How to Make A Perfect Hard Boiled Egg and Then Peel It

Whether you want hard boiled eggs for Easter or just for a delicious snack or an addition to a meal, they can be hard to peel. Sometimes those thick green yolks can be kind of unpleasant, too. Avoid those problems with this easy method of cooking!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Eggs
• A good sized pot

1. First of all, make sure the eggs weren't bought the day before. Eggs that are too fresh are nearly impossible to peel and usually don't leave much of the whites intact when peeled! Buy eggs at least a week ahead of time for easiest peeling.

2. No matter how many eggs you want to boil, put them into a pot that has enough room to completely cover them with cold water, plus an extra inch of water and three inches of boiling space.

3. Put the pot of water and eggs on the stove and turn the burner to high.

4. Watch the pot. Yes - it will boil even if you are watching! When you see it in a full rolling boil - when the bubbles are nice and vigorous - turn off the burner. Leave the pot right where it is and do other things for half an hour or until the water is cool.

5. 
   Eggs Refused Dye Job Til Terms Were Met!

   Once they are cool, you can decorate the eggs for an occasion like Easter or just to have some fun! For each color chosen, mix 1/2 cup water with 1 tablespoon vinegar in a small bowl. Add the food coloring by the drop until it's darker than the shade you want. Dip the eggs in the dye mix until they are a bit darker than desired because they will lighten when they dry. Roll them around to make sure they dye evenly. Get creative by dipping 2/3 of the way in to make the most of blended colors. Blue plus red = purple. Blue plus yellow = green. Yellow plus red = orange. Experiment!

6. To peel... If you have older eggs, they will peel in one sheet most of the time. If they are new...... tisk...... don't use them to boil unless you want spooned out eggs, like three minute breakfast eggs. Roll each egg gently on a counter top after a starting tap until most of the shell is cracked all over. Run cold water over the cracked egg after breaking through the membrane.

Tips & Warnings

• New eggs sink to the bottom. Older eggs have more of an air pocket and will float.
• If you want to save a dozen or so eggs for hard boiling, keep them in the carton, mark with a sharpie pen and place low in the fridge, away from regular use eggs.
• When using the timed boiling method for "breakfast" eggs, if you aren't sure the eggs are done, lift an egg out of the boiling water with a spoon. The shell dries in five seconds or less if it's hard boiled. If it takes longer than five seconds, your egg will be softer boiled.
• If you see that you have a "hard peeler", use a teaspoon to scoop off the shell instead of massacring it in hopes of finding an easy peel spot.
• If the eggs boil too long, the green yolk will develop - so keep an eye on the pot near the point of boiling.
• Store raw and boiled eggs lower in the fridge. Sometimes they freeze when they are too close to the cooling element.

Resources

• Duelin' Deals Blog by Marlaine

[Tfurby]

on 4/24/2009 Great advice for the perfect hard boiled eggs, thanks!

[sonni57]

on 4/13/2009 Thanks for the advice on how to peel a hard boiled egg.

[carmensjones]

on 4/10/2009 i always have problems peeling. thanks

[woot]

on 4/10/2009 Thanks for the article on making a perfect hard boiled egg that is easy to peel. I knew that the older eggs peel better but I didn't know that older eggs will float. That's a great way to tell if they are ready to boil!

[jrosengarten]

on 4/10/2009 Hard boiled eggs always seem to crack at Easter. Great tips. Another one I heard was to take a pencil and make an x on the eggs before boiling. I have done this a bunch of times and it seems to work pretty well.