Perfect Easy-Peel Hard-Boiled Eggs {Works for Fresh Eggs!}
This simple, no-fail method for cooking easy-peel hard-boiled eggs is perfect – the shells just fall off! It works on farm fresh eggs, too!
I feel a bit like I’ve been holding out on you. Maybe, just slightly, cheating on you. Well, not on you. But on my tried-and-true hard-boiled egg method.
Posted a couple years ago, it’s the only way I boiled eggs until I saw Sally post about an absolutely no-fail method for boiling eggs. I knew I had to try it just to compare.
I was pretty certain my method would hold up.
But I was wrong. This slightly different (but still extremely simple) way of making hard-boiled eggs is perfect. Every single time. And that’s not an exaggeration.
I’ve been boiling eggs this way for months and months now and have never had an egg that didn’t peel easily and almost magically.
Even fresh eggs peel perfectly. EVEN FRESH EGGS! Sorry to shout, but if you have ever tried to peel a fresh egg that’s been hard-boiled, you know the tragedy of holding the remnants of chunky, pitted egg whites and shards of peels in your hands.
Before we got chickens, I heard many, many chicken owners say that if I wanted hard-boiled eggs, I’d have to save some eggs for weeks before trying, because you simply cannot hard-boil and peel fresh eggs.
But I’m happy to report, they do peel! And quite easily. So if you’re gearing up for deviled egg season, egg salad sandwich season, or if you just eat hard-boiled eggs by the dozen each week for breakfast and lunch like we do, then you should definitely give this method a go.
One tip I’ll mention specifically is to make sure you get under the membrane that sits between the shell and the egg as you peel.
I’ve found it helps to tap the larger end of the egg on the counter and start peeling from there – there’s often an air pocket that helps the peeling get off to a good start.
Even though I’ve changed my allegiance, I’m sticking with this easy-peel hard-boiled egg method forever.
Hard-boiled eggs that are this easy to peel make me ridiculously happy. I hope they make you feel the same way!
Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs {Works for Fresh Eggs!}
Ingredients
- Water
- Large eggs, storebought or fresh
Instructions
- Fill a pot of water halfway and bring to a boil.
- Gently lower eggs into the water (enough for an even layer). A strainer or slotted spoon works well for this – try to get them into the water as quickly as possible. Make sure the water covers the eggs by at least an inch. If not, add more hot water.
- Bring the water to a gentle simmer and start timing for 12 minutes. Take care not to let the water come to a rolling boil or the egg whites can be rubbery and tough; keep it at a gentle simmer.
- Fill a bowl with ice water.
- Remove the eggs from the water with a strainer or slotted spoon or carefully drain the water from the pot.
- Dump the eggs into the ice water and let the eggs sit for 5-10 minutes.
- Take the eggs out of the ice water and peel immediately, tapping the large end of the egg to start the peeling and making sure to get under the membrane while peeling. The peeled eggs can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for several days.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Sally at Good Dinner Mom
I was looking for a fairly easy and quick recipe and this didn’t disappoint. One egg unfortunately didn’t make it past the immersing into the water but all the others did fine and shells came off with no issues! Thank you!
This the first time I’ve made easy to peel, intact boiled eggs! This recipe rocks!!! So glad I found this! Thank you!
Doesn’t work
I have 4 hens that just started laying about 3 weeks ago. tried three times to hard boil but lost half the whites each time. Tried this method yesterday with fresh eggs and the shells almost fell off! No need to try any more methods…this is the way I will do it from now on.
Worked perfect and I used farm eggs. Thank you!!!!
This is the way I have cooked my eggs for years and I can tell you that it is the only way that I have found that gives me consistently “peel able” boiled eggs.
This recipe for fresh boiled eggs is a winner have tried it twice now every egg came out perfect The only thing I won’t do is lower my eggs into boiling hot water instead I place the pan of eggs on the stove boil another pan of hot water separately and then pour that over the eggs sitting in the pan
I have been having such a hard time with the fresh eggs from my 3 hens. I used this method today and it worked!! I’m really excited, because I had pretty much stopped hard boiling or hard cooking or steaming eggs. Thank you for this method.
