If you’ve ever wondered how to make perfect hard boiled eggs, this post is for you! Easy peel hard boiled eggs can be tricky, but they don’t have to be. From how long to boil eggs, to the best way to peel them, this post will have you on your way to perfect eggs every time!
If you love making hard boiled eggs, try our Air Fryer Hard Boiled Eggs too!

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
I’m so excited to teach you how to make perfect hard boiled eggs today! My husband is the king of making the perfect hard boiled eggs. I made him write down all of his secrets to share with you today, so take it away Cullen! xoxo
Hey, Cullen here also known as Mr. Picky Palate. I love adding hard boiled eggs to my diet to increase the protein intake. I use boiled eggs in between meals or after a workout. Excited to share my tips with you that can save you tons of time.
How To Boil Eggs
Talking about how to boil eggs! To get started, set fresh eggs into a medium sized sauce pan. Some say that letting the egg acclimate to room temperature will stop them from cracking. I personally have found no correlation to stopping the crackiness by leaving the eggs out of the fridge. Every once in a while I get a cracked egg, but for the most part they stick together (I discuss more of this further down).
Step 1: Add Cold Water To Eggs
I like to pour cold water in the pan and completely cover the eggs. Approximately one inch plus of water above the eggs is sufficient for boiling. Additionally, the construction man in me chooses cold water as I prefer not to use hot water coming from the copper pipes in my food, as copper over time disinigrates more with hot water running through it.
Step 2: Bring Eggs To a Boil
Place the eggs with water over high heat and bring to a boil.
Step 3: Boil Your Eggs
For our gas stove, bringing the eggs to a boil takes about 15 minutes in our larger saucepan.
Step 4: Add Ice To Eggs To Stop Cooking
Once you’ve boiled the eggs between 10 to 12 minutes (I use 11 minutes), bring the eggs to your sink and lightly set ice and water on top of the eggs. We want to stop the cooking process and get them ready to devour.
Approximately 10 minutes under ice works for me. Pull an egg out of the water and you can get a feel for it’s readiness. If the egg is warm, keep it in the ice longer.
How Long Does it Take to Hard Boil Eggs?
When boiling starts, set a timer to 11 min. It’s important to be flexible in this step. Everyone has a different stove, size of pan, types of eggs, and so forth. What I suggest is you start at the guidelines I discuss and adjust from there as batches come out. The time for boiling could be anywhere from 10 to 12 minutes.
I’ve found that white eggs tend to crack more than brown eggs. If you have a problem with cracking eggs, once you bring to a boil, take the heat to medium and add a minute or so to your boiling time. Another way to try, is that once the eggs boil take off the heat, cover and let sit for approximately 12 minutes.
One goal of mine when boiling eggs is to eliminate the green egg yolk. I’m sure we’ve all seen the green egg yolk. Even though this is harmless to us, this recipe aims to avoid or minimize this.
How to Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs
I get most annoyed at an egg that doesn’t peel well (see below as why an egg doesn’t peel well). I believe there is an art to cracking an egg. What I like to do is crack it all around the egg by tapping it on a hard surface.
I then squish the egg shell all around and you feel the shell start to separate from the egg….now this is perfection.
Pure magic as the shell glides off the egg.
Sometimes the shell may not come off this easily. It is known in the egg world that the more fresh the egg, the more difficult it is to peel. When that’s the case, I run water on the egg as I remove the shell. Also, occasionally there is a thin filmy skin between the shell and egg that I remove. I’m particular about removing this so I spend the extra seconds to remove it by running my fingers around the egg while under running water. Don’t ask me why–I just want it gone.
I’ll cut the egg in half so you can see inside.
Nicely cooked yolk and whites. Perfect hard boiled eggs.
How To Serve
Serve hard boiled eggs chilled with shells removed. They’re great for eating anytime and perfect for Holidays.
How to Store
I prefer to store my hard boiled eggs in a carton. I mark the carton and keep the eggs in the fridge. They can last in the shell for up to 1 week.
Use Your Hard Boiled Eggs With This Recipe
How To Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
Equipment
- Stove
- saucepan
- knife
Ingredients
- 12 eggs
Instructions
- Set 12 eggs or as many as you desire (in a single layer) into a large saucepan. Fill pot with water to completely cover the eggs at least 1 inch above eggs and turn heat to high. Bring water to a boil, takes approximately 15 minutes. 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. Turn water off and Let eggs sit in ice for 10 minutes. Eggs should feel cool to the touch.
- Carefully crack the egg shell all the way around the egg. Squeeze the shell until the shell has detached from the egg and peel. See photos for visuals.
- Keep hard boiled eggs in their shell in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Followed your instructions to the letter and they were perfect. Many thanks!
