How to Tell If Eggs Are Raw or Hard Boiled: 5 Simple Tests Figure out if your eggs are cooked with these expert-backed tips Have you gotten your hard boiled eggs mixed up with the raw eggs in your fridge? Even though they may look the same, it’s so easy to tell if an egg is hard boiled without cracking open the shell.

• Spin the egg on a flat surface and stop it suddenly with your index finger. If it stays still, it’s hard boiled, but it’s raw if it continues to wobble.
• Shine a flashlight through the egg. A hard boiled egg will look dark and opaque, but a raw egg up will light up.
• Put the egg in hot water. Raw eggs produce a stream of air bubbles and boiled eggs don’t.
• Shake the egg gently. A hard boiled egg feels solid, but the weight will shift inside if it’s raw.

1. 1 Spin the egg on a smooth, flat surface. Set the egg on its side on a cutting board or countertop. Pinch the egg between your fingers and spin it like it’s a top so it’s moving at a steady pace.
2. 2 Check if the egg is steady or wobbly while it’s spinning. Carefully watch how the egg moves after you spin it. If the egg spins quickly and steadily like a top, the egg is hard boiled. If it spins slowly, has a major wobble, or doesn’t spin at all, the egg is still raw.
   • A boiled egg spins at a consistent speed because the solid whites and yolk make its center of gravity stable.
   • The liquid whites and yolk inside a raw egg shift around as the egg spins, so it throws off the balance more.

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3. 3 Stop the egg quickly. While the egg is still going at full speed, quickly place a finger down on its center to make it stop. Once the egg comes to a stop, immediately remove your finger.
   • Press hard enough to stop the egg within 1–2 seconds, but don’t press so hard that you accidentally break the shell.
4. 4 Check if the egg starts spinning again to see if it’s raw. If the egg stays still after you lift your finger, then you have a hard boiled egg. However, a raw egg will start slowly spinning again after you stop it.
   • Why does a raw egg keep spinning? Since the whites and yolk are liquid, they’re still spinning inside the shell. The egg’s center of gravity shifts as the liquid contents move around, causing the egg to keep moving.

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1. 1 Shine a flashlight through the egg to see if it lights up. Turn off the lights in the room so it’s easier to see the egg with your flashlight. Turn the flashlight on and hold it against the side of the egg. If the egg is raw, it will light up like a lantern since the liquid inside allows the light to shine through.
   • This test works best with smaller flashlights so that the rim of the flashlight sits perfectly against the egg’s shell.
2. 2 Put the egg in hot water and check for a stream of air bubbles. Place the egg in a pot or bowl of nearly boiling water. Look for small streams of bubbles coming out of the shell of the egg to tell if the egg is raw. If you don’t see any bubbles, then your egg has already been boiled.
   • Why do raw eggs make bubbles? Egg shells are not completely solid and are actually covered by thousands of tiny holes that can allow gasses to pass through. Heating the egg makes the gas inside the shell expand and pass through the holes. Boiled eggs don’t make bubbles because the gas was already forced out when you cooked them.
   • Quickly take any raw eggs out of the water unless you plan on boiling them right now. Otherwise, they’ll start cooking and solidify inside.
3. 3 Shake the egg to feel if the yolk and whites move around. Hold the egg in your fingertips and give it a gentle shake like a maraca. Concentrate on how the egg feels when you move it around. A hard boiled egg feels solid like a rock, but you’ll be able to feel the liquid inside a raw egg moving and shifting as you shake it.
   • If you hear a sloshing sound when you shake a raw egg, it means the egg is older and works better for baking or scrambling.
4. 4 Crack open the egg if all else fails. If you’re still not able to tell after any of the tests, tap the egg against the rim of a bowl to break the shell. If the egg is raw, the whites and yolk will start to ooze out. If your egg is hard boiled, then it will look and feel solid under the shell.
   • If you’re and want to, cut one of them in half to check if the yolk is solid. If the yolk is still runny, let your eggs boil for another minute or two. It usually takes around 10–12 minutes to hard boil an egg.

