If you've stumbled on to this recipe, you probably already know that fresh eggs are a beast to peel if boiled and that steaming is the solution! It's true, I use the steaming method to hard boil eggs that are only days old and the shells slip right off. First I'll give you the quick recipe, then you can scroll down if you want more details and pictures!
How to Steam Hard Boiled Eggs (the short version)
- Set up your steamer, bring water to a boil.
- Put eggs in the steamer, cover tightly with lid.
- Steam for 6 minutes for soft boiled up to 15 minutes for hard boiled. You can use slightly less time for room temperature eggs.
- Cool eggs immediately in ice water, peel.
How to Steam Hard Boiled Eggs (with more words and pictures)
- Get yourself a pot and steamer. If you don't have a steamer, a small metal colander or sieve will do in a pinch. As long as you can still cover the pot to prevent steam from escaping. Here's my set up:
- Put 2-3 inches of water in your pot, put the steamer basket in, cover with a lid and bring to a boil over high heat.
- While that's going on, get yourself some eggs. I can fit about 9-10 eggs in this little steamer. As long as they're normal size...our household eggs mainly consist of retail rejects, so they're too big, too small, have weird shells or are slightly cracked, which makes for an eclectic mix.
- Once the water is boiling, put eggs in steamer (carefully, steam is like, really hot), cover with a lid and cook for 6 minutes for soft boiled and up to 15 minutes for solidly hard-boiled. Use slightly shorter time for room temperature eggs.
- After the allotted time, remove pot from the stove, pour out the hot water, dump the eggs into the empty pot and start running cold water over them. Chuck in some ice to speed things along.
- Once they're cool enough to handle, peel away! Here are eggs that I steamed for 15 minutes, that started at refrigerator temperature. A few look a little weird since they were already cracked before cooking and so they leaked during steaming but they all peeled super easily!
