Peeling Hard-Boiled Eggs

Published on Wednesday, August 2, 2006, by C. Thi Nguyen / Edit Post

There are a few tricks to cooking easy-peeling hard-boiled eggs, but chowhounds note that there’s no guarantee you won’t get a toughie once in a while. As fauchon puts it, “some eggs are just recalcitrant!”

Most important: DON’T use fresh eggs. Age them in the fridge for a couple of weeks before boiling (don’t worry, they’ll be just fine for eating; eggs last a long time uncooked). The whites will evaporate a little, leaving a bit of air between them and the shell when they’re boiled, so you can get the shell off easier.

Once you’ve cooked your eggs, drain off the hot water, fill the pot with ice cubes and cold water, put the lid on, and shake the pot around to crack the eggshells all over. Let the eggs sit in the ice water for 10 minutes or so, then peel under running water.

Board Links: Hard-Boiled Eggs… Getting On My Nerves!

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POST A COMMENT |3 Comments

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  • I have never had any problems whatsoever with hard boiled eggs, till recently. The peels come off in 1/16" chips, ugh. Going to try leaving a dozen in the fridge for a few weeks so they are not fresh, and then leaving them cracked in icewater for a bit before peeling. Hope this helps, hate to think I am regressing as a cook. Thanks for the tips!

  • There's a way to do it now without ever messing with the shells...http://www.squidoo.com/eggies-reviews

  • OK, I started in this whole topic on a long string that I lost when I had to sign up to comment -- however, you are wasting energy by boiling your eggs so long. Bring eggs up to boil in cold water and then turn them off, let them sit for 15 minutes in the hot (slowly cooling) water and they cook just fine. For soft boiled eggs I do the same thing but take them out of the water after 3 minutes. In...+READ

    OK, I started in this whole topic on a long string that I lost when I had to sign up to comment -- however, you are wasting energy by boiling your eggs so long. Bring eggs up to boil in cold water and then turn them off, let them sit for 15 minutes in the hot (slowly cooling) water and they cook just fine. For soft boiled eggs I do the same thing but take them out of the water after 3 minutes. In both cases, remove them from the hot water and bath them in cold as above.

    Commercial egg sources place their eggs in a flat pan and roll over them with a bacon flat iron (used to keep the bacon flat as it cooks on the griddle) to break all the shells at one time - then the "operator" squeezes the eggs out of their shells. A whole tray can be shelled in about 5 minutes by these experts with NO broken eggs.-COLLAPSE