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Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Steamed Eggs!

Peeling hard boiled eggs should not be a frustrating task, yet cracking boiled eggs to end up with not much more than yolks is not very rewarding. This happens when the egg membrane sticks to the white of the egg, so as the shell is cracked and removed parts of the egg white is also removed due to its attachment to the shell.

The most “appealing” way to make hard boiled eggs that will peel easily and cleanly is actually to not boil them at all! Enter steamed eggs.

Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Making Easy to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs - aka Steamed Eggs

The water will still boil, but the eggs will sit in a steamer basket and steam instead of actually boiling in the water. Following is the “steam then clean” approach to making hard boiled eggs.

Bring at least an inch of water to a boil and then place a steamer basket filled with eggs into the pot. (The water should not touch the eggs.)

Cover the pot and allow to cook for 12 minutes.
This is longer than normally recommended when making hard boiled eggs, but you can see below that the resulting eggs are not over cooked at all.

Transfer the steamer basket (or just the eggs) to a bowl of ice water to cool.

Drain the basket.
Roll the eggs gently on the counter to evenly crack the shell.
Peel the eggs.

Rinse the peeled eggs under cold water, just in case there is a tiny chip of the shell remaining on any of the eggs. There really aren’t any shells though, as the entire shell comes off in one continuous piece every time! That’s right, the egg just slips out of the shell as it is peeled open.

Note: The egg whites on steamed eggs are so incredibly light and tender, and not one bit rubbery!

The results that occur from steaming eggs, according to the American Egg Board, are possible due to the pressure that the steam creates onto the shell of the egg. This pressure forces the membrane to separate from the egg. [1] Once the membrane separates from the egg, the shell becomes easy to peel.

Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Additional Info

If you don’t own a steamer basket, then try adding a teaspoon of baking powder into the water when making hard boiled eggs in boiling water as usual. The added alkalinity of the baking powder in the water helps to release the shell from the egg, but there is still a bit of sticking using this method. During this normal boiling process the pan is rinsed with cold water, cracking the shell and allowing the cold water to also force separation of the membrane.

To find out how long hard boiled eggs last, see our hard boiled egg page.

To find out more about cooked egg storage, see our hard boiled egg storage post.

To find out how to make delicious deviled eggs, see our deviled egg post.

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.