For a long time, I was afraid of hard boiling eggs. I’m not really sure why… I guess I just had a few bad experiences.
I’m sure I’m not the only one, right? When you walk away for a minute and come back and all of the eggs have exploded in the hot water? OK, maybe I am the only one! But, there are always the fears of green rings around the yolks, cracked shells, and countless other things that could go wrong!
The thing is, I really like having hard boiled eggs on hand. We’ve been eating a lot less meat around here lately. My goal is to go meatless during the week and only eat meat on the weekends. To keep things interesting, though, and make sure we get enough protein (I don’t really do tofu… not on a regular basis, at least), I’ve been incorporating eggs a lot more. I love hard boiled eggs on salads and sandwiches!
So, out of necessity, I’ve gradually overcome my fear of hard boiling eggs. It’s really not all that difficult once you know a few tricks. So, with Easter right around the corner, I thought I’d share the method that works for me!
How To Hard Boil Eggs
- Arrange the eggs in a single layer in the bottom of a heavy pot… You can hard boil as many eggs as you like, they just have to be in a single layer!
- Add cold water to the pot so that the eggs are covered by about one inch of water (above the tops of the eggs).
- Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring the water to a boil.
- As soon as the water comes to a boil, remove the pot from the heat. Cover the pot and let the eggs rest for 15 minutes.
- Transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water to quickly cool them after they are hard boiled.
- Refrigerate until ready to eat (or eat right away!).
Simple Egg Salad
One of my favorite lunches is a quick and easy egg salad sandwich. I like to keep things pretty simple (and don’t even think about putting pickles or relish in my egg salad!)… If you make the eggs ahead of time, you can be eating egg salad in no time.
This recipe makes enough egg salad for 2 – 4 sandwiches.
- 2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried chives
(Fresh chives are absolutely better, if you have them on hand!) - 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, and chives to make the sauce for the egg salad. In a larger bowl, season the hard boiled eggs with salt and pepper. Toss with the sauce, and adjust the seasonings.
That’s one gorgeous egg salad sandwich!
I love this kind of post! Thank you. I think there’s an assumption out there that people just already know somehow by osmosis how to do something like hard boil an egg. I never knew! I seriously don’t think I have ever hard boiled an egg because I really wasn’t sure how long to cook them.
When done correctly both hard boiled eggs and egg salad are amazing. You nailed it!
That’s exactly the way Alton Brown does it on his show, Good Eats. I’ve done it that way and it works perfectly every time! No nasty gray rings!
I’m a huge fan of hard boiled eggs, but they have to be made just right and you got it down! The ice bath is key.
Yummmm! Thanks for the tips! I can never get them to peel…Even with salt and vinegar in the water. Will try this on my next batch
Looks great! – haven’t heard of letting them sit for 15 minutes, I always just do 5…
Blessings!
LIB
http://bit.ly/9ZjoY1
Did you know it’s Egg Salad week – and this just gave me a reason to celebrate!
Now I am seriously hungry for a hard boiled egg. Yum!
@Katey, fresh eggs don’t come away from their shells easily, so older eggs (a week?) are better for hard-boiling. It’s hard to keep eggs around here long enough!
That egg salad sandwich is loverly!
I’ve never had egg salad, but I think I might try this!! I don’t want pickles in mine either. EW.
I have similar egg-boiling fears, although mine center around not cooking them long enough – I did that once and when I went to break them open, there was egg goo everywhere – yuck. I’m definitely going to try your tips. I’ve been craving egg salad lately too!!
Beautiful hard boiled eggs and egg salad, Jen! And I’m with you on the tofu. Back in my vegetarian days (long, long ago) I ate it and tried to convince myself that it is wonderful. I finally came to admit that I just don’t really like it. Eggs, though, are good!
I love hard boiled eggs, but I rarely make them because I have the toughest time peeling the shell. I’ve tried a lot of tricks and none of them seem to work for me. I use the same technique as you to cook them when I do, and it’s a winner!
Ah, I didn’t know about the ice bath trick!
I’ve hard boiled my eggs this way for years and they never fail to come out perfectly. Your salad looks amazing. I love egg sandwiches and also toss slices of hard-boiled eggs into my garden salads.
A tip I just learned via twitter btw is to add a tsp. of baking soda to your water. This helps prevent the shells from sticking to the eggs when peeling. Apparently, by doing this you can also *blow* your egg right out of the shell by tapping and cracking open each end first. (Haven’t done that yet myself though…still peeling)
I love hard-boiled eggs. I have another tip for you. When you peel them start from the ‘wide’ end. That’s usually where the air pocket is and if you break the shell at that point you also break the membrane (that thin white layer inside the shell), making it easier to peel the egg.
I love eggs. In fact, I wrote about eggs recently myself. But not as detailed as you. Pictures look great!
I love hard boiled eggs. I was making some the other day and got distracted and came back to find two of the eggs had broke in the water. I will have to try your way. It’s sounds like a winner!