I keep seeing different ways that claim they have the best way to do a hard boiled egg. We like hard boiled eggs at our house but I hate peeling them. I obviously want to know the best way to do a hard boiled egg so that’s what we set out to do. I was actually super surprised by the results.
In the video I didn’t do just plain water so I did that later. I call it the traditional way. It doesn’t have anything added to it and you place the egg in boiling water and set the timer for 12 minutes. This is the traditional way that I grew up with. For some reason, the internet came around and told me that way wasn’t the best way. I started hearing different methods to make it even better. The reason I switched and tried new ways was because my eggs kept cracking. Little did I know that if I just place them in more carefully then they wouldn’t have that problem.
Here is the plain/traditional way. They actually turned out great and it was easy to peel. I did break one as it dropped in the boiling hot water. Using tongs or a spoon to carefully place it in the water worked fine though.
I put one in cold ice water and one I let cool on it’s own. You can’t really tell from the picture but the one that I let cool on it’s own got a little green around the yolk (pictured on the left). It continued to cook and that’s why it’s good to place the eggs in cold ice water immediately after.
The idea with the Baking Soda one is that you let the water boil with 1 tsp. of baking soda. It’s supposed to help with the alkaline of the water to help release the shell from the egg or something like that.
The results were the same as the traditional way. Drop the egg in carefully and the shell came off just great. The yolk looked beautiful.
The Vinegar is 1 Tbsp vinegar with the boiling water. You still boil the water first so be careful while dropping the eggs in. Cook for 12 minutes and the shell came off the egg perfectly.
The method I had been doing for years was to start the egg in cold water and place it on the burner. As soon as it starts to boil you turn the stove off and place a lid on it. With a flat top or coil stove you would leave it on the heated plate but since the gas doesn’t stay warm I leave it on the lowest setting so it will stay warm. Let the eggs steam in the pot for 12 minutes. I really liked this way because the eggs never broke on me.
Peeling these was the worst though. It was a pain and they looked terrible.
The Oven method is great if you want to do a lot of eggs at once and I think that’s why people love it so much. I believe that if you put them in small muffin tins then the brown spot wouldn’t happen. In a regular muffin tin the part that touched the bottom got a little brown spot. It wasn’t a deal breaker because they peeled pretty good but it wasn’t my favorite because it took a long time. They tasted a little dry and they weren’t as pretty. Do an ice bath after to stop the cooking.
The personal favorite was the instant pot. Maybe it’s because it’s still new to me but I really loved it. You place your eggs on the rack provided and add at least 1 cup of water for steaming. Set it to steam mode and set the timer for 6 minutes. It takes a bit for it to come to it’s pressure but once it gets there it only takes 6 minutes. Let it sit to keep warm for a minute or two then release the pressure on top. Place in ice water after to stop the cooking. They peeled great and I felt like they weren’t as dry inside. There was no cracking or dealing with hot water and the clean up was easy.
What method have you been using and what has been your favorite?
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