that are never overcooked (I hate the gray-green sulfur ring around overdone yolks) and are easily peeled!

Ingredients  

  • 6 eggs
  • Cold water
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda or more depending on how much water you use
Want to Save this Recipe?
Enter your email below and we'll send the recipe straight to your inbox!

Instructions 

  • Grab six large, pastured eggs, and use a pin or thumbtack to poke a hole in the fat “bottom” end of each of the eggs. Make sure the needle goes just far enough to piece the shell. (Quick tip: It’s easiest to keep the eggs upright by leaving them in the carton while you poke ’em.) 
  • Gently place the eggs in a deep, medium saucepan and fill it with cold water. Make sure the eggs are in a single layer, and at least 1 inch below the surface of the water.
  • For every 3 cups of water or so, add ½ teaspoon of baking soda. (The sodium bicarbonate’ll help the eggs separate from their shells, making them easier to peel.)
  • Place the uncovered pot on the stove and crank the heat to high. Once the water comes to a roiling boil, set a kitchen timer for 1 minute.
  • When the minute’s up, take the pot off the heat, cover it with a lid, and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes. Set a timer – we want to be precise about this!
  • While you’re waiting, fill a large bowl with ice and water.
  • Then, once the timer goes off, remove the eggs from the pot and transfer them to the bowl of ice water. Completely submerge the eggs in the ice water for 5 minutes.
  • Then, fish the eggs out of the icy water, gently rap them against a hard surface to crack the shells, and peel each egg starting from the bottom end (where you poked the pinhole). Don’t wait until the eggs are completely cool – they should still be warm to the touch. The shells should come right off, with no fuss or muss.

Notes

  • By the way, you may have heard that super-fresh eggs aren’t the best for hard-boiling ‘cause they’re more difficult to peel; from my experience, that’s true. Try to use eggs that are at least a week old. But if you’re “stuck” with really fresh eggs – poor you! – the techniques I use will still help maximize the peel-ability of your oeufs.
  • If you have an Instant Pot, follow this method for making hard "boiled" eggs that peel easily!
  • If you aren’t eating these eggs right away, store them in the fridge in a sealed container for about a week.

Nutrition

Calories: 70kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!

About Michelle Tam

Hello! My name is Michelle Tam, and I love to eat. I think about food all the time. It borders on obsession. I’ve always loved the sights and smells of the kitchen. My mother was (and is) an excellent cook, and as a kid, I was her little shadow as she prepared supper each night. From her, I gained a deep, abiding love for magically transforming pantry items into mouth-watering family meals.

Other Recipes You May Like

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




5 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Absolutely the ONLY way to fix boiled eggs!! I’ve done them that way for years. Depending on the size of the eggs, they may need more time. I can’t believe how many really “weird” ways are out there on how to do this; and almost no one addresses the fact that they need to be “older” and not fresh off the nest!
    Thanks for posting that recipe…along with a lot of other good ones!!

  2. 1 star
    Going back to my Better Homes and Garden cookbook for this one. I have tried 5x using this method and while they taste great and perfectly cooked, peeling the eggs is super super frustrating. I’ve tried 3 week old eggs, impeccably drying them prior to peeling, etc. The shells don’t release from the egg, and I have ugly eggs with chunks of white missing.

    1. Sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you! Have you tried pressure cooking eggs in the Instant Pot? That method works the best to release the shells from the eggs. https://nomnompaleo.com/post/150316334318/instant-pot-hard-boiled-eggs-lazy-devils

      The only way to easily peel eggs is to use old eggs and this article suggests that eggs are just getting to the consumer fresher than in years past: https://www.wired.com/2009/10/eggs-hard-to-peel/