As soon as the water begins to boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Leave the eggs in the hot water for anywhere from 10-12 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs. The 10-minute eggs will have vibrant, creamy yolks, while the 12-minute yolks will be paler and opaque, with a chalkier texture.
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.
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.
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.
Hard boil your eggs: Hard boil your eggs correctly to ensure easy peeling. Add them to boiling water instead of room-temperature water to help cleanly release them from their shells. Take your eggs directly from your fridge — don't let them get to room temperature first from sitting on your countertop for a while.
Some people prefer to peel their hard-boiled eggs before storing – and that's A-OK. You'll just need to take a few extra steps: Transfer hard-boiled eggs to a bowl of cold water immediately after cooking to help them cool down faster. Peel the eggs under running water.
You might have heard that you should drop your eggs into room temperature or cold water and then bring the water to a boil. This is a myth. In our tests, bringing the water to a boil first and then lowering the eggs into the bath made for easy peeling and more accurate timing.
Just bring a pot of water to a boil with enough water to cover the eggs by about an inch. By boiling the water first, it also doesn't matter which type of pot you use as the eggs only hit the water once it's boiling: 212°F (100°C).
Starting with boiling water.
If you're about to place uncooked eggs in a pot of boiling water, stop what you're doing immediately. Making hard-boiled eggs should always begin with cool water. Bringing the water and eggs up in temperature together helps promote even cooking and prevent cracking.
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.
Boil for 6 – 7 minutes over medium-high heat for perfect hard-boiled eggs. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a large bowl of ice water and let them cool for a few minutes. Or you can place them under cool running water to stop the cooking. Peel and serve the eggs immediately.
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. Fill with cold water and ice cubes to stop cooking.
Bring the water to a boil, gently stirring the eggs several times. As soon as the water boils, remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the eggs sit for 15 minutes (13 minutes for small eggs or 17 minutes extra large eggs).
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.
Add salt to the water? Egg white solidifies more quickly in hot, salty water than it does in fresh. So a little salt in your water can minimize the mess if your egg springs a leak while cooking.
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.
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.
Here's a hard-boiled egg tip that we know to be true: Starting your eggs in hot, already-boiling water makes them easier to peel. In a column for Serious Eats, cookbook author and food columnist J. Kenji López-Alt found that "starting cold resulted in eggs that had just over a 50% success rate for clean peeling.
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.
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.
Here's her hack for how to peel hard-boiled eggs in large batches: Put five thoroughly cooled hard-boiled eggs into a small plastic container with some cold water, top with the lid and then gently rock and shake until the shells break and fall away. You'll almost always end up with perfectly peeled eggs.
How to Boil Eggs. Place cold eggs in a large stainless steel pot and cover with cold water, filling 1″ over the surface of the eggs. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat uncovered. Once at a boil, reduce heat to keep a medium boil then set a timer for your desired doneness (see chart below).
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.