You Have Been Making Hard-Boiled Eggs Wrong All The Time

Eggs are a very good source of inexpensive, high-quality protein.

Along with protein, eggs have vitamin B2 and rich sources of selenium, vitamin D, B6, B12 and minerals such as zinc, iron and copper. Hard-boiled eggs make a quick snack if you are in a hurry or can be used to sneak protein into your salad at lunch.

We have chickens in our backyard that give us fresh eggs every day. I love our fresh eggs for making omelets, fried or scrambled eggs, custards, puddings & also to use in baking. The one thing I DON'T like about these really fresh eggs is that after you hard boil them they will not peel easily.

The shell usually pulls off half of the white part of the egg leaving only about half of the egg to use. Plus, they're not very pretty for making deviled eggs & such.  I had heard that for the best hard boiled eggs, you need to use eggs that are actually NOT fresh! That seemed odd to me! Even so, I would save eggs for a week or two just so I could hard boil them.

I would even go to the store to buy the no-so-fresh eggs just so I could hard boil them. I tried everything I could think of. Salt in the water. Vinegar in the water. Baking soda in the water. Lemon juice in the water. None of them helped.

Whole New Way to Make Hard-Boiled Eggs – Perfect and Easy to Peel

Well guess what? I finally found a way that's whole lot easier than that. Life changing actually.

Rather than boil the eggs, I steamed them in a vegetable steamer.

AND IT WORKED!  I even tried it with freshest eggs I had, that had been laid no more than an hour before, and they still came out perfect and they peeled easily!

You know how it is. How many of you have had this happen?

Not good.

Here's the secret:

• Place the eggs into a steamer (or Vegetable Steamer) inside of a large pot.

• Add cool tap water, just about an inch or so. You will only need enough water to boil for 13-16 minutes without boiling the pot dry. The eggs do not need to be covered in water. In fact, they will not even be touching the water. The steam cooks them.

• Put the eggs in the steamer basket or vegetable steamer over high heat and cover with the lid. When the steam starts to flow steadily, leave the lid on the pot and set the timer. (Small – Medium eggs will need to steam for about 13-14 minutes. Extra large eggs need about 15-16 minutes.)

• As soon as the timer rings, immediately remove the eggs from the steamer (either by using a large spoon or lifting the steamer basket out of the pot.) Plunge the eggs directly into ice water* and allow them to cool completely. You may need to add more ice if it melts, in order to keep the water cold.

*The reason for the ice bath is that you need to stop the cooking right away. If the eggs are left in the hot pot, they will continue to cook and quickly become overcooked. Overcooking is the reason hard boiled eggs will develop that ugly, un-appetizing grayish ring around what should be the pretty yellow yolk. It's not harmful to eat, it just looks gross!

Once they're cool, refrigerate the eggs until needed. These will peel perfectly right away or even after being chilled in the refrigerator! You're gonna love this new trick! It will change your life!

Sources:

http://themamasgirls.com/

Bare Natural Truth

Image Credits: Wikimedia