Easy To Peel Best Hard Boiled Eggs

How to make the best ever, perfect easy to peel hard boiled eggs? Eggs make easy, quick, healthy breakfast, snack or side dish whether you enjoy it boiled, fried or scrambled or in any other recipes. If you are looking to make easy & perfect hard boiled eggs that is easy to peel as well, read this post for the best hard boiled egg recipe with stove top and instant pot pressure cooker methods and also for tips!

You can prepare perfect boiled eggs using brown eggs or white eggs or you can also make perfect hard boiled eggs using duck eggs! Once you made the perfect hard boiled eggs, you can store it in the fridge with the shells on or off, for about a week where it will stay fresh if you stored propely in air tight food containers! The shells will still be easy to peel after storing in the fridge!

How Long To Cook Hard Boiled Eggs?

Once you place the eggs in a saucepan, add water and baking soda and the water comes to boil, you need to cook the eggs for 9 minutes in low heat, followed by ice water bath to make easy to perfect hard boiled eggs.

This is when you use cold start method where you place the eggs in the saucepan along with cold water and then bring the water to a boil.

If you follow hot start method, where you place the eggs directly in hot boiling water, you will need to boil the eggs couple minutes longer (about 11 to 12 minutes time) to make hard boiled eggs.

Easy Peel Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs:

Perfect hard boiled eggs are boiled eggs with completely cooked dry interior with bright yellow egg yolks and completely set & cooked whites.

They are also easy to peel, making the job much easier and also the easy to peel eggs usually have smoother texture for the whites as you don't need to scratch them hard to get the peel off.

If it's hard or difficult to peel the shell off the boiled eggs, the surface of the egg whites will show the marks which won't look nice and it is also a difficult job to do. Everyone loves perfect hard boiled eggs that are also easy to peel!

(However, that won't affect the taste of the hard boiled eggs)

Perfect hard boiled eggs have perfectly cooked egg yolks and whites but they also have the perfect texture.

You can make perfect boiled eggs on stove top or you can make the perfect boiled eggs in instant pot pressure cooker.

They are not supposed to have rubbery whites or slight grey or green colored yolks, which happens when you over cook the hard boiled eggs.

Perfect cooked hard boiled eggs have soft textured, completely cooked whites and yolks.

They do not have runny yolks like soft boiled eggs or medium boiled eggs also.

By following the right cooking time and also by checking the texture of the yolks, it is easy to tell if your hard boiled eggs are done or not.

Tips To Make Easy To Peel Boiled Eggs:

To make easy to peel hard boiled eggs, you need to follow the recipe exactly and also you need to follow the tips mentioned here:

Older Eggs Vs Fresh Eggs:

It is recommended to use older eggs which are refrigerated to make boiled eggs that are easy to peel for best results!

This is important because fresh eggs are generally difficult to peel once they are boiled. Fresh eggs have whites that are more sticking to their shells and they are difficult to peel off once they are boiled.

Older eggs that are refrigerated works the best if you are looking to make easy to peel hard boiled eggs!

So, to make easy to peel hard boiled eggs, let us start with using older eggs that are cold and refrigerated in the fridge!

Baking Soda:

We add a little baking soda to the water used for boiling eggs, because it helps with easy peeling of the shells.

Ice Water Bath:

It is extremely important that you transfer the boiled eggs immediately to a large bowl half filled with cold water and ice cubes for an ice water bath.

This will cool off the eggs so it won't cook further, which helps to maintain the texture of hard boiled eggs and also prevents over cooking and this steps helps with easy peeling of the boiled egg shells.

This is because, once the eggs are cooled enough, the shells will become easy to peel. So I recommend cooling the eggs at least for about 10 minutes in the ice water bath so the peeling will become easier.

Cold Start Method Vs Hot Water Start Method:

This actually depends on if you are using older refrigerated eggs as recommended or fresh eggs.

If you are using older eggs (that are cold and refrigerated), they are usually just fine and you can add the eggs to cold water then bring it to a boil and cook according to the time mentioned in the recipe.

They will be easy to peel since we use older eggs that are refrigerated.

However, if you are using fresh eggs, they are generally difficult to peel once they are boiled.

It is recommended that you use hot water start method for fresh eggs to make them easy to peel.

This means, you first bring the water to a boil, then gently add eggs carefully to the boiling water (using a large spoon usually works fine) without breaking the eggs.

When you use hot water start method, the boiled fresh eggs are more easier to peel than when boiled using cold water start method.

However, I usually prefer cold water start method (where the eggs are older, refrigerated and added to a pot of cold water which is then brought to a boil), which works just fine and easier to do as well.

With hot water start method, there is an icreased chance of eggs breaking unless you are very careful. In this recipe, we are following cold water start method to boil the eggs (assuming you are using older refrigerated eggs), so the cooking time is based on that.

If you are using fresh eggs and following hot water start method, you will need to increase the cooking time to another 2 more minutes.

