The Science of Cooking a Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg

Hard boiling an egg seems like a pretty simple task. But as many a college student soon learns after leaving the hard-boiled egg wonderland of home, there are plenty of ways to mess it up. Taking pity on egg-loving folk who struggle to peel their eggs or who must shamefully serve ugly deviled eggs at a cocktail party, Serious Eats has put together a guide to the most common egg mishaps and how to avoid them. Here is a distilled version of their tips: 

Choose your eggs wisely 

The fresher the egg, the more likely it will stubbornly stick to its shell. Buy eggs close to their expiration date or let eggs from a farmers market age for a couple weeks before boiling. 

Make the right entrance

Eggs should be placed from the fridge directly into boiling water. "More than any other factor, the thing that made the most difference in how cleanly eggs released from their shells was the temperature at which they started," Serious Eats writes. Proteins in the egg white have more time to bond to the shell if cooked slowly. 

Timing is everything

Once in the water, blast them on the full boil for 30 seconds and then lower the heat to a simmer, allowing exactly 11 minutes to pass. This amount of time gives you a fully cooked white and outer yolk with the slightest softness in the golden center, Serious Eats writes. 

Chill 'em out

Upon removing the eggs from the hot water, immediately plunge them into an ice water bath. Serious Eats' test cases show this will prevent a dimple from forming in the finished product, giving you a perfectly oval hard-boiled egg. Why? Serious Eats hypothesizes it's because the piping hot egg hasn't completely settled into place.

Peel time

Ensure that your eggs are properly chilled by allowing them to rest in the ice bath for at least 15 minutes. Gently tap the egg all over to produce cracks, then carefully peel it, starting from the broader end, while running it under a stream of tap water. 

Voila! If you followed those instructions, you should be left with a perfect hard-boiled egg. 

Still not impressed? In that case, you can soon dazzle your guests with golden hard-boiled eggs, the latest kitchen gimmick to come out of Kickstarter, which allows you to scramble the egg within its very shell. Here you can see those golden globes of eggcellent glory: 

Rachel Nuwer | | READ MORE

Rachel Nuwer is a freelance science writer based in Brooklyn.