Hey! If you're new around here, welcome. Sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date with all that is published here!
Is this a myth? Is this real life? I must be joking.
I can't tell you how many hard-boiled eggs I've made in the past year, let alone in my entire life. They're an awesome source of natural protein that can easily be transported, which is key in my full-time-college-student, working, paleo sorority-girl life. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, if you haven't already guessed.
Anyway, I can't remember where I first heard this trick when it came to making perfect hard-boiled eggs, otherwise I'd credit the source. But it always seemed so hit-or-miss with me: either the shells came off no problem and I had a beautiful lunch ready for the nest day, or they came off in shambles and my eggs looked like I'd hacked them out of the shell. There was rarely an in-between.
The Perfect Hard-boiled Egg
For a video tutorial, click here.
Prep time: 2 minutes Cook time: ~20 minutes Total time: 25 minutes
Yield: Varies
Directions
Ingredients
1. Place eggs in the pot and fill with just enough water to cover the eggs.
2. Sprinkle baking soda throughout the water. I use around 1 tsp for 3 eggs, and just add a bit more with each additional egg.
3. Cover the pot with its top and bring the water to a boil. As soon as a boil is attained, shut off the heat and leave the pot covered on the stove and let sit for 15 minutes. The steam is what does the majority of the cooking, so having a top that seals it in is crucial to hard-boiling eggs.
4. After the 15 minutes are up, gently remove the top and pour the water down the sink, keeping face away from the steam. Fill the pot with cold water and dump it out 3 more times. This cools the eggs and pot before handling and helps shrink the meat inside of the shell and detach it a bit more.
5. Crack the eggs on the side of the pot, just enough to get a crack started and peel. Store in a sealed container until you're ready to eat them. Don't let them sit for over a week or they'll get bad... and smelly!
Eggs (as many as you want)
A pot large enough to hold the eggs
Enough water to cover the eggs in the pot
1-2 tsp baking soda (more for more water/eggs, less for fewer)
Some more pointers:
- If you can, use the oldest eggs in your fridge. The shells are looser and come off easier in general, without adding anything to the water.
- Use the lid of your pot to hold the eggs inside while pouring out the water.
- BE GENTLE when placing the eggs in the pot... any cracks in the shell while cooking will result in a cool-looking, but not-too-tasty snake of egg that shoots from the shell if there's a hole. I mean if you want to see that, go for it. But you might want to do that just as an experiment. ;)