Follow The Cooking Time & Instructions To Make The Best, Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs:

Well, following the recipe is really important when it comes to making the best, perfect boiled eggs for getting the best results!

How Long To Hard Boil Eggs?

To make the best & perfect hard boiled eggs, I recommend cooking the eggs for 9 minutes (with lid closed & reduced heat once the water comes to boil).

How Long Does Hard Boiled Eggs Last In Fridge?

If you store the boiled eggs in air tight containers properly in fridge, they last fresh for about a week (about 6 to 7 days total) in the refrigerator.

You can store the eggs with shells on or after peeling them based in your convenience, though we recommend storing them with shells for the best results so the surface of hard boiled eggs won't dry out easily.

The hard boiled eggs should be still easy to peel once refrigerated and is expected to remain fresh in the refrigerator upto a week's time.

If you store the boiled eggs in the freezer, they might last longer but it is not recommended since the whites will turn rubbery and the eggs will lose it's perfect texture.

So here is how you can make the best, perfect hard boiled eggs using both stove top and instant pot methods!

How To Make Easy To Peel Hard Boiled Eggs?

We use the following ingredients to make easy to peel, hard boiled eggs.

ingredients used:

large eggs 6 to 8 (refrigerated older eggs preferred)

baking soda 1 teaspoon

water 3 cups (or as needed to boil eggs)

ice cubes 1 cup or as needed for ice bath

cold water as needed for ice bath

Step by step instructions

Stove top method:

Place the eggs in a single layer in a medium sized saucepan.

Add water carefully, make sure the water level is about one inch above the level of eggs.

Sprinkle the baking soda, turn on the stove (use high heat) and bring the water to a boil.

Once the water begins to boil, cover the pan with lid, reduce the heat to low and cook the eggs for 9 minutes to make hard boiled eggs. Make sure to keep a timer so you won't overcook the eggs!

While the eggs are cooking, prepare the ice bath by filling about half of a large bowl with cold water and add ice cubes.

Once the timer beeps, turn of the heat immediately and carefully move the saucepan to a cool place (this step is very important to immediately stop the further cooking of eggs).

Carefully transfer each boiled egg (you can use a large spoon or tongs) to the bowl with water and ice cubes for ice bath.

This step is also very important because it helps prevent further cooking of the eggs and help the hot boiled eggs to cool down easily.

Peeling of the eggs is only easy once the eggs are cooled enough, so you need to allow enough time for the eggs to cool down in the ice water bath (the egg shells will stick to the egg whites once the eggs are hot, so peeling is difficult when the eggs are still hot).

It is a good idea to allow 10 to 15 minutes for the eggs to cool down in the ice water bath so the eggs will be completely cool down before you try to peel them.

Once the eggs are cooled enough, you can easily peel the shells off the eggs.

If you are not used to peeling eggs, rolling the eggs in a flat surface like kitchen counter top can help break the shells without breaking the whites inside.

Then you can remove the peels easily, either by keeping under running water so the broken shell bits will not stick to the whites or you can rinse the peeled eggs once the peeling is all done.

Enjoy the easy to peel boiled eggs in any recipes using hard boiled eggs like egg salads, egg sandwiches, egg curry or just enjoy them as it is for snacks or sides along with breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Method:

To make easy to peel hard boiled eggs in the instant pot, place the eggs in a single layer in the inner pot of instant pot.

Once you have arranged the eggs in the instant pot, make sure not to move the pot so the eggs won't break.

Carefully add the water (the water level should be barely stay above the level of eggs) and sprinkle baking soda.

Alternatively, you can use a steamer basket or trivet that comes with the instant pot and arrange the eggs on top of that so the eggs won't touch the water in the instant pot (in this case you wouldn't need to use baking soda).

(Both methods will work just fine and you will get perfect, easy to peel hard boiled eggs)

Once the eggs are arranged, carefully close the instant pot with lid in sealing position.

Cook in high pressure for 9 minutes for perfect hard boiled eggs.

Once the cooking is done, press cancel button and wait for a natural pressure release for 5 minutes.

(meanwhile prepare the ice bath as directed previouly in the instructions for stove top method)

After 5 minutes of NPR (natural pressure release), carefully and gradually do a manual pressure release to release any remaining pressure.

Once the pressure is all released, carefully open the lid and transfer the boiled eggs one by one (using a large spoon or long tongs), to the bowl with cold water and ice cubes for ice water bath.

Just like stove top method, let the eggs sit in the ice water bath for at least 10 to 15 minutes so the eggs cool down completely.

Once the eggs are cooled enough, you should be able to peel off the shells easily (you can gently roll the eggs in kitchen counter top for easy removal of shells).

Rinse the eggs to remove any bits of broken egg shells and use in any recipes that call for hard boiled eggs as you need!

Below you can get the recipe for easy to peel hard boiled eggs in detail.