Now can you inclog a disposal?
nice & perfect.thanks.
I love your stuff. It is simply amazing and makes it easy when I need something new and exciting for dinner. As for getting shells off easy. I like to put a tablespoon of baking soda in the water. Shells come right off.
Thanks for sharing this method. I’m glad to know that fresh eggs are the reason behind a “sticky” shell. That drives me insane. I hope you don’t mind my mentioning that storing peeled eggs in the container the raw eggs came in is not the best idea; Salmonella – a food-borne pathogen – lives on the shell of the egg. Placing peeled eggs back into the container increases your risk for Salmonella. Thanks again for the method. Off to pin it!
Oh my! I was wondering if I was the only one thinking that when I saw that
pic! LOL Im so nutty about salmonella extremely careful about the handling
of eggs and chicken
Never made hard boiled eggs before, but have the urge to make egg salad. Going to boil my eggs using your method. 🙂
Tried this method for our Easter Eggs. Peeled great, and cooked perfectly. Thanks!
I have tried several techniques for hard boiled eggs. This is the BEST! The shell did remove easily and the yolk was a beautiful yellow. Thanks!
Hello!
This recipe is wonderful! We have a new induction stove top and my old recipe did not cook the eggs enough. This one was perfect. After boiling, I simmered the (white) eggs at 7&1/2 for 14 minutes. Then I let them cool in ice water for about 20 minutes. I am enjoying one right now in a spinach salad and it’s delicious.
Thanks for a great recipe!
So glad to hear it Anne! Thanks for sharing!
My husband’s hard boiled eggs always came out perfect. He did the same as you.
Thanks a lot best hard boiled eggs I’ve ever made and best technique for pealling eggs have ever tried
Great! So glad to hear it, thanks for the feedback!
Excellent!
Darn Good Knives… Cutco is awesome.
Exactly the way I do it. Wait did you say remove from fire & lid it? I do & set timer for 10-11 minutes. Ice is rare at my house so I usually dump off hot water & run cold water over till eggs are cooled.
I can attest to this method. It is EXACTLY the same way I have been making perfect hard boiled eggs for years! The ice bath is critical. Glad to see it in print!
Thanks for sharing Laurie! 🙂
I love it – we have the same labeled carton in our refrigerator!
Perfect eggs in one shot. Well done!
Very Interesting I didn’t know that thanks …
oh my goodness thank you so much for the tutorial. It helped so much, normally when it comes down to my cooking questions i just call my mom but when it came down to the TIME to leave the eggs for them to be done she said “i just forget about them and come back to them and they are done, you just know.” umm no mom not everybody just knows..lol i tried this yesterday for dinner and they came out so pretty and perfect, thank you once again i can NOW say i KNOW how to make hard boiled eggs.
Lexie, thank you for sharing! 🙂
Thanks for the terrific tutorial! Love the photos. Love the brown egg suggestion.
I have a similar method, but I take my pot off the heat and cover it once it comes to a boil. But my eggs never peel as good as yours, so I might try keeping it on!
Thanks so much for this post!
I’ve had a hard time every now and then getting eggs to peel!
I heard once that the green coating on the yolk hapens because of trapped sulphur (?) and if you slightly crack the egg as soon as you take it off the stove – if you are not going to peel it asap – the green coating does not happen.
Love that your husband did this! 🙂
Thank you for posting this! I have a carton of eggs that are about to go bad and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them. I’m going to make hard boiled eggs tonight. I always have trouble when trying to make them so I’m going to try your tips! 🙂
I have my own chickens and sometimes I boil eggs a day after collecting. I had trouble peeling my fresh eggs until I discovered a secret. Make a little hole by Pushing a tack into the fat end of your egg and proceed as normal. Your fresh eggs will peel like a breeze. No more wasting half your fresh egg when peeling!
Cullen here – Jeanette, thanks for sharing…..I’ll give this a try
Such a handy post! Bookmarked!
Great tutorial!
Love these tips!!
I do a variation of this, and works like a charm! Perfect for having on hand for quick breakfasts!
perfection in an egg crate, Jenny!! haha
Thomas would love this step by step! Perfect for those boys who are trying to eat more protein!
Thank you! I rarely get a perfectly peeled egg- this is full of great tips!
It seems so easy but I have had problems boiling eggs before! Thanks for the tips!
thanks for this! i just messed up my hard boiled eggs for the first time! no idea what happened but i will use your method going forward. good tips!
Great tutorial!! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thank you! I have such a hard time with hard boiling eggs. They are always either underdone or overdone or the shells never want to come off. Your method looks perfect and I cannot wait to try it!
love your tutorial. I totally figured it would be the same steam method I use, but I cannot wait to use yours!