Will never turn my back on this recipe!! My kids think I have magic tricks because they can even peel them now!! I’ve used over and over and wanted to comment because without this recipe, we wouldn’t be doing anything with eggs unless they’re fried or scrambled, lol! Thanks for this, its helped more than one person I know!!
but i want to leave them in the shell, put in refrigerator, and get out later…
…AND still have them peelable… what do i do?
wle
You can try that – they should still peel pretty well.
My trick is to used my curved knife and poke a tiny hole in the bottom of the egg shell (it is a tricky trick not to crack the egg). Just big enough that some air can get in but not big enough to allow any seepage or cracking. Anyway, the peels come right off immediately after coming out of the hot water. No ice bath needed. Side note: Have you ever used your instant pot to make hard boiled eggs? I have a pressure cooker and they are soft boiled in 3 minutes and hard boiled in 4. Love it! love your blog xo
It worked even though I didn’t follow the directions complexity. Oops! I put eggs right from the refrigerator into boiling water. I lowered the eggs in using a steamer basket. 12 minutes on low boil and 5 minutes in an ice bath produced perfectly boiled, easy to peel eggs! One egg cracked when it hit the boiling water. It didn’t “leak” and when it hit the ice cold water, the crack 100% sealed. Crazy! This is now going to be my process.
Everything in me told me not to cook my eggs like this but my last batch was hard to peel so thought I’d try it. I live in Denver so I know about the altitude and read someone’s review that lives here and said hers turned out great. I followed the directions and even gave them an extra 2 minutes. They peeled OK but were way under cooked. They were supposed to be for coloring but I now have 18 eggs in the garbage and I’m on my way back to the store on a crowded Good Friday to buy more. I’ll stick to my cold water start method and take my licks if they’re hard to peel.
With that many eggs you likely needed to increase the cooking time. You could have always put them back in the boiling water too
okay, i have ALWAYS had the worst luck with hard boiled eggs, no matter what method I’ve tried… i just gave this one a shot and let me say, in the last 4 minutes, i peeled 15 eggs! THIS WORKS LIKE A CHARM!!! so happy to have found this! thank you!
Worked like a charm!
excellent recipe, worked perfectly, I can only buy fresh eggs, at Aldi so this is the best recipe. They peeled easily, thanks!!
Finally!!! I don’t have to dread peeling eggs anymore. I’ve tried this 3 weeks in a row with three different brands of eggs, and it worked like a charm every time. Thank you so much! It makes peeling eggs a cinch.
I was skeptical. Who hasn’t been offered (many) a fail-proof method for easy peel hard boiled eggs? This works, even if they crack! Thank you Mel, I no longer have to rely on my brother-in-law for deviled eggs, I can do it all by my big self.
Eggcellent!! We have 7 lovely ladies who keep us and friends & family supplied with fresh eggs and are so happy to have this info for peeling. Works great first time!
7 large eggs straight out of fridge, added 2 minutes to the simmering time to allow the water to come back up to temperature, put pot lid partially on, after 14 minutes drained pot and dumped 1 cracked and 6 perfect eggs in to ice water, waited about 10 minutes, and PERFECTION! Even the cracked egg was fine for the potato salad! Thank you Mel. By the way, I’ve always put one shake from salt shaker in to the water (not even 1/8 tsp) and I’ve never had a cracked egg. I’ll do that next time I use this mehod; I’ve no idea what the salt does to prevent cracking.
I followed this exactly. Eggs did not peel easily at all!
This works!!! Nothing worse than chipping away a dozen eggs for deviled! Thank you!
From reading the reviews I thought this was going to be an excellent solution.
So I have no idea why my 6 eggs came out really badly.
I used room temperature eggs. I used a low simmer for exactly 12 minutes.
I let the cooked eggs sit in ice water for 10 minutes.
I peeled them promptly, but the shell pieces tore out chunks of egg white. A mess.
Fortunately, I’m just going to be chopping them up for salads.
It was a miserable experience I’m not anxious to repeat.
All I can think of is that the eggs were about 2.5 – 3.0 weeks old.
Could that have made a difference?
Did you bring the water to boil first? That’s the only step that I can see missing. I tried this on 18 eggs tonight. They peeled so easily. It was wonderful.
