If you're wondering how to tell an egg is hard boiled, set it on the counter and give a quick spin. Once it's moving, tap your finger on it to stop the spinning. Eggs that are cooked will spin easily and rapidly and stop quickly.
The eggs can float for various reasons, but it doesn't mean that they are done cooking.
Keeping the water gently simmering, boil eggs for 5-6 minutes for a soft boiled egg or 10-12 minutes for a hard boiled egg. Soft boiled eggs should be removed from the water and served in an egg cup. Hard boiled eggs should be cooled quickly by running cold water into the pan.
As soon as eggs start to boil, let boil for 10-12 minutes (I do 11 minutes). Set timer to help. Immediately remove from heat and set pot in a clean/cleared out sink.
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. After cooking, transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water.
The first (and most obvious) sign that you've overcooked your hard-boiled egg is when you cut the egg open. The yolk will have a grayish/white or bluish/green tinge to it. It'll also be crumbly and fall apart. The second sign is the strong (and unpleasant) sulfur smell that comes from the eggs.
To avoid getting a green yolk, cook your eggs just long enough to reach the desired doneness—no more. And quickly plunge the cooked eggs into cold water to stop the cooking process and minimize the iron-sulfur reaction. Some people also say that the cold-water plunge makes eggs easier to peel.
It's best to store hard-boiled eggs with the shells on, as the outer layer serves as a protective barrier. Plus, they're easier to peel once they've chilled in the fridge for a while.
For maximum freshness, leave them in their shells until you are ready to eat or prepare. The shell will help to protect the egg from bacteria, and can help prevent them from absorbing odors from other foods in your refrigerator.
The only problem with this approach, though, is even if you lower the eggs as gently as possible into the boiling water, they can easily crack. This is because cold eggs are shocked by the extra-hot water. To prevent this, remove your eggs from the refrigerator before you start bringing a pot of water to a boil.
Shelly McKee, a food scientist at Deb-El Foods and an expert on egg chemistry, said that boiling an egg for a long time would cause it to expel moisture. As the proteins in the egg white clump together ever more tightly, they would squeeze out the water contained within the egg.
Perfectly cooked soft-boiled eggs have a just-set white and a warm, jammy yolk.
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.
Place eggs in a medium pot and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and turn off the heat. Let the eggs cook, covered, for 9 to 12 minutes, depending on your desired done-ness (see photo). Transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water and chill for 14 minutes.
A soft boiled egg is boiled for a shorter amount of time, typically 4-6 minutes, so that the yolk remains runny while the white is only partially set. A hard boiled egg is boiled for a longer amount of time, typically 10-12 minutes, so that both the yolk and white are fully cooked and solid.
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. We prefer the eggs when they are boiled for 10 minutes.
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.
Egg to water ratio - The more water you use relative to the number of eggs, the longer it will take to boil and the longer it will retain heat.
Give Eggs Time To Cool
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.