What You Need to Do to Easily Peel the Shells from Hard-Boiled Eggs
As the sun rises and breakfast time rolls around, there are a few go-to foods that breakfast lovers tend to turn to. There's the easy bowl of cereal, the steaming pile of pancakes, and, of course, a warm skillet of freshly cooked eggs. But when it comes to busy weekday mornings, taking time to cook a plate of eggs before running out the door may not exactly be on your agenda. That's why having a stash of hard-boiled eggs in your fridge makes for the best on-the-go breakfast you can meal prep in advance.
How do you make hard-boiled eggs?
Now making hard-boiled eggs is pretty easy. In order to cook hard-boiled eggs, place your desired amount of eggs in a pot, and cover them with cold water. Once the eggs are completely submerged (the pot doesn't need to be full, only enough to cover the eggs), bring the pot to a boil on the stove and let the eggs cook for nine minutes at a rolling boil.
How do you make them peel easy?
Once the nine minutes are up, take the eggs out of the water instantly. To have them peel easily, you'll want to immediately submerge the eggs in cold water. You can either have a bowl of cold water ready for your eggs while they boil, or simply place the eggs in a new bowl and run cold water over them until they are cool to touch.
Once the eggs are cool, tap them gently and start peeling! The eggshells should come off really easily with very minimal issues, if any at all.
The other trick to keep in mind is adding baking soda to the water when boiling your eggs. This will actually increase the pH level of the egg whites, making it even easier to peel after you dunk them in cold water. Egg whites are usually at a 7.6 pH value, but as they age, the pH value will increase. Surprisingly enough, this also makes hard-boiled eggs easier to peel, which is why making hard-boiled eggs with an older dozen is actually easier to peel compared to a fresh batch. However, you can make the fresh batch easy to peel as well by simply adding baking soda to the water and increasing the egg white's pH level instead of waiting for the eggs to get old.
How long do hard-boiled eggs last?
According to The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), hard-boiled eggs—both peeled and unpeeled—will last up to a week after cooking. Once peeled, place them in a container and store in the refrigerator for easy breakfast grabs during your week.
