The Neat, Pain-Free Way to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

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.

What Went Wrong? The Hard-Boiled Egg Edition

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

Smoked Trout Deviled Eggs

Nancy Silverton’s Egg Salad with Bagna Cauda Toast

Japanese 7-Eleven Egg Salad Sandwich

Avocado Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon and Fried Capers

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!