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1. 1 Boil with onion skins. Take the skins from about 12 red or yellow onions and bring them to a boil on your stove. Turn the heat down to a simmer and let the onion skins cook for 30 minutes. Strain the skins out and add pre-cooked hard boiled eggs to the water. Let the eggs soak for up to 1 hour to darken them to a nice beige color so they’re easier to tell apart from your raw eggs.
   • Yellow onions create a light tan color while red onions make a darker red.
   • None of the onion flavor will get into your eggs, so they’ll taste the same as undyed eggs.
2. 2 with food coloring. When you’re boiling the eggs in a small pot, add a few drops of food coloring and 1–2 teaspoons (4.9–9.9 ml) of vinegar directly to the water. Alternatively, hard boil the eggs first and then soak them in a mixture of 1 ⁄ 2 cup (120 ml) of boiling water, 1 teaspoon (4.9 ml) vinegar, and a few drops of food coloring afterward.
   • Color-code your eggs if you’re making multiple kinds. For example, you may dye hard boiled eggs red and soft boiled eggs blue so they’re easier to tell apart.
3. 3 Mark the shells with a marker. Simply boil your eggs as normal before removing them from the water and allowing them to dry. When they’re completely dry, mark the shell with a “B” for “boiled” so you can easily tell them apart with a quick glance.
   • Don’t worry — since you have to to eat boiled eggs, this doesn’t make your eggs unsafe to eat, even if you use ink.

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• Question How long does it take for them to be done? Staff Answer This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. It usually takes about 10–12 minutes to boil eggs. Take an egg out of the pot and try spinning it to test if it’s cooked through.
• Question If I didn’t boil my eggs long enough, can I reboil them? Note: I boiled 2dz eggs in a large pot for 20+ minutes. They don’t seem to be done enough. They won’t peel nicely for making deviled eggs. No. They are already over cooked.Be sure to use older eggs – buy them at least one week before you cook them. Fresh eggs will never ever peel well.
• Question Do raw eggs float or sink? If the eggs are fresh, they will sink on their sides. Rotten eggs will float.

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Thanks

Advertisement This article was co-authored by and by wikiHow staff writer,, Randall (Randy) Chambers is a Personal Chef and the Owner of Luxury Meals From Home based in Arvada, Colorado. He has more than 16 years of commercial kitchen experience, five years of sous chef experience, and two years of experience as an executive chef.

• Co-authors: 45
• Updated: April 3, 2023
• Views: 1,843,302

Categories: | To tell whether an egg is raw or hard-boiled, place it on its side and spin it. If the egg spins steadily, it’s hard-boiled; if it spins slowly or wobbles, it’s raw. If you can’t tell, stop the egg with your finger, then take your hand away.

If the egg stays still, it’s hard-boiled; if it keeps rotating or wobbling, it’s uncooked. You can also try shaking the egg: if it’s hard-boiled, it will feel solid, but if it’s uncooked, you’ll feel liquid moving. For a final test, shine a flashlight at the egg. It’s raw if you can see the light through the other side; if the egg stays dark, it’s hard-boiled.

If you want to learn how to mark hard boiled eggs so you don’t forget, keep reading the article!

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 1,843,302 times.

“i like to keep a few boiled eggs handy so I use a felt pen to draw happy faces on my boiled eggs. i can mix them with fresh eggs and easily identify when I want to use them. Sometimes I get a bit carried away with drawing happy faces, it’s fun!”,”

: How to Tell If Eggs Are Raw or Hard Boiled: 5 Simple Tests

How do you tell if an egg is off without breaking it?

How to Tell If Eggs Are Bad – All egg cartons and trays sold in Australia must be marked with a best before date and this is the easiest and most reliable way to check whether eggs are still ok to eat. The best before date signifies the end of the period in which eggs are safe to eat and is calculated as six weeks from the day the egg is packed into the carton.

But what if you’ve stored your eggs without the carton? Well, in short, you should always store eggs inside the carton you bought them in, inside the fridge. Egg shells are porous and the carton helps protect the eggs from any potential contamination. If you don’t have the best before date, it’s sometimes possible to determine a bad egg simply by smelling it.

Good eggs don’t smell at all but off eggs will emit a slight sulfuric smell that warns you something isn’t right. If you’re unsure, crack the egg onto a clean plate to smell it properly. If there’s any pungency, throw away the egg and wash the plate thoroughly.

A cleaner and undoubtedly more fun method is to conduct the egg floating test. This is not a myth; fresh eggs sink while bad eggs float to the top. Simply fill a bowl with cold tap water and place your eggs in it. If they sink to the bottom and lay flat on one side, they are fresh and good to eat. A bad egg will float because of the large air cell that forms at its base.

Any floating eggs should be thrown out.

Do eggs float when boiled?

Why Do Cracked Eggs Float? – If the egg’s shell is cracked, ‌ egg white will leak out ‌ into the boiling water. This reduces the mass of the egg, making it easier for the less-dense egg to float. Some bits of boiled egg white will float around in the saucepan of boiling water, which is unattractive but harmless.

• Take care not to crack the eggshell when lowering an egg into boiling water.
• It’s best to ‌ use a spoon ‌ to gently lower the egg into the saucepan.
• Alternatively, start with the eggs covered by an inch of cold water and bring the water to a boil.
• There’s no need to add salt to the water or to cover the saucepan.

