How to CookEgg
The Neat, Pain-Free Way to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs
by Kenzi Wilbur
• March 27, 2018
• 148 Comments
The best kitchen tips are passed along from friends, or parents, or—if you work in an office with an always-bustling test kitchen—from colleagues.
And such is the case with eggs. We all learned to cook them from someone, somewhere; they're personal, universally-loved. But make no mistakes—they can be finicky, and, when hard-boiled, a real trip to peel.
Recently, one of our developers, Blake, saved us all in the kitchen with his trick for neatly peeling boiled eggs, gleaned from the kitchen of Blue Hill where he was but a young stage. We felt wiser. Enlightened. Our deviled eggs were already getting better.
Here's the cleanest way to peel a boiled egg, no blowing required.
The Trick
Cook your eggs however you like—slightly older eggs will help your peeling efforts, but using them is not necessary—and cool them down in an ice bath or a bowl of chilly water. Fill a separate, clean bowl with room temperature water. Once the eggs are cool enough to handle, submerge them, one at a time, and use the edge of the bowl to knock them, cracking the shell.
Once cracked, the water helps to gently separate both the membrane and the shell from the white, making your job easier, and the world a better place.
Now: Continue to peel like a champ underneath the water. Make the smoothest, pearliest eggs; impress your friends. Just don't forget to pass this tip on.
Put Your Skills to Use
This post originally ran in 2014. We're resurfacing it now because this skill is timeless.
How do you peel an egg? Let us know in the comments!
Comments (148)
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Easier way is to just boil them, shut off the heat and let it cool in it’s own. Then crack the shells by gently bouncing them on the counter a few time. Then peel them. I just did. 5 seconds per egg.
There are no hard and fast rules for preparing eggs and tell that it is ready. Only you have to follow the ideal procedure of cooking to get the desired result.
Gently place a layer of eggs in the saucepan
Keep enough space between them
Pour water into the saucepan up to an inch above egg
Put some salt to avoid cracking of shells
Heat it up for about 12 – 15 minutes
Turn off the burner
If you want more check the below link:
https://foodgear.org/hard...
I use my rice steamer and then the jar with water and lid method after cooling the eggs in ice water. 99.9% effective
I've found the easiest way to get eggs to peel easily, regardless of how fresh they are is to steam them. I put them in my electric veggie steamer for 15 mins if the steamer is already hot, 25 mins if using a cold steamer. When they're done, I throw them into a pan of ice water until they've cooled enough to handle them, and peel with no problem. A pan with a steamer insert works just as well. If you do it this way, put in 1 inch of water and your steamer insert. Cover and bring to a boil, then add the eggs. Cover and cook for 12 mins. Works like a charm.
How about if you want to keep the cooked eggs for several days before peeling them? They're harder to peel then, is there any special way to do it?
I haven't read all the comments, so I don't know if this was mentioned, but I pressure cook my eggs. I have never had a problem peeling pressure-cooked eggs, no matter how fresh.
How long?
Place eggs in steamer basket and add at least a cup of water to the pressure cooker. Close up and set to High pressure. 4 minutes at High, then give it 5 minutes after that before releasing the pressure, then plunge into ice water for about 15 minutes.
i love this it made no pain!, be careful if u dont find this recipe!.
That's pretty much the way I do it, except I hold it under running water as I peel it. Dunk it in icewater first, though.
Smack, roll and slide. I learned this method from Mark Summers' show Unwrapped on food network from a lady working at a potato salad factory. She was doing about one every three seconds and was flying through hundreds of flats of boiled eggs. Take the egg, hold in palm, smack it gently but firmly against the vertical side of the sink, then press and roll it all the way around to the first side you smacked. Stick it in a bowl of water and slide the whole shell off. It is the fastest and most efficient way I've ever shelled boiled eggs.
I use an egg piercer on the fat end of the egg. I believe it helps to separate the membrane from egg, making the shell come off in larger pieces.
J Ryan: Where can I get an egg piercer????
At least 6 major outlets. There is also a piercer/slicer combo.
Just google it
You can use a push pin, if you are careful.
After cooling, in the same pan add about 1-2 inches of water and the lid. Shake vigorously for one minute. Voila! Eggs practically peel themselves.
Hard boil egg, then straight to ice bath. Place 2 or 3 eggs in a plastic jar with a lid. Fill jar half way with tap water, place lid on jar and shake vigorously, for about one minute, then peel eggs. Amazing.
Kenji Lopez-Alt Food Lab
http://www.seriouseats...
FOOL PROOF HARD COOKED EGGS and THE PEEL!
Put half a teaspoon of bicarb in the boiling water with the eggs. Works wonderfully. Love my ladies fresh eggs and this helps with the peeling.
I have tried all the methods, and still the egg don't peel like it should!! I stand trying to peel the egg ans swear at the same time!!! My Sheltie's love hard boiled eggs but it is a pain in the ars to peel them!!!
Fresh eggs will never peel easy no matter what method used! For your pet and salads, cut the hard boiled egg in two and spoon out.
I recently started cracking the egg all over. Then I peel a bit off the big end and work a teaspoon under the membrane and around the egg. A bit fiddly but an impeccably peeled egg.
Let's all (posters) gather up somewhere in the middle of the country and have a boil/ steam off this fall. We can all bring a flat of eggs and get to work! I have tried every imaginable trick over the years and have found some excellent methods, but once in a blue moon any method will fail. I have used eggs as old as three months and as new as 3 minutes from the farm up the road...
I SWEAR A LOT........I TRIED THEM ALL....I STILL SWEAR........
All of the different suggestions found in these comments and the article all work sometimes, but not always. Only one this is foolproof. Steam don't boil the eggs for 12 minutes. When 12 minutes is up, drop into an ice bath for 5 minutes. Thank you, Alton Brown. Foolproof for over a year.
I if the under water trick during Easter and my deviled eggs were perfect!!! Thanks!😁
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