Peeling Hard Boiled Eggs

luvflyin

luvflyin

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
May 8, 2015
Messages
16,166
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
Display Name
Display name:
Luvflyin
Sometimes they just peel easy. Other times not. Chunks of egg get stuck to the shell. Why?
 
THAT is one of life's little mysteries
I have spent more time than I'd like to admit searching for this answer...and trying lots of the silly things folks on the internet suggest.... vinegar, using old eggs, pre-cracking, etc...
and I so far have not found the answer to satisfy myself.... at least in terms of anything taht I can reliably apply to get consistent results.
 
We have our hens that lay....and when we do hard boiled we "steam" them in a double boiler. Then run them under cold water. That seems to do the trick.
 
My trick is to let the eggs come to room temperature, before lowering into boiling water.
Do not put the (cold) eggs in cold water and then bring to a boil.

Oh yeah, fresh eggs peel better than older eggs.
 
One of the seemingly silliest kitchen gadgets I've ever gotten as a gift was an egg cooker. One of the really simply ones, around $25 on Amazon. I'm like, I know how to hard boil eggs, why do I want this taking up space in my kitchen? Whatever, I'll try it.

It comes with an egg shell piercer, so you pop a tiny hole in the fat end of the egg, put in the cooker hole side up. 15-18 minutes later, annoying buzzer goes off. Put eggs in ice water for 15 minutes. Tap egg to crack it on the side with the hole. Every single time, the shell comes off easy. I'm sold, this is worthy of a little counter space.

Maybe the hole in the shell trick works as well on the stove top, I haven't tried, but I'd think with them rolling around, it probably couldn't work as well reliably.
 
Use an InstantPot. They peel easy every.single.time. No idea why, but been 100% success for us.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
15-18 minutes later, annoying buzzer goes off. Put eggs in ice water for 15 minutes. Tap egg to crack it on the side with the hole.
Click to expand...

Steam for 15 minutes on the stove, no gadget beyond a steamer basket. Straight from the pot to the ice bath and I crack and peel as soon as I can handle them. I rarely lose one peeling them, but the eggs will cool off in 5 minutes and for me they get harder to peel when they're cold.
 
I toss one in a mason jar (after steaming or boiling) with an inch or so of cold water, cap and shake a bit. Shells come off easy then.
 
Did a ton of egg salad when I was in the food business. We boiled the eggs, let them cool, put them in cold water in a large bowl. Peel them in the water - any stubborn shell bits slide off. Never had any complaints.
 
JOhnH said:
My trick is to let the eggs come to room temperature, before lowering into boiling water.
Do not put the (cold) eggs in cold water and then bring to a boil.

Oh yeah, fresh eggs peel better than older eggs.
Click to expand...

The SeriousEats link me and TCABM posted, addresses cold eggs vs. room temp, pinholes, and fresh vs. older.
 
Dave Theisen said:
Why peel them when you can just throw them in the trash with the shells on? :)
Click to expand...

Several years ago my wife fed me hard boiled eggs for a snack. An hour later I get called for a flight.

Man, I was killin' the nurses in back... :lol::lol:
 
Old eggs. Cook in air fryer at 275 degrees for 15 minutes then immediately plunge in ice water and wait until all the ice melts
 
Jeff Oslick said:
One of the seemingly silliest kitchen gadgets I've ever gotten as a gift was an egg cooker. One of the really simply ones, around $25 on Amazon. I'm like, I know how to hard boil eggs, why do I want this taking up space in my kitchen? Whatever, I'll try it.

It comes with an egg shell piercer, so you pop a tiny hole in the fat end of the egg, put in the cooker hole side up. 15-18 minutes later, annoying buzzer goes off. Put eggs in ice water for 15 minutes. Tap egg to crack it on the side with the hole. Every single time, the shell comes off easy. I'm sold, this is worthy of a little counter space.

Maybe the hole in the shell trick works as well on the stove top, I haven't tried, but I'd think with them rolling around, it probably couldn't work as well reliably.
Click to expand...
Yup, I've heard that the air fryers (basically the same as your egg cooker) do a fantastic job at hard-boiled eggs.
 
Boil eggs. Allow to cool enough to handle. Crack shell all around. Peel a hole in each end, hold egg in hand and blow it out of the shell. I thought everyone did it this way?

 
while we're at it, why do some yolks break when you crack the egg into a bowl, and others don't. When hoping for a nice fried egg, a broken yolk is a disappointment.
 
Crack the shell over its entire surface first, then peel. When I started doing that, I stopped having sticking issues.
 
Lawson_Stone said:
while we're at it, why do some yolks break when you crack the egg into a bowl, and others don't. When hoping for a nice fried egg, a broken yolk is a disappointment.
Click to expand...
One possible reason is that fresher eggs are usually easier to keep from breaking the yolk.
If you take two eggs, one fresh and one older and crack them in a bowl, look at how high the yolk stands. The fresh yolk will be rounder and the older yolk will be flatter.
 
Always drop the big end of egg into boiling water first, and rinse in cold water small end up.
 
Lawson_Stone said:
why do some yolks break when you crack the egg into a bowl, and others don't.
Click to expand...
Are you cracking the egg against the rim of the pan? I find the best way to crack a fresh egg is against another egg. The only problem is you need to find something else when you get to the last one that you want to fry. Then, I crack it against something flat like the counter top.
 
asicer said:
Are you cracking the egg against the rim of the pan? I find the best way to crack a fresh egg is against another egg. The only problem is you need to find something else when you get to the last one that you want to fry. Then, I crack it against something flat like the counter top.
Click to expand...
Jacques pepin always emphasized cracking them on a flat surface not on a sharp edge in his cooking shows..
 
aterry1067 said:
Boil eggs. Allow to cool enough to handle. Crack shell all around. Peel a hole in each end, hold egg in hand and blow it out of the shell. I thought everyone did it this way?

Click to expand...

Just don't let your guests see you doing this.
 
Domenick said:
I'm not going to review the entire previous thread.
Optional: Poke a pin/tack hole in the blunt end.
Boil water, lower eggs into boiling water. Turn down to simmer for 11-15 minutes. Plunge immediately into ice water.

From one of the best cooking sites out there:
https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs
Click to expand...


Do this ... I have only farm fresh eggs everyday which seem to have a slightly harder/thinker shell than the store bought white ones and this is the trick for me. The two main things are have the water at a full boil before putting the eggs in and the ice water bath at the end really shocks the eggs. I usually give them at least 15 minutes to cool down. You want the eggs cool to the touch before peeling.
 
Wife showed me a trick that works: if and when you find one that’s proving difficult to peel, get a teaspoon and gently insert it between the egg and the shell and work it around until peeled. Works quite well.
 
Sorry...I misread title of this one. Did not see the L in the first word...:)
 
This is one of the more "a-peeling" threads on POA. :D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top