The trick to great
And if you find your eggs are showing signs of being over-boiled, while Prepared Cooks notes that eating overcooked eggs isn't bad for you, they won't taste very good.
If you boil it for hours, it becomes rubbery and overcooked. Beyond that, things get a little mysterious. Eggs are full of coiled-up protein molecules. Heating the proteins makes them uncoil and link up with one another to form a three-dimensional lattice, transforming a runny raw egg into a firm, rubbery cooked egg.
For one to four eggs, bring the water to a rolling boil, cover the pot, and turn the heat down to its lowest setting for 12-14 minutes. For five to eight eggs, cook for 15 to 18 minutes. For nine to one dozen eggs, cook for 20 minutes.
Bring the water to a boil over medium heat. Then, set the timer and boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Depending on how soft you like your yolks how long to boil eggs can vary from 5 minutes to 12 minutes. The less time in the hot water, the less cooked the eggs will be.
Once the water is at a rolling boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot with the lid. Allow the eggs to sit in the hot water for the following times according to the desired doneness: 3 minutes for SOFT boiled; 6 minutes for MEDIUM boiled; 12 minutes for HARD boiled.
Hard-boiled eggs are safe to eat as long as they have been handled and stored properly. The process of boiling eggs for 30 minutes or longer will effectively kill any bacteria present, such as salmonella, that could cause food poisoning if the egg was consumed raw or undercooked.
If you keep the heat turned up too high or too long when you cook an egg, the proteins in the egg white form more and more bonds, squeezing some of the water out of the protein network and making the egg white rubbery.
The heat coming from your stove denatures the protein by disrupting some of its bonds that held the molecule into shape. In the case of hard-boiled eggs, the proteins clump together and solidify, causing the egg white and yolk to harden.
Bring eggs to boil:
Slowly bring water to a boil over medium heat; when the water has reached a boil, cover and remove from heat. Let sit 12 minutes.
Cooking time for a soft-boiled egg is 3 to 4 minutes, and indeed many aficionados specify their desired doneness by referring to a "3-minute egg" or "4-minute egg." With the former, there may be a slight amount of unset white around the yolk, but with the latter, the white is fully set.
Turn the heat to high and bring the water to a rolling boil. Turn off the heat, cover, and let sit: Depending on how cooked you like your hard boiled eggs, the eggs should be done perfectly after sitting for 10-12 minutes.
How long to boil eggs? Boil the water and let the eggs continue to sit in the hot water for about 15 minutes. Full instructions and tips in the recipe and video!
Lower your eggs straight from the fridge into already-boiling water, or place them in a steamer insert in a covered pot, steaming at full blast on the stovetop. If boiling, lower the heat to the barest simmer. Cook the eggs for 11 minutes for hard or six minutes for soft. Serve.
As an egg ages, this air cell grows larger as the yolk and white further contract. Therefore, an older egg is less dense and more likely to float in boiling water. Store-bought eggs can last several weeks beyond their sell-by date or expiration date.
A boiling start for 30 seconds to a very gentle simmer for 13 minutes, then an ice bath at the end makes perfect, easy-to-peel hard-boiled eggs.
How Can You Tell If Hard-Boiled Eggs Are Bad? The best way to test if your eggs are still good after you've boiled them is, again, the smell test. Basically, you'll notice the smell is off if an egg is starting to go bad. This is true for raw eggs and it's true for boiled eggs—the funk doesn't lie.
Yes, having eggs before bed can help improve your sleep. Because eggs are an excellent source of tryptophan, melatonin, and vitamin D, they can enable some people to experience better sleep. If you struggle with falling asleep on a regular basis, consider having an egg or two a couple of hours before going to bed.
Bring water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to moderately high and cook eggs at a gentle boil, uncovered, 10 minutes. Pour off hot water. If using eggs right away, shake pan gently so eggs bump into one another (to crack shells).
All you need to do is immediately transfer your eggs to an ice bath after you boil them. This seems to sort of shock the shell and make it easier to peel. It also halts the cooking process allowing you to decide exactly how your yolks are cooked.