Perfect Hard Cooked Eggs

By Kath Dedon

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I thought I had found Hard Boiled Egg perfection, but I’m here to tell you that there’s a better way.

In my quest for perfect eggs, I even bought a cute little electric egg cooker earlier this year. It did turn out beautiful eggs every time that were easy to peel. It seemed miraculous!

Then I stumbled upon a 2014 Serious Eats article by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt that proclaimed the secret to perfect hard-cooked eggs – steam! He steamed eggs for 6 minutes to make soft-cooked eggs and 12 minutes for hard-cooked.

So there was nothing magical about my egg cooker. (womp womp) It just steamed eggs for the appropriate amount of time.

I decided to try steaming eggs in a pan for 12 minutes. They were very easy to make and peeled like a dream, but sometimes they were not quite done enough to our liking.

I was pondering all of this and decided I would try steaming them for 13 minutes. Nothing radical here, it just seemed like the next logical step. Then Byron gave me a copy of Cook’s Illustrated 2016 Annual recipe collection. And right there on the cover was “Easy-Peel Hard-Cooked Eggs”! And what do you know? Andrea Geary reported that she steamed her eggs for 13 minutes!

I tried it and it works perfectly every time. The eggs peel more easily than any method I have ever tried, including my egg cooker. They’re cooked just the way we like them. I love having hard-cooked eggs on hand for a quick breakfast or snack.

New Year’s Eve is right around the corner. Are you trying to come up with an easy appetizer to take to a party? Nearly everyone loves deviled eggs; they disappear quickly at any gathering. Now you can make them without fear about how your eggs are going to turn out. Just get out your steamer and you’ll have easy-to-peel perfect Hard Boiled Steamed Eggs in minutes!

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Perfect Hard Cooked Eggs

(Inspired by Serious Eats’ J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Cook’s Illustrated’s Andrea Geary)

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(print the recipe)

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You do need a steamer. My pan has a steamer insert, but you can use a collapsible steamer. To protect your hands from the steam, I would put a collapsible steamer in the pan and let the water come to a boil. Then lower the eggs onto the steamer with a large spoon.

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Eggs

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1. Bring ¾ – 1 inch of water to a boil in a pan.

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Eggs ready to go over boiling water.

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2. When the water is boiling, add the eggs in a steamer. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and set the timer for 13 minutes.

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3. When the eggs are almost done, prepare an ice bath.

4. When the timer goes off, remove the eggs from the steamer and place them in the ice bath for 15 minutes.

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5. Eggs can be used right away or refrigerated in their shells until needed.

6. Too peel, gently pound the egg on a flat surface and roll it a bit and then slip off the shell!

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The shells just slips off!

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(Thanks, Byron!  🙂 )

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