How to cook hard-boiled eggs properly
A hard-boiled egg is properly cooked when: shell is not broken, white and yolk are firm, yolk is only yellow with no traces of green around it. Here are some tips to make this easy.
1 hour 30 min.
Easy
4 eggs
1 IngredientLast modified on: November 4th 2013
For 4 eggs, you will need:
4 
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 8 min.
Resting: 1 hour 10 min.
Cooking: 10 min.
All in all: 1 hour 30 min.
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time
Step by step recipe
Stage 1 - 1 hour
First problem: how to prevent shell from breaking (as in this photo) and white spilling out into the water while cooking?
Egg shells break during cooking for two reasons:
1) Temperature difference, if they go straight from the fridge to boiling water, the shell always (or nearly always) breaks.
Solution: remove your eggs from the fridge at least one hour before cooking.
Note : Eggs don't need to be kept in the fridge.
Egg shells break during cooking for two reasons:
1) Temperature difference, if they go straight from the fridge to boiling water, the shell always (or nearly always) breaks.
Solution: remove your eggs from the fridge at least one hour before cooking.
Note : Eggs don't need to be kept in the fridge.
Stage 2
2) Because in the bottom part of the egg, the broader end, there is an air pocket (in red on the diagram), and when cooking this air expands and eventually breaks the shell.
You will notice that the older the egg is, the bigger the air pocket, so the risk of the shell breaking is greater with an old egg than a fresh one.
You will notice that the older the egg is, the bigger the air pocket, so the risk of the shell breaking is greater with an old egg than a fresh one.
Stage 3 - 1 min.
Solution: You need to pierce the air pocket so that the air can escape during cooking.
To do this you can use big needle or a small nail (as in the photo), push in it a few millimetres.
To do this you can use big needle or a small nail (as in the photo), push in it a few millimetres.
Stage 4
The aim is to just pierce the air pocket and to make a very small hole.
Stage 5 - 10 min.
Boil a pan of water, and lower in your pierced eggs gently, using a tablespoon.
Leave to cook 10 minutes, no more.
Leave to cook 10 minutes, no more.
Stage 6
If eggs cook longer, yolks will became yellow-green (as in this photo), and develop a sulphurous taste and smell, and white will become rubbery.
Stage 7
To demonstrate the effect of piercing: on left a pierced egg (shell intact), on right an un-pierced egg (shell broken).
Stage 8 - 10 min.
Cool eggs immediately by putting them into cold water.
Stage 9
To remove the shell, tap the bottom of the egg on your work surface to break it.
Stage 10
Do the same with the top of the egg.
Stage 11
Roll the egg round with your hand to break all the shell.
Stage 12 - 5 min.
Then remove the shell, as if peeling the egg.
Stage 13 - 2 min.
Wash the egg to remove any small pieces of shell, and leave in cold water, or covered in the fridge, until using.
Stage 14
Another way to cook, probably priceless: Fill the pan with cold water to submerge the eggs (drilled) and bring to boil.
When boiling is reached, cover, remove from heat and let stay for 10 minutes.
When boiling is reached, cover, remove from heat and let stay for 10 minutes.
Remarks
Gaston Lenôtre, in his books, say that boiling water for eggs should be salted and vinegared. Probably because egg shells are porous, and so that salted water can salt the egg when cooking?
I've tried it, but I don't taste a real difference. What about you?
I've tried it, but I don't taste a real difference. What about you?
Keeping: A few days in the fridge, in a closed jar.
Source: Home made.
Nutritional information
| Proteins (gr) | Carbohydrates (gr) | Fats (gr) | Energy value (in k-calories) | Energy value (in k-joules) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole recipe | 30 RDI=10 % | 0 | 20 RDI=3 % | 290 RDI=20 % | 1,220 RDI: 20 % |
| Per 100 g | 10 RDI=5 % | 0 | 10 RDI=2 % | 150 RDI=7 % | 610 RDI: 7 % |
| Per eggs | 6 RDI=2 % | 0 | 5 RDI=1 % | 70 RDI=4 % | 310 RDI: 4 % |
How much will it cost?
- For 4 eggs : 0.60 €
- Per eggs : 0.15 €
Change currency: 
Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
Some other recipes using this recipeSee them all 46
Leek and egg frichti
A "frichti" is a rough-and-ready dish, born of the French bistro tradition, that you can throw together with what you have to hand. This version mixes leeks with hard-boiled eggs, cream and ham.
25 K 40 min.
Very green mixed salad
A delicious blend of crunchy and tender for this salad, featuring mushrooms, baked green beans and hard-boiled eggs.
12 K 25 min.
Eggs with mayonnaise
Simply known as "œufs-mayo" in French bistros, these hard-boiled eggs are garnished with mayonnaise and are best served with sharply flavoured crudités to balance their creaminess. For this recipe, I have chosen a salad of grated carrot with shallot.
67 K5 35 min.
Langres-style spinach
Spinach in a creamy sauce with Langres cheese and lardons, served with hard-boiled eggs.
19 K 35 min.
Spinach and hard-boiled egg gratin
In this gratin, spinach and hard-boiled eggs are combined with bechamel sauce and topped with grated cheese.
143 K4.7 35 min.
This recipe uses (among others)
Egg
Like these other recipes: Fruit crémeux, Crunchy salad, Croque-monsieur complet, Foie gras fingers, French Family Cake, ... See them all 229
Other recipes you may also like
Candied grapefruit peel
Not really a dessert, more a kind of sweet. After soakiing, strips of grapefruit skin are cooked very slowly to conservethem in sugar. It's a real treat with coffee at the end of a meal.December 20th 2018368 K 14 1 day 1 hour 25 min.
Clarified butter
This is a way of melting butter to eliminate all the impurities. The clarified butter can then be heated without spoiling, and is more digestible. It is ideal for cooking at high temperatures where small black specks would spoil the appearance, or for emulsified sauces like béarnaise or mousseline.June 21th 2017458 K4.2 2 hours 15 min.
Lille style chicken
Chicken breasts and mushrooms, cooked separately, then mixed with a tasty cream sauce before serving. It's a dish with a "cuisiné" taste, but which unfortunately is becoming increasingly rare in restaurants.May 10th 2023356 K3.8 50 min.
How to bake blind
This method allows you to cook a tart case, and then fill with a preparation which may or may not need further cooking (fruit, chocolate, crème patissière , etc...).May 6th 2017914 K5 1 hour 40 min.
Apricot and almond cream tart
Half apricots arranged on a thin layer of almond cream.July 12th 2023326 K4.1 1 hour 45 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com
Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2024-12-29)
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Follow this recipe (as 6 people already do)
If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.
The 6 comments already posted on this recipe
pierce the eggs. Maybe they will shell easier.
This is true in countries that do not wash eggs but in countries that do eggs must be kept refrigerated.
The washing process strips away the natural protection of the egg.