Boiling eggs may sound like the simplest thing you could possibly cook, but if you’ve ever boiled an egg you’ve probably run into problems at one time or another. The challenges with boiling an egg generally fall into two categories: cooking the egg and peeling the egg. Despite following a set of directions precisely you might have found your eggs under/overcooked, or perhaps when you tried to peel the egg it ended up looking like the surface of the moon.
The good news is that both of these problems are easily resolved with a little understanding of the science of eggs. Read on and you’ll be boiling perfect oval eggs whether you prefer them hard-boiled or soft in the center.
Table of contents
Setting Temperatures of Yolks and Albumen
The first thing you have to understand is that the egg yolk sets at a much lower temperature than the egg white (70 degrees C vs 80 degrees C). Since the heat source (boiling water) is outside the egg, the egg cooks from the outside in. In theory, this means that by the time yolk is set, the white has also reached its higher setting temperature.
The problem is that since the boiling water is significantly hotter than the setting temperature of the egg, it’s very easy to zoom past the desired temperature. Because the temperature is rising so fast, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when to stop the cooking to get the egg exactly how you like it. The problem with most boiled egg instructions is that they create a formula (put eggs in cold water, bring to boil, boil for X minutes) assuming you put the exact same size and temperature of egg into the same amount of water in the same pan on the same stove… Well, you get the idea.
How Do You Cook the Perfect Boiled Egg?
The best way to figure out what works for your setup is to boil a dozen eggs and start pulling the eggs out of the water in thirty-second increments after about 3 minutes. But who wants to waste that many eggs? Well, luckily I have a friend that farms eggs and I’ve been busy experimenting in my lab to come up with an (almost) foolproof method of boiling eggs.
Since the main problem with boiling an egg is the narrow window of time during which the egg is perfect, I asked myself how I could slow the cooking down to expand that window of perfection. I found my answer in the way I cook my chicken for chicken soup
This is how I adapted the technique for eggs. Put refrigerated eggs in a heavy bottomed pot and cover with cold tap water so they’re covered by about 1″ (2.5cm) of water. Bring the water to a full boil (100 degrees C) over high heat, and then remove the pot from the heat. Let the eggs cook the rest of the way using the residual heat in the water. As the temperature of the egg rises, the temperature of the water will fall, which will give you a much wider window when your egg is perfectly cooked.
Boiled Egg Variables
Before I give you cooking times for the eggs though, you need to know that there are many other factors that will affect the cooking time of the egg and I’ve outlined some of the major ones below along with what I did in my kitchen.
- Initial egg temperature – An egg right out of the fridge will take longer to cook than an egg at room temperature. But since room temperature varies by season, and most people have their fridges set to around the same temperature. I decided to develop my method using eggs straight out of the fridge.
- Egg size – The bigger the egg, the longer it will take to cook. I did all my experiments with large eggs (not extra large or jumbo)
- Egg to water ratio – The more water you use relative to the number of eggs, the longer it will take to boil and the longer it will retain heat. Too much water and your eggs will cook too fast, too little and the temperature will fall too fast, resulting in uncooked eggs. Ideally, you’d measure out a certain amount of water for each egg you’re boiling. But that seems a little extreme for something so simple. I typically use a pot that comfortably houses the number of eggs I’m going to cook (not crowded, not too spaced out), and then cover the eggs with enough water so there’s about 1″ of water above the top of the eggs.
- Heat retention of the pot you use – Thicker pots, made of denser materials (iron vs aluminum) tend to retain heat better than thinner pots. I used a heavy bottomed stainless steel pot to boil my eggs. If you’re using an electric stove (coil or plate type), you should remove the pot from the stove and put it on a trivet after the water boils, as these types of stoves tend to retain heat long after you’ve turned them off.
- Heat output of your stove – Some stoves are able to boil a pot of water much faster than others. IH (Induction) cooktops tend to be the most efficient, while electric plate type stoves tend to be the least efficient. I’ve tested this method on both IH and gas cooktops using 5-8 eggs. If you try and do too many eggs, or use an under-powdered stove it will take too long for the water to come to a boil. If the water takes too long to boil, your eggs are going to be sitting in hot water for much longer, which will affect the amount of time they need to sit in the water after you turn the stove off.
- Altitude – The boiling temperature of water falls as your altitude rises. If you live in the mountains, this will certainly affect your cooking times, so you’ll need to adjust accordingly. I boiled my eggs at roughly sea level.
- Room temperature – If you’re in a very cold room, your water will cool faster than if you’re in a warm room. I boiled my eggs in a 24 degree C (75 F) room.
How Many Minutes for Hardboiled Eggs? How Many Minutes for Soft-boiled eggs?
With all that in mind, here are the cooking times for various types of boiled eggs. The times start after the water has come to a boil and you’ve turned off the heat.
- 2 minutes – The white isn’t fully set and the yolk is totally raw.
- 4 minutes – The white is fully set, but the yolk is thick and runny.
- 6 minutes – The white is fully set, and the yolk is mostly set, but still a little runny in the middle.
- 8 minutes – The white is fully set, and the yolk is set, but tender.
- 10 minutes – The white is fully set, and the yolk is fully set.
