Wanna know how to slay the tricky task of the hard-boiled egg? We got you covered! Grab a printable recipe/method for your home cookbook and be sure to watch “The Ultimate Hard-Boiled Egg Method” video tutorial below!
The perfect snack
I’ll admit, fresh scrambled eggs for breakfast are THE BEST! But we don’t always have time for that. And if you don’t plan on eating your eggs right away you can always hard boil them for a simple snack, egg salad, pickling, and so on.
I highly recommend letting free-range eggs chill in the fridge for about a week before you do this. I find trying to hard boil them right away makes it difficult to peel the hard shell off of the eggs. I also use baking soda and vinegar in this method. This makes peeling hard-boiled eggs easier and I’ll explain how that works below.
Why use baking soda?
Without going super “sciency” on y’all, I recently read an article on purewow.com that really explained this process well…
Eggs are made up of proteins. The protein in the egg white adheres to the hard eggs shell rather well. This makes it difficult to peel the shell off of the hard-boiled egg. The baking soda is supposed to help “break the bond” if you will, between the shell and the egg white. It does this by changing the pH (potential hydrogen) balance between the egg and the shell, thus loosening the bond between the two. Hope that wasn’t too much.
Why use vinegar?
I also really liked this excerpt from an article by chowhound.com that explained the reason why vinegar is a great aid when making hard-boiled eggs.
… according to Juan Silva, a professor of food and science technology at Mississippi State University. “The eggshell is made of calcium carbonate … and adding vinegar to the water will dissolve some of the calcium carbonate,” Silva says. The result is a softer shell and easier peeling.
Chowhound.com
Dissolve the egg shell a bit with some vinegar, and it should be easier to peel off. Sounds easy enough.
Step by Step: The Ultimate Hard-Boiled Egg Method
- Place as many eggs as you can into a large stock pot until the entire bottom is covered with eggs. Be sure not to stack eggs on top of each other.
- Cover your eggs with cold to room temp water and fill about an inch over the surface of the eggs.
- Add a Tablespoon of baking soda and a Tablespoon of white vinegar to the water. This will help your eggs peel easier!
- With the lid off, place your large pot over the stove and turn the heat up to medium-high. Let it come to a ROLLING BOIL for one minute.
- Once one minute is up, turn off the heat and cover your eggs with a lid for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes you can CAREFULLY empty the hot water and refill the pot with cold water. I even add ice to water to quickly cool them.
- Let your eggs sit and cool off for a bit until they are ready to handle.
- Your egg shells should peel off easily.
Print this method!
The Ultimate Hard Boiled Egg Method
Instructions
- Place as many eggs as you can into a large stock pot until the entire bottom is covered with eggs. Be sure not to stack eggs on top of each other.
- Cover your eggs with cold to room temp water and fill about an inch over the surface of the eggs.
- Add a Tablespoon of baking soda and a Tablespoon of white vinegar to the water.
- With the lid off, place your large pot over the stove and turn the heat up to medium high. Let it come to a ROLLING BOIL for one minute.
- Once one minute is up, turn off the heat and cover your eggs with a lid for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes you can CAREFULLY empty the hot water and refill the pot with cold water. I even add ice to water to quickly cool them.
- Let your eggs sit and cool off for a bit until they are ready to handle.
- Use them in your favorite hard boiled egg recipe!
The Ultimate Hard-Boiled Egg Video Tutorial!
My simple method for hard boiling these eggs has worked very well so far. Check out our YouTube video tutorial below about this process.
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What about you?
Do any of y’all have an ultimate hard-boiled egg method of your own? What about your favorite eggs salad or deviled egg recipe? Leave a comment below!
Great tips! We make hard boiled eggs all the time, so I’ll be trying some of these!
Thank you! Hope it is helpful!
I love my instant pot for boiling eggs! But now, thanks to this post, if my IP is occupied by something else, I can use this method. Before, it was always a hit-or-miss kinda process for me … are these eggs gonna peel nicely? Thanks for the great tips!
No problem! I just received an instant pot for my birthday this year. I haven’t made anything yet but I’m excited!
Great info! I always knew about using vinegar but I never knew about baking soda. I’m going to try using it next time. My daughter loves hard boiled eggs.
So glad to help! Yes I didn’t know about the baking soda before too. Now I use this method all the time;)
I have never heard of the baking soda and vinegar! I am soooo going to do this!!
I just used this method again today and it turned out great! Hope it helps!!