How Long To Boil Eggs

Recently, a few of our readers have contacted us wondering how long to boil eggs and how to make hard boiled eggs. This rising interest in how long to boil eggs seems to come from users who have too many fresh eggs reaching their expiration date. In an attempt to salvage them, they decided to extend the shelf life of eggs and make hard boiled eggs! We think this is a great idea and, as we stated in the shelf life of hard boiled eggs page, boiled eggs can last for another 7 days.

However, if your goal is to extend the shelf life of fresh eggs, please remember not to make hard boiled eggs until your eggs have almost reached their eat by date. This is due to the process of making hard boiled eggs, which washes away the synthetic coating which is placed on the egg by manufacturers in order to keep air and bacteria out of the fresh egg.

As it turns out, the answer to how long to boil eggs is actually quite simple, the perfect time is 10 minutes to make hard boiled eggs!

In this post we have created below step-by-step instructions to make hard boiled eggs.

How Long to Boil Eggs

Background Info

How Long to Boil Eggs

How Long to Boil Eggs – Instructions to make hard boiled eggs:

    1) Place clean fresh eggs in a pan. (It’s best to have eggs fill the bottom of the pan in a single layer, so if you are only boiling a few eggs, use a small pan.)
TIP*: Eggs nearing their eat by date are best to use, not only for longevity, but they are much easier to peel at the end of the boiling process when you’re ready to use them.
    2) Add COLD water to the pan until it completely covers the eggs, plus about 2 inches (at least an inch).
    3) Place the pan on medium-high heat until the water bubbles everywhere on the surface.
    4) Reduce the heat to medium-low or low and continue to boil very gently for 10 minutes. Do not keep the eggs on a full boil or you will have very tough whites. Do not cook longer or you will have a greenish ring around the yolk. Alternatively, turn off the stove and place a cover on the pan… then just let the pan sit on the burner for 10 minutes on an electric stove or 10-12 minutes on a gas stove.
    5) Rinse the eggs with PLENTY of COLD water while being careful to keep the eggs in the pan.
    6) Place the eggs in the fridge to cool (you can keep the eggs in same pan, but be sure all the water has been removed).
    7) When cooled, peel the shells from the hard boiled eggs (gently roll the hard boiled eggs between your palm and the counter to loosen the shell first and make peeling much easier). Rinse the peeled hard boiled eggs, just in case any shell particles remain.

Perfect!

How Long to Boil Eggs

Additional Info

So remember, How long to boil eggs? – gently for 10 Minutes!

For super easy to peel hard boiled eggs, try making steamed eggs instead.

Thank you for visting Eat By Date, check back soon for updates and posts on food safety, tips, and much more!

If you want to try something different when peeling, watch the youtube video in this post for a quick peeling trick.

To find out how long hard boiled eggs remain good to eat, visit our how long do hard boiled eggs last page.

To find out how long other foods are good for, please visit the Dairy, Drinks, Fruits, Grains, Proteins, Vegetables and Other sections of Eat By Date or use the search function below.

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