# Recipie for hard-boil Eggs? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124 "2003-02-19T14:32:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/1 "2003-02-19T14:32:48Z")
Seriously. My Blessed Granny would bring the water to a boil, carefully put the eggs in, then boil them for an indeterminate length of time - depending on what was on TV, and how many Martinis she’d had. The eggs would always crack and leak, and they’d be all rubbery and farty-tasting when she made egg-salad sandwiches. My mum never boiled a single egg that I can recall. I just asked my wife. Here’s the exchange… **Me:** Honey? How do you hard-boil eggs? **Her:** WHAT?!? **Me:** Um. Ahem. How do you hard-boil eggs? **Her:** Oh. Sorry. I though you said ‘Why didn’t you hard-boil the eggs?’ (My wife often speaks in _Italics_) **Me:** Huh? **Her:** What?!? **Me:** What? **Her** : Huh? **Me:** How do you hard-boil eggs? **Her:** You just put them in the water and boil them! **Me:** Yes, but for how long? **Her:** What?!? _I don’t know!!_ (_See!?_) **Me:** Never mind. You get the idea. So how do I accomplish this seemingly simple task? I tried to google it, but in the Cooking Community it seems to be assumed that everyone knows how to boil a damned egg. Everyone but me, at least. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/2 "2003-02-19T14:35:06Z")
I put the egg in cold water. Turn the stove on hight until the water boils. Then turn it down to a simmer and cover. Simmer for about 5 minutes for a soft boiled egg and about 12 for a hard boiled egg. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/3 "2003-02-19T14:41:35Z")
If you’re doing more than a few at once, say if you’re making a batch of deviled eggs or egg salad, then I usually boil them a bit longer. About 20 minutes. And the higher the boil, the more they seem to crack–not a problem for egg salad, but not that ideal for easter eggs. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/4 "2003-02-19T14:42:12Z")
I put the eggs in just enough cold water to cover them a little, put 'em on the stove over medium-high heat and then wait for the water to boil. Once that happens, I cover the pot and turn off the heat. The eggs will cook to hard-boiled in about 15 minutes this way, but I usually just let them cool on the stove and then either peel 'em or put them in the fridge, depending on what I am going to use them for. ---
**Author:** ![Elret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/5 "2003-02-19T14:43:27Z")
I put the egg in cold water, bring it to a boil, leave it boiling for 5 - 10 minutes, then turn the heat off. I then leave the egg in the pot until the water is cool enough for me to put my hand in to take the egg out. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/6 "2003-02-19T14:45:38Z")
Oh, I meant to add my favorite boiled-egg trick. Throw some dry onion skins into the water. It doesn’t affect the taste at all, but it makes the shells a nice golden color so that you can easily tell them apart from the raw eggs in your fridge. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/7 "2003-02-19T14:45:58Z")
Drat. I forgot to mention that the reason I boil my eggs the way I do is to avoid cracking the shells - if they get too much of a chance to bounce around (by adding too much water or letting them boil too long/too vigorously) you increase the chance of cracking. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/8 "2003-02-19T14:47:07Z")
Apparently, if you take them out right at the end of cooking and plunge them into cold water, this prevents the outside of the yolk from turning that greenish-grey colour (although I’ve never really bothered to test this empirically). ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/9 "2003-02-19T14:47:46Z")
Put the cold eggs in cold water, bring to boiling over about 5-10 minutes (trying to avoid sharp temp changes to let the eggs warm up), then boil for about 8 to 15 minutes, depending on desired done-ness. Overcooked boiled eggs have a grey ring on the yolks. If they are coming out grey you can reduce the boiling time a little. Always do a few extra for later, too. Noone wants one until you make them, then they want yours. Now my question- why are some eggs easily peelable and some not? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/10 "2003-02-19T14:48:33Z")
Put some salt in the boiling water. That way if a shell cracks, the white coagulates faster and seals off the opening and you lose less egg. Otherwise I do it like **romansperson** does. Except that I run cold water into the pot after 15 minutes, to stop the cooking process and keep the yolks from turning green. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/11 "2003-02-19T14:49:25Z")
**Update!** Damn! A shell cracked!!! _Life! Why you mock me?_ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/12 "2003-02-19T14:49:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by belladonna \* > \*\*Oh, I meant to add my favorite boiled-egg trick. Throw some dry onion skins into the water. It doesn’t affect the taste at all, but it makes the shells a nice golden color so that you can easily tell them apart from the raw eggs in your fridge. \*\* The alternative being that tricky spin-them-on-a-hard-surface-then-stop-them-briefly trick. ---
**Author:** ![Tal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@Tal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/13 "2003-02-19T14:50:30Z")
this seems like a pretty good explanation - fond it in google by typing “how to hard boil an egg” (quotation marks included) [http://www.chefted.com/pages/eggs.html](http://www.chefted.com/pages/eggs.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/14 "2003-02-19T14:51:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ca3799 \* > \*\*why are some eggs easily peelable and some not? \*\* The fresher the egg, the tougher it is to peel. ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/15 "2003-02-19T14:59:44Z")
This is funny. I just hard-boiled eggs for the first time last week. I was testing out my new pasta pot (yes, the thing you see advertised in DR spots on TV). Hadda call mom to find out how long I should boil the eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/16 "2003-02-19T15:01:16Z")
**Update!** I brought the water to a boil, then simmered for about 10 minutes, now they’re sitting in the water as it cools. I’ll take them out in another 6 minutes, (total 10 minutes sitting) and let you know how they turned out around 12:30. Mmmm. Fresh Egg Salad Sandwiches! ---
**Author:** ![Tal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@Tal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/17 "2003-02-19T15:04:13Z")
now i’m hungry! ---
**Author:** ![Washte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Washte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washte)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/18 "2003-02-19T15:07:30Z")
Usually I start by boiling the water, then add the eggs by spooning them in (rather than dropping them in) - less chance of cracking. For runny yolk boil for 3-4 minutes. For soft yolks boil for 5 minutes. For mostly soft but not runny boil for 6 minutes. For completely dead yolks boil for 10 minutes. If you knock them at both ends peeling will be easier as it allows air in under the shell. Enjoy! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/19 "2003-02-19T15:12:24Z")
[What’s the secret of getting hard-boiled eggs to peel easily?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpeelegg.html) ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124/20 "2003-02-19T15:38:56Z")
You may laugh, but I have to look up the instructions for hard-boiling eggs in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook every single time. Every time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipie-for-hard-boil-eggs/156124.md?page=2)