Best hack to make hard boiled eggs!

Boiling

Over the years I have tried many ways to boil eggs perfectly, without that dreaded grey ring around the egg yolk due to overcooking… Of course, I started with the most common way, which is boiling the eggs. There are many opinions on how to boil eggs, should the eggs be placed in cold water or in boiling water? Should the pan be covered or left uncovered?

Through trial and error, I found that it’s best to fully immerse the eggs in a pot of cold water, and heat until the water boils. From that point, continue to boil until desired doneness:

Soft Boiled (runny or very soft yolk) – 4 to 6 minutes

Hard Boiled (solid cooked yolk) – 8 to 12 minutes

Simple enough, but the major inconvenience for me is that you should not boil more than a dozen of eggs at a time in order not to overcrowd a normal size pot.

For easy de-shelling, the cooked eggs should be immersed in icy water before peeling.

Instant pot

Don’t get me wrong, I love my IP, but I feel that I don’t necessarily save time by boiling eggs this way…

Steaming

A good friend of ours (thanks Jay!) shared his trick to make perfect hard boiled eggs by steaming.

First boil a pot of water. Meanwhile, place the eggs in the steam basket (which should tightly fit over the pot of water). Once the water reaches a rapid boil, put the steam basket over the pot of water and cover with a lid. Steam for 8 minutes for perfect hard-boiled eggs.

Steaming is very efficient and I love the fact that I could steam more than a dozen eggs at a time. It’s definitely a better method than boiling!

Air Fryer

This is now my favorite way to make hard-boiled eggs! It’s also the easiest, most practical and time-saving way, and there’s no need to boil / waste any water!

First set your oven or toaster oven to “Air Fryer” function or turn on your Air Fryer appliance, set at 300F / 150C and set the timer to 12 minutes. The Air Fryer is pre-heated for about a minute, as during this time, you remove the eggs from the refrigerator and place them in the Air Fryer basket, then insert the basket into the Air Fryer and close the lid. Voilà, you end up with perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs.

Since each appliance power may vary, please test yours with a couple of eggs first and adjust the cooking time accordingly.

Here’s the picture of the eggs cooked in the Air Fryer for 12 minutes (including 1 minute of pre-heating).

You can cook a couple of eggs up to 18 eggs at a time as long as they would fit into the air fryer basket. I find that the results are consistent. The eggs are also easily de-shelled without having to be immersed in cold water first.

I really can’t imagine a better way to make perfect hard boiled eggs!

Now that you can easily make hard boiled eggs, there are so many recipes to explore… How about a simple avocado and egg toast?… Why not up your deviled eggs game, and add fancy toppings? Click on this link for a festive Easter menu and delicious deviled eggs ideas…

The hard boiled eggs also come in handy to make this savory Thai dish: Braised Pork Leg with eggs. Click here for the recipe.

Guess what is my favorite dish using hard boiled eggs? Son in law eggs! Here’s the recipe...

We hope you love the products we recommend. Just so you know we may collect a compensation from the affiliate links on this page if you decide to shop from them, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support.