Remember to transfer your eggs to ice water as soon as you take them out of the pot to stop the cooking immediately. Otherwise, your eggs will continue cooking even after you’ve taken them out of the water.
What’s The Best Way to Peel an Egg?
If you do a search on google for “peel an egg” there are literally dozens of purported ways to make peeling an egg easy. Most of them don’t work with fresh eggs, and while aging an egg for 2 weeks works pretty well, who wants to wait that long to make a boiled egg?
The good news is, after some experimentation, I’ve come up with a method that works every time, no matter how fresh the egg is. The secret is to put a small crack in the bottom of the egg(the fat side) BEFORE you boil it. The crack needs to extend all the way through the hard shell, but it must not rupture the soft inner membrane (otherwise you’ll end up with egg white spewing out of the crack as it boils). I use a small curved object (like the end of a pestle or back of a spoon) to crack the egg on because it creates a more predictable circular crack rather than a linear crack that could spread and rupture the membrane.
So why does this work? To understand this, it would help to understand why older eggs are easier to peel than fresh eggs. Unfortunately, there is no scientific consensus on why an aged egg is easier to peel than a fresh egg. One thing we do know is that the albumen in a fresh egg contains more carbon dioxide, which means it has a lower pH (more acidic). This leads to one popular theory: that the acidity somehow makes the albumen adhere to the membrane more than an older egg with a higher pH.
As an egg ages, the moisture in the albumen seeps through the membrane and evaporates through small pores in the shell. This is what makes the air pocket inside an egg, and why it grows larger as the egg ages. Here’s where another theory comes into play: that the larger air pocket somehow makes the albumen adhere less to the membrane.
Personally, I don’t buy either one of these theories because they don’t fit with my observations. My theory is that the membrane absorbs more moisture as the egg gets older, keeping the albumen from sticking to the membrane, and thus making it easier to peel.
By putting a small crack in the shell, it allows water to enter the egg and saturate the membrane, mimicking the membrane of an older egg. If any scientists out there want to compare some cross sections of the albumen-membrane interface under a scanning electron microscope it would be awesome to finally put this mystery to rest.
Master Other Perfect Eggs
Now that you’ve mastered the art of boiling eggs how you like them, how about becoming a becoming a poached egg pro, or a sunny-side up superstar? To help you along, I’ve put together a short digital cookbook where I walk you through my techniques for making the perfect egg every time!
Units
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
Instructions
- Take the eggs from the refrigerator, then tap the bottom of each egg on a curved surface (like the back of a spoon) to make a small circular crack through the shell. Be careful not to rupture the inner membrane.
- Put 6 eggs in a pot that’s big enough to hold 12 eggs and add cold tap water to the pot until the eggs are covered by 1-inch of water.
- Put the pot on a burner over high heat until the water comes to a boil.
- Set a timer for your desired doneness (see times above), and turn off the heat.
- Remove the boiled eggs from the water when they are done repeatedly cover the eggs with cold water until the water doesn't warm up anymore. Let them soak in this cold water for at least 20 minutes.
- Crack every bit of shell by tapping firmly with the back of a spoon and then peel the egg from the bottom in a spiral pattern towards the top. Be sure to keep the egg wet at all times.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Daniel, nope no lid. There are 3 big possibilities that come to mind. Is your water coming to a full boil before you stop it? If so, are you at an elevation significantly higher than sea level? If not, the last possibility is that you aren’t adding enough water for the amount of eggs.
Geoff Meurk says
Great article Marc, thank you. I had stopped making boiled eggs for breakfast, as I had tried all sorts of things but your method, and was not getting a consistent result. Now I am enjoying “x for brekky” again thanks to your easy to follow method. Just for your info, my eggs begin at room temp, not from the fridge, and 2 mins 50 seconds provides my perfect result, as soon as the pot reaches boiling, I remove pot from the heat and place the pot on another element which is not going, (just to make sure) and begin the timing. (Also, I ensure water covers eggs, but it is not by an inch, more like 1 cm or possibly slightly less, but your method still works fine) As soon as time is up, I tip water out and run the pot complete with contents of eggs under the cold tap for a period until the eggs are cold enough to handle, then place eggs in egg cups ready for serving with little toast soldiers (for dipping into the egg once top is cut off with sharp knife) Salt and pepper to taste sprinkled on top of open top egg….voila! (The salient point you made here, is that you need to stop the egg continuing to cook once you have the egg at the result you want……such a simple fact, but clearly I had not been considering that, so thank you so much) Many thanks from Geoff Meurk, Wanganui New Zealand
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Geoff, glad I could help and thanks for sharing your technique!
Bill Jordan says
I find that eggs past their “sell buy” date are perfect for poaching/ H. Boiling as they stand up in the pot. Simply remove from heat upon H. boil, and cover with ice cold water upon desired cooking time( my preference is 3 min. to cover hash browns, cream of wheat, home fries etc. to 10 minutes for egg salad and deviled eggs). The latter must be older grade A -as fresh will never peel easily. Fresh- AA grade are best for frying or scrambled! And Hollandaise..
