How to Make the Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg

There's nothing more frustrating than trying to peel the shell from a sticky hard-boiled egg, where you end up pulling off chunks of egg white and are left holding the yolk in your hand.
And there's so much satisfaction in peeling the perfect hard-boiled egg, where the shell slips off easily, leaving a shiny smooth flawless egg behind.

If you've never experienced a sticky hard-boiled egg it's probably a) because you're doing something right!! or b) because you're using old store-bought eggs; it is fresh eggs that tend to be the challenging ones. Many farmwives keep a carton of old eggs in the back of the fridge that are used specifically for hard-boiling. Other farmwives add vinegar to the water. I didn't find that either of these methods assured me of a perfect hard-boiled egg. And I wanna eat my fresh farm eggs, not eggs that are a few weeks old in the back of the fridge.

Then, I had an egg customer tell me about her grandma's cooking method, and I no longer have sticky eggs, even when using the freshest eggs in the fridge.


Here's my fool-proof method:

Bring the water in a pot to a rolling boil.
Place the eggs gently into the water using a spoon.
Turn the stove element off, but leave the pot on the same burner.
Put the lid on the pot.
and leave for 10-15 minutes.

Rinse the eggs in cold water at this point in order to comfortably handle them.
And start to peel by cracking the center of the bottom rounded part of the egg (rather than the pointy end). There's a bit of an air pocket in there, making it an easy place to start peeling without pulling any white away.

and ....voila....  the perfectly peeled eggs!