It depends on whether they're peeled or unpeeled. With their shells on, hard-boiled eggs will stay good in the fridge for up to a week. Once you peel them, though, their shelf-life decreases to about three days (at the most).
According to the Food and Drug Administration, you can keep hard-cooked eggs in the refrigerator for up to seven days after they have been cooked. 1 (Here's the best way to make them.) And it doesn't matter whether the eggs are already peeled or still in the shell. Either way, they will last for a week.
Hard-cooked eggs, which have been quickly cooled and placed in the refrigerator in their shells should be consumed within seven days. Peeled hard-cooked eggs stored in the refrigerator should be consumed within 48 hours due to the moist egg white surface being exposed and the potential of microorganism growth.
Hard-boiled eggs, peeled or unpeeled, are safe to eat up to seven days or one full week after they were cooked. To make sure they stay fresh, allow the cooked eggs cool a bit, and then store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Another reason to keep your eggs intact? Hard-boiled eggs are actually much easier to peel once they've spent some time in the fridge. But according to our friends at the American Egg Board (yep, it's a thing), you can absolutely peel hard-boiled eggs prior to storing.
Peeling hard-boiled eggs is easiest immediately after cooling because the cooler temperature helps to contract the egg in its shell. To make it even easier to peel your eggs, place them into an ice bath right after you've boiled them.
Adding white vinegar or apple cider vinegar to your pot of water allegedly results in softer, easier-to-peel eggshells. That's because the acid in vinegar dissolves some of the calcium carbonate that makes up the egg's hard exterior.
Eggs can legally be sold up to a month after the sell-by date, after which they are indeed illegal but still very much edible for another two weeks or so, longer if they're hard-boiled and kept in the shell.
HARD-BOILED EGGS
Remove the pan from the heat and let the yolks stand, covered, in the hot water about 12 minutes. Remove the yolks with a slotted spoon, drain them well and package them for freezing. It's best not to freeze hard-boiled whole eggs and hard-boiled whites because they become tough and watery when frozen.
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).
The fat content of egg yolks may lead to irritation and may cause disturbance in the sleep. However, as per some other studies eating an egg at night can help you sleep much better.
Place the eggs in an airtight, hard-sided storage container. You can use a resealable storage bag if that's all you have on hand, but it's best to opt for something sturdier to keep the shells intact. Store the unpeeled hard-boiled eggs in the fridge for up to one week.
Raw, shelled eggs typically last three weeks after their sell-by date when properly refrigerated and four to five weeks after their packing date when properly refrigerated. Boiling or cracking eggs shortens their shelf life, with boiled eggs lasting about a week.
As long are they are kept refrigerated at 45 °F or lower, fresh shell eggs are safe to be consumed four to five weeks beyond the carton's Julian date (the date eggs were packed).
You can eat eggs past their expiration date. Just be sure to keep your eggs egg-cellent by storing them correctly. If you don't know if an egg is good or not, you can try the float test or give it a whiff. If it doesn't pass the test, throw it away.
Those funky, discolored rings in your hard-boiled eggs may make you wonder if they are harmful to eat. Fortunately, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) website clearly states the green or gray color in the eggs is “safe to consume.” So, if you happen to see a little ring around your egg, don't worry!
If it sinks or stays at the bottom, it is still fresh. An older egg will either stand on its end or float. The float test works because air builds up inside the egg as it ages, increasing its buoyancy. However, an egg that floats may still be safe to eat, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The vinegar in the water makes the eggs easier to peel. Here's why: The vinegar's acid not only dissolves some of the calcium carbonate in the shell, it also helps the whites set faster. Running the hard-boiled eggs under cold running water as you're peeling, meanwhile, helps the shell separate from the membrane.
Shocking your recently boiled eggs by submerging them into a bowl of ice water is key. The quick cooling of the hard-boiled eggs causes the egg whites to contract, freeing them from the membrane. If you let them cool for about 15 minutes, the peeling is much easier.
If you're wondering if it's safe to eat those eggs that've been left out at room temperature, you should know that hard-boiled eggs outside of the refrigerator won't last for more than two hours, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Leave eggs in the ice bath for 10+ minutes to allow for thorough cooling/easy peeling (you can place them under running cold water instead, but without the cold shock from the ice bath, you may have a harder time peeling, especially if your eggs are farm fresh like ours).