Do you love hard-boiled eggs? Boiled eggs are one of the favorite breakfast treats and ingredients that we use in egg salad sandwiches, deviled eggs, and other recipes. In one of the previous articles, we talked about how you can cook eggs and how long it takes to boil them perfectly, whether you want soft-boiled or hard-boil eggs.
You’ve probably mastered boiling eggs, and even if you haven’t – it’s not complicated; follow our guide for cooking eggs, and success is guaranteed.
Peeling an egg is another story. It often happens that the shell pulls parts of the egg white with it or that the broken shell sticks to the egg so that you can’t clean it nicely.
Keep reading if you are looking for the easiest way to peel eggs. We have some pretty good tricks in our hands.
Contents
How to boil eggs that peel with ease?
Although it seems like the easiest thing in the world, cooking eggs still requires paying attention to some little things:
- Using the wrong dish. Never try to cook more eggs in a small pot. Apart from the fact that some eggs will not cook well, others can crack under pressure.
- Cook room temperature eggs. If you put cold eggs in the water and turn on the stove, there is a big chance they’ll crack.
- Do not put raw eggs in boiling water. If you think this will shorten the cooking process, you are mistaken. The rule is always to cook eggs in cold water. The temperature will rise evenly, and the eggs will cook evenly and not crack.
- Do not cook fresh eggs. Eggs that are fresh can be a problem to peel. The older the eggs, the easier it will be to remove the shell. With eggs and other foods, the cooking does not stop when you remove the pot from the stove.
- After cooking, put eggs in an ice bath. You want to cook hard-boiled eggs but not overcook them. Let the eggs sit in an ice water bath immediately after cooking. You’ll achieve easy-peel eggs and avoid an ugly green ring around the overcooked yolk.
Here is a small reminder on how long will it take to boil eggs:
| Time of boiling | Egg texture |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes | Set egg white and runny yolk |
| 6 minutes | Set white and creamy, but not too runny, yolk |
| 7 minutes | Perfect soft-boiled eggs |
| 8 minutes | White and yolk are softly set |
| 10 minutes | Perfect hard-boiled eggs |
| More than 10 minutes | Overcooked egg, rubbery white, chalky-dry egg yolk |
It is easy to peel hard-boiled eggs once you cook them properly.
How to peel hard-boiled eggs?
Step by step guide on how to easy-peel boiled eggs:
- After cooking a hard-boiled egg, take it out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon.
- Tap the egg’s surface with a spoon or roll it over the countertop to weaken the shell, making the peeling process more manageable.
- Put hard-boiled egg under cold running water or in an ice bath.
- Peel a hard-boiled egg as soon as it cools down, after about 10 minutes.
- Store hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator for up to 7 days to keep them of their best quality, according to the USDA.
Why won’t my perfect hard-boiled eggs peel easily?
If you followed our guides on cooking hard-boiled eggs, you should have the eggs peeled perfectly. If the shell sticks to the egg’s surface, the cooling down process could be a problem.
Leave eggs to sit in cold water for at least 10 minutes to cool down. If you try to peel a warm egg, the shell could come off unevenly. Still, don’t keep eggs in the water at room temp for too long since it could cause the growth of bacteria.
Another reason the shell is sticking could lay in egg freshness. It is best to cook eggs that are at least 7 to 10 days old. When eggs are fresh, the pH of egg white is very low, which makes it stick to the membrane. When the egg gets older, the pH gets higher and the egg is easier to peel.
Tricks on egg peeling
Here are some tricks that will help you peel eggs without shell sticking every time:
Add sodium bicarbonate to the water if you cook fresh eggs
It is best to cook older eggs, but if you have super-fresh eggs and intend to cook them, add half a teaspoon of baking soda to the water. Although the mixture of water and soda will spread the strong smell of sulfur, the shell of the eggs will become soft. You will be able to peel them easily.
Sodium bicarbonate increases the pH value of water, i.e., makes it less acidic and makes eggs easier to peel by reducing the strength of the membrane that connects the shell to the white part. When this connection becomes weak, you will quickly remove the shell.
You need half a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate for a quarter of a liter of water.
Add the vinegar to the water in which you are cooking the eggs
To peel hard-boiled eggs with ease, you should add some vinegar to the water the eggs are cooking.
- The eggshell consists of calcium carbonate, and vinegar dissolves that calcium carbonate.
- You should add a whole tablespoon of vinegar to the water, i.e., a spoonful of vinegar goes for every liter of water.
Citations:
- https://www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/How-To-Peel-Hard-Boiled-Eggs/
- https://www.momables.com/how-to-make-easy-to-peel-hard-boiled-eggs/#:~:text=The%20best%20eggs%20for%20boiling,stick%20to%20the%20shell%20membrane.
