Been boiling eggs for a nice protein snack, sometimes breakfast is a couple of boiled eggs and its been hit or miss on being able to peel the dang things.

They either peel perfectly under a running faucet, or they start tearing the egg apart and the eggs are out of the same batch.

Found an interesting video from Epicurious on how to boil eggs, Soft, Jammy or Hard boiled.

The down low on getting nice cooked eggs that peel isn't just cooking time, it's the age of the egg. The hint is to let your eggs age, closer to the expiration date before boiling. Apparently it allows the membrane time to separate, thus making it easier to peel..



Here's the article Link

Here's how I get a good peel every time:

Let the eggs sit out for a few hours to come up to room temp. I believe this is critical.

Boil the water first then carefully lower them into it.

Boil them for eleven minutes. Your time may vary due to altitude. We're at 2400 feet.

Immediately rinse them in cold water and ice.

I eat two to five of these a day. I can't remember the last time I tore one up.

Steaming is the only way to fly.

A timely post. I’ve been doing it wrong for 50 years lol

I've tried everything I've ever read that "works" but the only thing I've found that works all the time is the Instantpot. Old eggs, fresh eggs, eggs right out of my chickens, warm eggs, cold eggs, nothing but the Instantpot has been foolproof for me.

I've been doing similar to above (4-5 min for jammy depending on size)

1. place eggs (straight from fridge) in pot
2. add water to pot to just cover eggs
3. just as water starts to boil (larger bubbles, not tiny bubbles), set timer to 5 min
4. at 5 min, dump hot water, rinse once and put ice water (including ice cubes) into pot (cover eggs)
5. crack shells (I learned a technique from Korea - tap shell on top and bottom and on the sides, then gently roll the egg on counter top to more minutely crack egg shell.
6. start peeling egg from the side w/o the indentation (the smaller of top / bottom).

I also think that older eggs are easier to peel but not sure if true or why.

A ten dollar Amazon egg cooker does the same thing with less than a cup of water and they are done by the time someone else has their water boiled.

I don't think there are many things in life that people couldn't find a way to make more complicated . Make a thread about boiling eggs or cooking rice and you'll see all manner of bullshit ideas .

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
A ten dollar Amazon egg cooker does the same thing with less than a cup of water and they are done by the time someone else has their water boiled.

Just bought a Dash brand off amazon and it works great. Drop them into ice water when hot and the shells come right off. The Dash steamer comes with a “tool” and you poke a hoke in the egg before steaming. Supposedly that makes it peel better.

Yup, 'older' eggs are better than 'fresh' eggs.

I've been using my Instant Pot for making hard-boiled eggs now for a few years. Easy to set-it and forget-it while I simultaneously handle other things.

Over time, the membrane "toughens", and adheres the the shell, so it the egg is easy to peel when boiled.

Also why they are more difficult to crack and open when trying not to break yolks and eat shell fragments. Like laminated glass.

Fresh eggs the membrane is not as thick, making the shell easier to break cleanly and longer, straight "line". But the membrane has more "cling" with the white when boiled, so the egg white tends to shear when peeling.
I use a flatware teaspoon or table spoon, (depending on egg size) crack the egg all over on the counter, then pinch the air pocket of the egg off, wet the egg, and use the spoon to slide between the shell and egg and separate almost never tearing the egg apart and fast enough that the egg is still hot enough to eat.

Otherwise it takes a few minutes under running water to slowly pry away the shell and the egg ends up tepid, and the butter won't melt when I mash it with a fork in bowl.

(three "jammy" eggs, butter, salt, pepper and toast)

Just put a tablespoon of baking soda in the water and the shells will fall right off EVERY time.

I get farm fresh eggs that are usually just a few days old. Boil for 13 minutes, run under cold water for a few minutes and then put two in a quart Mason jar and shake. Eggs almost peel themselves.

@FLKev

I'll try that today and leave out the vinegar.

I have always used vinegar.
It helps eggs that might crack from "leaking whites", and makes the "leak set" faster if the crack is large enough.

I can deal with a leaky egg, it was just a habit I picked up from days in restaurant cooking.

I'll post back how it goes.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
I don't think there are many things in life that people couldn't find a way to make more complicated . Make a thread about boiling eggs or cooking rice and you'll see all manner of bullshit ideas .

How did those cornflakes taste this morning, selogic? Special?

Insta-Pot. I give the instapot a 10/10. EASIEST eggs to peel you'll ever peel.

The 5-5-5 Method

Place eggs in steamer basket or on the trivet inside the Instant Pot.

Add 1 cup of cold water to the pot.

You can cook 1–12 eggs at once.

Set Instant Pot:

Manual/Pressure Cook → 5 minutes on High Pressure.

Natural Release:

Let the pressure naturally release for 5 minutes.

Then quick release the remaining steam.

Ice Bath:

Immediately transfer eggs into an ice water bath for 5 minutes.

This stops cooking and makes peeling super easy.

Baking soda made a good bit of difference, but the spoon still gets the shell off faster and easier for my old fingers.


@selogic

IMO, steaming is the best way for several reasons.

- There is really no way to tell when dropping them into boiling water, which decreases the temperature of the water, when to actually start the timer. "When there's big bubbles" is the common response. How big of bubbles? Meh... too much trouble.

- Dropping eggs into boiling water, as the monkey mentioned, will often-times crack the shells making a mess.

- Then there is the trying to fish them out of boiling water and not over/under cooking them.

Screw all that! Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Place your eggs in a steamer, set it on top of the boiling water and wait 13 minutes. No guess work. Remove the steamer, hose them off with cold water, and enjoy.

I cook my rice AND my eggs the old school way . Like before the Insta Pot was invented ..

I'd like to see some of ya'll try to dial a rotary phone . They probably have a Youtube video for that

Air Fryer here. Works every time.

250 degrees and 15 minutes. Then crack and peel under water in a bowl or running water. Since they are hot I do this to keep my fingers from burning.

I've tried all the methods here and all over the web. Until I bought an air fryer two years ago I hated boiling eggs because they never were consistent on peeling. And I love boiled and deviled eggs.

I will say for the past several years they were hard to peel. But for many years as a kid and well into adulthood all I did was boil them in a pot of water for about 12-15. Never had issues peeling. Then one day for years no matter "how" they never peeled right. My theory is something changed in the processing of the eggs.