I must say I am surprised when I hear from people that they have difficulty with Hard-Boiled Eggs (both cooking and peeling)! I suppose the reason I am surprised by this is I have the luxury of possessing the fool-proof process for making them... which I will share with you now! The whole process takes about 30 minutes of time, but most of that is while you wait (so not actually doing anything). Aside from getting the perfect boil on your eggs, is peeling them. Done wrong, it can be a daunting task! There's a super easy way to peel your eggs that I will show you as well.
COOKING:
Step 1: Select how many eggs you want (I typically do a dozen)
Step 2: Put your eggs in a large enough pot that they don't overlap each other more than 2 eggs deep, ensure the pot you select has a lid for a later step
Step 3: Fill the pot with room-temperature water to about an inch above the highest egg
Step 4: Over medium heat, bring to a boil (without the lid)
Step 5: As soon as you have a boil (so not just bubbles, but boiling) turn off the heat and cover the pot with the lid. Set timer for 10 minutes
Step 6: While you wait for your timer, prepare an ice bath. I use a large metal mixing bowl with cold water and enough ice it fills the top
Step 7: When the timer is done, spoon out the eggs and drop them directly into the ice bath. Set timer for another 10 minutes
Step 8: When the timer is done on the ice bath- it's time to peel! Do not let them sit in the shells, you should peel them now
PEELING:
Step 1: Pull one egg from the ice bath and place it on a cutting board
Step 2: Somewhat firmly push down on the middle of the shell until it cracks on the bottom, then roll it around to crack all the edges into small bits
Step 3: Find an open crack and peel up the shell and the membrane. It's important to get under the membrane, then use your fingers to peel the shells off with ease
Step 4: Dunk your peeled egg in the ice bath (or clean water bowl) to get any small shell pieces off. Repeat for all eggs!
Some Prep Notes:
- If you start peeling and the shell is pulling off some of the white, you may need to adjust the cook time or the ice time. I use 10/10 minutes and they peel wonderfully for me
- If you are going to make egg salad, a dough-cutting tool is ideal. It chops the eggs up coarsely so you can enjoy the texture rather than have a mush and does so in under a minute
- Also on egg salad- my recipe is simple but very well received- I mix my chopped eggs with plenty of mayo (to texture), a touch of mustard (to taste), and some season-all (to taste).
Hope this helps you all!
