To get easy peel hard boiled eggs that don't have rubbery egg whites, dry chalky yolks, dark green rings and are easy to peel, follow these simple techniques.

smooth peeled eggs

This stove-top cooking method will help avoid pitted, stubborn to peel hard cooked eggs. The only other method that will give you better results is using a pressure cooker like an Instant Pot. Click here for more about how pressure cooking eggs works.

boiled eggs smooth easy peeling
When peeling eggs do you end up with smooth or pitted eggs?

How to Make Perfect Hard Boiled (Hard Cooked) Eggseasy to peel eggs

You'll find that people make hard cooked eggs in all sorts of ways.  If you're not fussy about taste, texture or color – any method will do.  However, if you want easy to peel eggs that don't have rubbery egg whites, dry chalky yolks and dark green rings, try this method:

  • First, choose eggs that are at least 7-10 days old – the fresher the egg, the harder to peel. Fresh eggs are perfect for poaching or frying sunny side up.
  • Place eggs in a single layer in a pot.
  • Cover with water so there's about 1/2 to 1 inch of water above the eggs. (While some people recommend adding salt or baking soda to the water, I've never found this to make a difference.)
  • Bring to a full rolling boil.
  • Once boiling, turn off the heat.
  • Put a lid on the pot and let rest for 14 minutes (the perfect time for solid but not over cooked yolks of large eggs).
  • Set a timer!
  • Immediately after the 14 minutes are up, run cold water over eggs and let sit in an ice/snow bath for 2-3 minutes.
shock eggs in ice water

Note: Technically, we should be calling the "Hard Cooked Eggs" instead of "Hard Boiled Eggs" since we're not boiling the eggs.

Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs – If you don't have a Pressure Cooker

Do all of these steps!

  • After the eggs have cooled in ice water for a minute, gently crack the shell of each egg. Just enough to let a little water seep in.
  • Put the eggs back in the ice water for another 1 to 3 minutes so that the water can penetrate in between the shell and the egg white.
  • Take out an egg and gently crack the shell all around it – you don't want to crack it so hard that the shell tears into the egg white.
  • Gently but firmly roll the egg on a counter using the palm of your hand. Don't press super hard – you don't want to squish the egg, you just want to make a thousand tiny cracks all around the egg. You should begin to feel the shell separating from the egg white. I find this step really, really helps.  Don't skip it!
  • Peel the egg starting at the wide end where the air sac is. Use the thin membrane to peel back the tiny pieces of shell.
  • If more help is needed, peel the egg under running water so that the water runs between the shell membrane and the egg white.
rolling egg
Roll egg under palm of hand on hard surface, gently but firmly.
well cracked hard boiled egg
You should have thousands of tiny cracks.
egg shell separating
Start peeling at the wide end where the airsac is.
Peel an egg under running water for easier peeling
The water helps separate the shell from the white when peeling eggs.

Here's a brief video showing how smooth this truly is.

You should have beautiful, smooth eggs, perfect for recipes like these Best Deviled Eggs Ever.

Smooth peeled egg
smooth eggs with shell

Now that you have beautifully peeled eggs, how will you serve them? Here are some recipes to consider.

Recipes for Using Your Beautiful Hard Cooked Eggs

deviled eggs

Deviled Eggs

Ham and Egg Muffins

ham and egg muffin

 Easy Pickled Eggs

pickled eggs

Lightened Up Dillicious Egg Salad

dillicious egg salad w

I'd love to know how this method worked for you and how you're going to use you hard cooked eggs. As you can see from the comments below, people have had various degrees of success. All I can say is that this method consistently works for me but some eggs are more stubborn than others. Using eggs that are 7 days or older is definitely a critical factor. And for particularly stubborn old eggs, using water between the egg membrane and the egg white also works wonders.

So, let me know how things work for you.

Sign up to get articles by Getty delivered to your inbox. You'll get recipes, practical tips and great food information like this. Getty is a Professional Home Economist,  speaker and writer putting good food on tables and agendas.  She is the author of Manitoba's best-selling Prairie Fruit Cookbook, Founder of Fruit Share, a mom and veggie gardener.

Here are some more egg posts you'll find on my website.

7 Tips for Perfect Poached Eggs

Top 10 Frequently Asked Egg Questions

How to Choose the Right Eggs: Standard, Free Run, Free Range, Organic, Omega3, Pastured

Hard Cooked Eggs in the Oven: Not All their Cracked Up to Be

How to Freeze Eggs