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.
unrefrigerated? As with all cooked foods left out at room temperature (aka the Danger Zone), hard-boiled eggs are no longer deemed safe after two hours.
As with raw eggs, hard-boiled eggs last longest when stored in the refrigerator. According to The American Egg Board, hard-boiled eggs, still in their shell or peeled, will remain tasty for about a week when properly stored (which means in a fridge that is no warmer than 40°F).
A slimy or chalky shell can indicate bacteria or mold growth, while a brown shell is a sign of spoilage. If any of these signs are present, toss the egg to be safe. And as stated, a foul odor is also a sign of rottenness, so you should discard the hard-boiled egg to avoid getting sick.
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.
The One Best Way to Reheat Hard Boiled Eggs
Place your hard boiled eggs in a heat proof bowl, pour boiling water until the egg is entirely submerged, then cover. Wait ten minutes before removing, crack, peel, and eat. No explosion and no mess—just breakfast.
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.
How Long Do Hard-Boiled Eggs Last? 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).
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.
According to the USDA, refrigerated eggs should not be left out for more than two hours. “Eggs are stored cold right after the hen lays the eggs. Once a cold egg is left out at room temperature it can sweat, which facilitates the movement of bacteria into the egg and can increase the growth of bacteria,” Amidor says.
According to The American Egg Board, hard-boiled eggs that are in their shell will last for up to one week. You should store hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator with their shells on, if possible. The shell will keep them fresh for longer and helps prevent the eggs from absorbing any odors in the fridge.
However, here are the reasons which make it viable to store eggs unrefrigerated. Eggs do not rot. Eggs that are stored at the room temperature do not rot fast as opposed to the ones that are refrigerated. Also, some of them tend to turn sour when taken out after being stored in extremely cold temperatures.
You can leave eggs on the counter about two hours at room temperature or one hour if the temperature is 90 degrees F or hotter before you start to worry, per the Egg Safety Center. After two hours, you'd be safer to throw those eggs out and get a fresh dozen rather than chance it.
But what is the ideal expiry date for eggs? “The shelf life of an unrefrigerated egg is 7 to 10 days and for refrigerated egg it's about 30 to 45 days,” notes Dr Batra. But that doesn't mean you can pop a 2-month old egg for a quick omelet. - Eggs can last for about 5-6 weeks if refrigerated properly.
Safe and recommended to freeze are hard-boiled eggs. However, the white part tends to get rubbery, so it is better if you consume this part fresh and just freeze the yolk. You can safely use it in casseroles, deviled eggs or sauce gribiche up to 6 months later.
If you have already shelled the eggs, preserve them in the refrigerator immersed in a bowl with cold water. In this way you will preserve their moistness level and the temperature will remain constant. Change the water once a day to keep the hard-boiled eggs fresh and consume them within a week.
So when your eggs' expiration date has passed, they could be two months old—and still more than likely safe to eat. It's important to note, however, that expiration dates have been outmoded; sell-by and best-by dates are simply quality indicators, not safety guides.
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).
A quick beginner's tip is that hard-boiled eggs can be preserved up to 7 days in the refrigerator.
If you're down to eat your egg cold or at room temperature, you're totally in the clear and safe from any egg danger. Reheating hard boiled eggs in a microwave, though, is an entirely separate issue. If you want to reheat a hard boiled egg, first step away from the microwave.
Store unpeeled, soft-boiled eggs in the refrigerator, where they will keep for two days. You can reheat them with a quick trip into simmering water on the stove—just cook in a single layer if you have multiple eggs. Just under a minute should heat the egg through without overcooking it.