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.
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.
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. It's a win-win! Transfer hard-boiled eggs to a bowl of cold water immediately after cooking to help them cool down faster.
Ideally, peel the eggs as soon as they're cool. Start at the broad end, and hold the egg under running water to loosen any bits of stubborn shell clinging to the sides. Another thing to keep in mind is the freshness of your eggs.
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.
Keeping Hard-Boiled Eggs Fresh
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.
This is because the egg white or “albumen” in a fresh egg has a relatively low pH level, making it acidic. When cooked, these fresh egg whites bond strongly to the inner shell's membrane. As an egg ages, the pH level rises and the inner membrane is less likely to bond to the albumen, so the shell peels off much easier.
Give the eggs at least five minutes in the ice bath before you try to peel them—letting them cool may help make it easier to peel them, but it's also so you don't burn your hands.
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.
An ice bath stops the eggs from continuing to cook
And as anyone who's ever overcooked an egg (which is probably everyone) knows, it doesn't take long to go from perfectly set egg whites and beautifully yellow yolks to rubbery egg whites and a chalky green-tinged yolk with a rotten egg smell.
The ice bath helps separate the egg membrane from the shell, so you'll be able to peel away the shell without ripping off chunks of egg white. Peel them carefully. The ice bath should set you up for success here, but that doesn't mean the shell will all come off in one piece.
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.
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. That said, depending on your altitude, the shape of the pan, the size of the eggs, and the ratio of water to eggs, it can take a few minutes more.
Put the pot over high heat and bring to a boil. 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-cooked eggs may be difficult to peel if they are very fresh. This is because an egg shrinks inside during storage, which pulls the inner membrane away from the inside of the shell. For this reason, a hard-cooked egg will peel more easily if it has been stored for 1 or 2 weeks before it is cooked.
To tell when an egg is boiled, try spinning it on a flat surface. If the egg wobbles and spins slowly, it means there's still liquid inside, but if it spins quickly and easily, it's most likely boiled. You can also hold the egg up to a light to see if it's boiled.
The trick to great hard boiled eggs is not over-cooking them, which can leave a grey ring around the yolk and make their texture a bit rubbery. Download our free Egg Timer app to ensure your eggs turn out perfectly every time!
If you boil an egg for five or 10 minutes, it becomes firm and cooked. If you boil it for hours, it becomes rubbery and overcooked.
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.
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.