How To Hard Boil an Egg

Here's a fool-proof, reliable way to hard boil eggs.

Step 1  

Place the eggs gently in an empty pot. If you accidentally crack an egg, adding salt or vinegar to the water may help the proteins in the egg white coagulate faster to plug the cracks in the shell.

Step 2  

Fill the pot with enough cold tap water to completely cover the eggs, with about 1 inch (3 cm) of water over them. Using cold water helps keep the eggs from overcooking, even though it increases cooking times.

Step 3  

Add enough salt to make the water taste salty. This can make the eggs easier to peel because, as mentioned earlier, the proteins coagulate and firm up, making the white easier to separate from the shell. Also, eggs that are less fresh are easier to peel because their higher pH strengthens the membrane. (This can be simulated by making the cooking water more alkaline with a half teaspoon of baking soda per quart of water.)

Step 4  

Put on a lid. Bring the water to the point of boiling, over high heat. From here, there are two main schools of thought regarding how to get a perfectly hard boiled egg. The following method assumes you started with cold, refrigerated eggs. See the video below for the other method. 

• As soon as the water boils, turn off the heat, but keep the pot on the warm stove. Do not remove the lid. Leave the eggs in the hot water for ten to fifteen minutes. It is important you do not start the timer until the water starts boiling, and you turn off the heat. Too much time will make the eggs discolored and smelly, while too little time will cause them to be runny. 

Step 5  

Stop the cooking process. Chill the eggs by placing them under cold running water or in a bowl of ice water. Let them sit for a few minutes until the eggs are completely cool.

Step 6  

Peel the eggs when they are cool enough to handle. It's easier to peel them under cold running water. Some people say that really fresh eggs are harder to peel, so try boiling eggs that you have had for a few days.

Step 7  

Eat and enjoy!

Tips

• Some sources recommend making a shallow hole with a pin at the flatter end before boiling so that it'll let the expanding air escape thus reducing the chance of cracking but studies have shown this isn't a reliable technique. Do not use eggs that are cracked since they may contain bacteria.
• To peel, put the lid back on the drained pot, with the eggs still in it, and swirl and shake (no need to add cold water, because you've pre-cooled the eggs with cold water before draining the pot). When you take off the lid, you'll see whole boiled eggs with the shells gently cracked all over, making the peeling process a breeze. (Peel them over the trash can because the small chips can make a mess of your sink.)
• To ensure your egg is hardboiled, when it is cooled off, spin it on a hard surface like a top, and if it spins quickly without flying off in one direction, the egg is finished. Undercooked or uncooked eggs will have a wobbly, unsteady spin and will spiral off to one side.
• Fresh eggs are less prone to cracking but more difficult to peel. Eggs which have been refrigerated for several days have higher pH and are more likely to crack, but they're easier to peel. If you have fresh eggs, you can add a teaspoon of baking soda to a quart of water when cooking (but it might make the eggs taste slightly more sulfuric) or just cook them a little longer and allow the white to firm up in fridge before peeling.
• After draining the cooked eggs shake the pan from side to side to crack the shells and then fill with cold water. Cracking lets the cool water in under the shells making the eggs much easier to peel. If you're going to be cutting the boiled eggs in half, you might want to use the freshest eggs you can find, since they tend to have a more centered yolk and less likelihood of greening.
• Letting the eggs come to room temperature before boiling will help prevent the yolks from turning green.
• Using a teaspoon can help keep the egg white intact. Pinch off a small section of shell and membrane from the large end. Insert spoon under shell and membrane so that the spoon cups the egg. Then just slide the spoon around and peel off sections of shell.
• Stirring the eggs and water a couple of times while the water is coming to a boil will help center the yolks.
• You may have better luck starting with room temperature eggs.
• Here is a special trick to peel your eggs easily: Crack the egg, then roll it under your hand back and forth. (This separates the membrane from the entire egg) Then, peel the shell off, starting at the larger end. The shell will come off easily.
• To make hard boiled eggs, here's the secret: Don't boil them. The "perfect" hard boiled egg (tender white, semi-solid yolk) can be reliably cooked by keeping the egg at 65°C or 149°F (well below the boiling point of water) for 6 hours or more but most people don't have that kind of time and patience.

Warnings

• If you keep the eggs at boiling temperature, you risk overcooking the eggs, which over coagulates the proteins (resulting in rubbery whites and dry yolks) and generates hydrogen sulfide in the egg.
• Be careful that you do not burn yourself with the hot water or the eggs.
• Using too much vinegar will cause your eggs to smell bad and taste like vinegar.
• Peeling the eggs under running water may cause drains to plug up. It is very difficult to remove eggshells from your pipes since they are relatively heavy and tend to sink, getting caught on debris stuck to the inside walls of your sewer pipes.
• Don't put the eggs into the microwave. They might explode, causing a mess.