Yes, perfect! Thanks!
These worked perfectly! I’ve heard it’s harder to hard-boil eggs from your backyard chickens but this worked great on my girls’ eggs. Thank you!!
As promised, perfect, easy to peel eggs! We even dyed them before peeling and they still peeled perfectly.
I just ran across this blog when I googled how to boil eggs that were easy to peel. I just tried it and every egg peeled beautifully and so easily. Thank you!!!
I am so disappointed! I followed the directions and the eggs are not cooked enough and do not peel at all! Is there an adjustment for high altitudes? I tried cooking for an additional three minutes and they are still not cooked through.
Best way to make hard boiled eggs ever! Couldn’t believe how great they turned out! Peeled so easy. Will definitely do it again next time!
Game changer. Had 1 1/2 dz eggs to hard boil and some were fresh and some were about a week old. I even had some eggs that cracked when I put them in the boiling water but Every. Single. Egg. came out PERFECT! Super easy to peel and beautiful. I did add 1 tbsp baking powder to the water in the very beginning but other than that followed these directions and they came out perfect. Thank you!!!
Wholy Moley❗❗
THANK YOU!
I have been having such a hard time with HB eggs not peeling! I have tried the ice bath, different boil times, shaking with the ice cubes before peeling, letting them sit before peeling, salt, baking soda – whatever I heard that was new. I just tried this and I got beautiful, easy-peel eggs! The difference for me is either dropping them into water that is already boiling or the simmer rather than the rolling boil. Whichever it is, I don’t care! I need to make eggs often and the terrible peeling was a true pain. Thanks, again!
Using this method since Julia Child and Jacques Pepin – use a needle and poke a hole in WIDER end of egg – I use cold water – when “done” at your time – gently crack on counter and hold under light run water – peel comes off almost whole
I USED to cook all my HB eggs this way, but suddenly about 3 years ago the shells started sticking and I haven’t been able to get a cleanly peeled egg since. Could it be minerals in the water? Should I salt the water? HELP!!!
Hey Brooke – I’m not sure why the change in the egg shells not peeling well…have you changed the brand or size of egg you are using? You could try salt to see if that would help.
I LOVE this method. Not sure what was going on with our eggs, but they would NOT peel cleanly. With this method, they do! I’m so glad I can look forward to making boiled eggs!
This actually worked!!!!! Finally a true fail proof method!
I was skeptical when I read this method but I figured I had nothing to lose so I tried it – I can’t believe how well this worked. My eggs were purchased just yesterday so I figured it would be a big mess of shells stuck to the egg but not so! Thanks for posting this, Mel – you are a genius!
This method for hard boiling eggs works! Every single time! Thank you a million times!
I store the eggs in the fridge. When boiling eggs, I add a wee bit of salt to the water. I have never had an egg shell crack. I don’t know why it works, but it does. And by a ‘wee bit’, I mean just one or two shakes from the salt shaker….not even 1/8th of a tsp.
I’ve tried a lot of methods and this is definitely the best hard-boiled egg recipe out there! Perfectly cooked and easy to peel!
I was taught an easier way from our Gas Co Cooking Representative. They are NOT boiled. They are Hard Cooked Eggs….. Place your eggs in proper fitting saucepan( all eggs in the bottom in one layer) add tsp salt… Slowly bring to a rolling boil… TURN OFF THE FLAME & cover. Time for 20 minutes! At end , drain the boiling water ( clears your drain!) cover w/ ice cubes…. Let sit for ~ 5 minutes to stop the cooking action.
Peel from large end.. THE most tender eggs… NO green rings!! PS: I use an egg slicer to make tiny cubes and season for egg salad sandwiches! DELICIOUS!! On a chiabotta roll or crescent!!
This thru # of years of Home Economics classes in school.
My goodness… You need to start a blog…
Until you do, I’ll stick with Mel’s methods.. :O)
Thanks, Ross!
After years of frustration trying to get a boiled egg that peels easily and doesn’t lose large chunks of the white when peeling…..this method works 100% for me! Thank you so very much. No more cooking extra eggs to make up for the ones that won’t peel. No more frustration! This has worked beautifully for me every single time! Thank you!!
Cindy
Yay!