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Bill, older eggs are best for boiling, but fresh eggs work better for poaching. The reason is that the albumen gets more watery as an egg ages, so when you dump the egg in the water, most of the white flowers out and you don’t have much left with the yolk. Fresh eggs have very viscous albumen that clings to the yolk.
Elisha Seal says
Ive tryed putting a crack in the bottom of the egg and it works like a treat. I just crack them on my flat bench though and have had no problems. Im definitely a number 6 gal. Thanks for the advice on boiled eggs ☺
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Elisha, I’m glad to hear it worked for you! Thanks for stopping by to let us know!
Plumber says
Just done 4 minutes to the letter over cooked bullshit
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Plumber, are you in Europe? If so, do you keep your eggs out or in the fridge? These instructions are for refrigerated eggs, so if you used room temperature eggs, they would cook faster. Other factors to consider are the amount of water, atmospheric pressure and altitude, as all of these factors influence how long eggs take to cook. Happy to help you trouble shoot, but you’ll need to provide some more specifics about your situation.
Eyza says
the other way is after you boiled the eggs and let them cool in room temperature, than you crack the eggs all over and you let it sit in water just to get the water into the cracked egg shell.. and voila, you can easily peel it of or you can just peel it off under running water tap or submerge it in water while peeling them off.. but make sure you crack them like a lot.. hehe..
Swannie says
Brilliant “norecipe”!
Works exactly as described
Marc Matsumoto says
Glad to hear it Swannie! Thanks for dropping by to let me know!
David Witney says
Tried this out this morning,l have been put off having boiled eggs before although a real favourite because of not being able to get a consistent soft boiled egg,but this morning thought l would try this method! And guess what? perfect soft boiled eggs.bring to boil ,take off heat let sit 3 mins,perfect!!!!!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi David, glad to hear my method worked for you! Enjoy your new found super power.
Adder McCoy says
Okay I was Allowed to try this under strict supervision (brother holding baseball bat,2 sister’s with fire extinguisher)and after two cartons of eggs due to trying to get small crack in bottom, finally got it right. Followed the instructions and, well I’m allowed to cook boiled eggs in the kitchen. They were Perfect!! To explain the”allowed in kitchen”part. Was trying to boil eggs before and ended up catching mom’s kitchen on fire. Mom wasn’t too upset,got a new kitchen. But my 6’6″tall 290lb(with around only 0,09%bodyfat) dad wasn’t happy. At least I could run faster than him.
Sylvia Sharpe says
Great
I love boiled eggs, my mum always got them absolutely perfect, but i have never been able to master the art, Unfortunately my mum has passed away and I never did ask her the secret, thanks for this I will give it me best shot.
Marc Matsumoto says
Sorry to hear about mom Sylvia. The trick with boiled eggs is to understand all of the things that can effect the boiling time and control for them. Then it’s just a matter of finding the perfect timing for your setup, and you should be able to get perfect eggs every time.
Penelope says
Hi Marc, I always place my eggs in boiling water rather than start with cold, (using a long thumbtack to make a hole in the bottom to prevent cracking) I am wondering why boiling an egg for ‘soft boiled’ has gone from 3 mins.to 5.over the years. Has there been some mysterious change to eggs or chickens over the years? I initially thought that it could just be that the eggs are bigger but they don’t appear to be that much bigger. Any ideas?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Penelope, putting them in boiling water is definitely a more predictable way of boiling eggs since it eliminates the differences between stoves (and how cold the water was when it entered the pot), but my eggs almost always crack when I do this. I’ve tried the thumbtack method, but then I get a stream of albumen that squirts out of the hole. I wonder what I’m doing wrong. As for time for boiling eggs increasing I think there could be two explanations. The first is that eggs have indeed increased in size. If you’re in the US, Australia, Scandinavia or Japan, the other reason is that these countries require the washing of eggs before they can be sold to consumers. I believe the US was the first to mandate this and it started sometime in the 1970’s. Aside from cleaning off any pathogens on the outside of the egg, this also removes a thin membrane on the outside of the egg that protects it. That’s why eggs that have been washed need to be refrigerated. Most of the world does not refrigerate their eggs and I’m guessing the US was probably the same way until they started being washed. This would account for the 2 minute difference as the eggs are going to be starting at a temperature about 35 degrees F lower than what they would be if they were sitting out on the counter.
Corey says
Still getting the hang of the perfect crack to get the perfect peel but if I follow the instructions to the T then I get exactly the doneness shown!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Corey, I’m glad to hear this has been helpful for you. What is the difficulty you’re having with the crack? Is the crack spreading and causing albumen to leak out, or is the egg still difficult to peel?
Thien says
Thanks Sir,
In case, I can control exactly water temperature (ex, 80 Degree C). May I don’t consider about cooking time after eggs completely yolk?
Thanks
Marc Matsumoto says
The problem is that yolks set at a lower temperature than the egg white. So if you want a soft boiled egg with a firm yolk and soft center, you have to cook the egg at a higher temperature than you want the yolk to be at and remove the eggs from the water before the heat rises in the center to set the yolk. If you don’t mind the egg white being soft too, you can make this style of egg: https://norecipes.com/onsen-tamago-hot-spring-eggs/