If you want to learn how to make eggs on the stove top, here’s my go-to method on How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs perfectly. It’s a fail-proof recipe that yields perfect hard-boiled eggs every time in 15 minutes or less.
Hard-boiled eggs are such versatile ingredients! You can put them on salads, meal preps (hello, Egg Roll in a Bowl and Easy Roasted Veggies Meal-Prep Bowls), make egg muffins, turn them into deviled eggs, and even make an easy egg salad or avocado egg salad. You can even put them in a salad like my Kale Salad with Sweet Potato and hard Boiled Eggs.
You can also just enjoy them on their own! They’re super budget-friendly as well as being packed with protein. They work for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! While I can make them in an Instant Pot, I know not everyone has one, so here’s how to make them on the stovetop.
Hard-boiled eggs are so easy to make, but it can be easy to overcook them as well — but not to worry, you can learn from my mistakes and get the perfect eggs every single time. The perfect hard-boiled eggs to me are what’s pictured above.
The yolk is evenly cooked, creamy, and there’s no green or grey ring around it. There’s nothing worse than opening up an egg and having the yolk be dry and the whites rubbery. Down below, you’ll find all my tips, and you’ll never have a bad egg again!
- Eggs — I use large free-range eggs, but you’re more than welcome to use whatever eggs you have, including farm-fresh eggs.
Cover the Eggs with Water
- Fill a saucepan with water before carefully placing the eggs inside, making sure your eggs are covered. It’s important that you don’t stack your eggs. If you have too many eggs, like a dozen eggs, to boil in a single layer, you should cook them in two batches.
Boil the Eggs
- Bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat, making sure to keep an eye on it as once it’s reached a boil, you only boil the eggs for just 1 minute.
- Then, turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid before letting it sit for 9-12 minutes (set your timer). Time will depend on the size of your eggs and how done you prefer your egg yolks to be. If you’re using XL or jumbo eggs, you’ll need a little more time.
Optional: You can also use a steamer basket to boil the eggs.
Ice the Eggs
- After 9-12 minutes, transfer the eggs into a large bowl of ice water (cold water). Use a slotted spoon to place the eggs inside of the ice water bath. Let the eggs sit for 5 minutes to stop the cooking process and to cool down. Do not skip this step. It also makes it easier to peel as you’re not holding a piping hot egg!
Peel and Enjoy
- Gently tap the egg on the countertop until some part of the shell is cracked. Peel the hard-boiled eggs and discard the egg shells before serving the eggs immediately, or transfer them to a glass container and place in the refrigerator. It’ll be good in the fridge for up to 1 week.
To easily peel your eggs after the ice bath, peel them under some running water in your sink or inside the ice water. Peeling the eggs in water will help the shells slip off more easily. If you need to crack them a little more, pull them from the water and tap them gently on the kitchen countertop or other hard surface.
Another tip for easier-to-peel hard-boiled eggs is to buy your eggs earlier. Older eggs are easier to peel than fresh eggs, as the pH of the white albumen isn’t bonded as tightly to the membrane as it ages. This is why older eggs are easier to peel!
Last, if you prefer, you can add baking soda to the water because it increases the alkalinity of the water and makes the eggs easy to peel. Once water boils, add some soda to the saucepan. You can also add vinegar if you prefer.
Tip: How to Meal Prep Hard Boiled Eggs
- Hard boiled eggs last for up to a week in the fridge, making them the prefect meal prep ingredient. You can pack it as part of a lunch, crack one open for breakfast (it’s great on top of avocado toast), slice them into salads, sandwiches add them to grain bowls or just snack on one whenever you’re feeling hungry.
- You can place eggs in an airtight container peeled or unpeeled after they’ve come out of the ice bath. I recommend storing them whole and not sliced or halved so they stay fresh longer.
- I do not recommend freezing hard boiled eggs as the egg whites will turn tough as well as watery when frozen.
While you can eat the hard-boiled eggs as they are, here are some ways to season them to change things up:
- salt and pepper
- garlic salt
- paprika
- Everything But The Bagel Seasoning
- lemon pepper
- sriracha sauce
- hot sauce
- flavoured salt (like truffle salt)
- Salting your water can help prevent cracking!
- Don’t boil eggs too intensely. This can cause them to crash together, resulting in cracks. You only need water to reach a rolling boil before turning off the heat.
- Avoid adding eggs to already boiling water; there is a high chance they’ll crack if you do this.
- Healthy Breakfast Meal Prep Bowls
- Easy Vegetable Frittata
- Avocado Egg Salad Recipe
- Breakfast Egg Muffins Recipe
How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs
Video
Ingredients
- Eggs
Instructions
- Fill a saucepan with water. Then, carefully place the eggs inside of it. Bring the water to a boil. Boil the eggs for just 1 minute. Then, turn off the heat, cover the saucepan with a lid, and let sit for 9-12 minutes. Time will depend on the size of your eggs and how you prefer your yolks to be.
- Carefully drain out the hot water. Transfer the eggs into an ice water bath and let the eggs to sit for 5 minutes to stop the cooking process and to cool down.
- Then, peel the eggs and discard the eggs shells. Serve the eggs immediately or transfer them to a glass container and place in the fridge. It’ll be good in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Older eggs are easier to peel than fresh eggs.
- You can add a pinch of baking soda to the water to help the eggs peel better.
- If you have smaller or XL eggs, the cooking time will have to be adjusted to reflect that.
- To store: Store the peeled hard-boiled eggs in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.
- To freeze: I do not recommend freezing hard-boiled eggs as they become rubbery.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I don’t know what causes the black ring around the yolk or when I peel the shell off most of the white egg comes off with the shell and they look terrible!! I want the smooth white egg and the brilliant yellow yolk!!!! What am I doing wrong?? What causes the black ring around yolk and the whites to come off with the shell?????
It happens because the iron from the yolk reacts with hydrogen sulfide from the white when it’s been overcooked.
You should add a “high altitude” adjustment note to your recipe as it does make a difference how the eggs come come. Thanks.
I would think you would have to take the pan of eggs off the burner if it was electric??
Why do you say to peel them right away? I usually leave them in the shell until I’m ready to eat them.
You can do how you prefer.
This is so easy and works every time!! 👍🏻👍🏻
Indeed it works. Happy you liked it 😉
I would like to know how long to cook the eggs. Love the rest of the recipe
9-12 minutes. Time will depend on the size of your eggs and how you prefer your yolks to be.