Kitchen Tip: Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

Ah, the elusive perfectly hard-boiled egg. I have boiled many eggs in my time, as Jeff and I both love deviled eggs (I once watched Jeff eat an entire platter at Boxing Day many years ago…). In fact, I love eggs just about any way you prepare them and eat them for breakfast (and sometimes dinner) several days each week.

I stumbled upon the “perfect” recipe for hard-boiled eggs a few years back. I can’t recall for sure, but I am pretty sure it’s Julia Child’s method for hard-boiling. These eggs have nice firm whites and perfectly cooked yellow yolks (and no ugly green color surrounding the yolks).

So how do you do it?

Start by placing your eggs in the bottom of a pot in a single layer. Need to boil more eggs? Get a second pot!

Next, add COLD water to the pot – just enough to cover the eggs.

Place the pot on the stove with the lid on and bring the pot to a boil.

As soon as the water boils, turn off the heat (and remove the pan from the burner if using an electric range).

Keep the lid on! Set your timer for 12 minutes and let the eggs sit in the hot water, cooking to perfection.

In the meantime, fill a bowl with ice and water (with enough room for you eggs) and set it in the sink.

Once your 12 minutes are up, immediately remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon and place them in the ice bath to stop the cooking process.

After a few minutes, the eggs will be cold and can be removed from the ice bath.

Peel them IMMEDIATELY. I have made this mistake SO many times and wondered why I had so much trouble peeling the shells from these perfectly cooked eggs. You cannot refrigerate them before peeling. They need to be peeled as soon as they are cold in the ice bath.

Tap the base of the egg (the larger end) against a hard surface and start peeling. The shells should slide right off.

Ok, so these are near-perfect. I’m a bit impatient and don’t always take my time…

Hard-boiled eggs are great for egg salad or diced in a chopped salad. My favorite preparation, as mentioned above, is deviled eggs – especially made with homemade mayonnaise.

As Julia would say, bon appetit!