Hard-boiled eggs require 10 to 12 minutes in boiling water. Young school children can safely observe a simple chicken eggs float test as a little experiment away from boiling water. The only items needed are an egg, a tall glass, water, table salt and a tablespoon.

Fill a glass halfway to the rim with water. Place an egg in the glass of water. The egg will sink. Add table salt and stir. Keep adding and stirring 1 tablespoon of salt at a time until the egg floats. Three tablespoons of salt should be enough to make the average-size chicken egg float.

The experiment can also be conducted with two eggs and two separate glasses, one for the unsalted water and the other for the salted water. If there’s any uncertainty, test the quality of an egg before consuming it. Remember, ‌ rotten eggs have a very distinct odor ‌.

What do hard boiled eggs look like when they’re done?

The perfect egg has no green ring around the yolk ; the yolk is creamy and mellow; and if you want, you can stop short of the hard-boil and make them gooey soft-boiled instead. Many people recommend different ways of cooking the perfect hard boil egg.

Can you overcook hard boiled eggs?

How to Know When Your Hard-Boiled Egg Is Overcooked – Depending on how you like your eggs done, a boiled egg should ideally cook for between 9 to 12 minutes (if you want a hard-boiled egg) to avoid overcooking it. Here’s a look at some signs that’ll indicate you’ve overcooked your hard-boiled egg:

1. The first (and most obvious) sign that you’ve overcooked your hard-boiled egg is when you cut the egg open. The yolk will have a grayish/white or bluish/green tinge to it. It’ll also be crumbly and fall apart.
2. The second sign is the strong (and unpleasant) sulfur smell that comes from the eggs.
3. Your egg will be very rubbery and pretty tasteless.
4. The yolk becomes quite chalky and difficult to swallow as it sticks to your throat.

Did You Know: Overcooked hard-boiled eggs release a mineral called iron sulfide, which is also found in rocks.

How do you know if a soft boiled egg is done?

Perfect Soft Boiled Egg Tips –

Cook them how you like them. My definition of a perfect soft boiled egg might not be the same as yours, and that’s ok! It all comes down to the consistency of the yolk. I like mine to be gooey and jammy, with some parts runny and some parts starting to solidify. To achieve this texture, I cook mine for 7 minutes. If you prefer a runnier yolk, cook your eggs for 6 1/2 minutes. Watch the water. Have you ever cooked eggs in rapidly boiling water? (I have.) Did they crack? (They did.) In this recipe, make sure the water maintains a gentle boil. It should be bubbling, but not so hard that the eggs bounce around. If the water starts to boil too fast, the shells will break against the bottom of the pot. Don’t skip the ice bath. For the sake of convenience, it might be tempting to skip the ice bath in this recipe. But trust me, I wouldn’t ask you to do this step if it wasn’t necessary. The ice bath stops the cooking process, so the eggs keep their crave-worthy runny yolks, and it makes them far easier to peel. It’s super easy and totally worth it.

Is the egg float test accurate?

The theory is that, as an egg ages, the air pocket inside it grows larger, buoying an old egg to the surface. But, according to Dr. Schaffner, ‘there is no scientific basis for the egg float test.’ So experimenting to see if your egg sinks or swims is not a reliable way to measure its quality.

Is it obvious when an egg is off?

Although properly stored eggs have a decent shelf life, they can eventually spoil. There are several ways to check if an egg is still good to eat, such as carrying out a float test or inspecting the shell. Eggs are a good source of protein and other essential nutrients.

• In this article, we look at some straightforward ways to tell whether an egg is safe to eat or not.
• We also discuss how long they stay fresh, whether to refrigerate them, and the health risks of eating a bad egg.
• The float test is a quick and easy way to check the freshness of an egg.
• While it does not determine whether an egg has gone bad, it provides a useful indication of the age of an egg.

To perform the float test, place the egg in a large bowl of water. If it sinks or stays at the bottom, it is still fresh. An older egg will either stand on its end or float. The float test works because air builds up inside the egg as it ages, increasing its buoyancy.

• However, an egg that floats may still be safe to eat, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),
• A person can further test the egg by cracking it open to smell and checking it for visible signs of contamination.
• One of the simplest and most reliable ways to tell whether an egg has gone bad is to smell it.

A bad egg will give off a foul odor when a person cracks the shell open, according to the USDA, This smell will be present even if someone has already cooked the egg. In some cases, when an egg is very old or rotten, individuals can smell the foul odor before cracking it open.

cracks in the shella powdery substance on the shella shell that looks or feels slimy

Eggs with cracked or slimy shells may have become contaminated with bacteria, while a powdery substance on the shell can be a sign of mold. If the shell is intact with no obvious signs of damage, contamination, or foul odor, a person should do a second visual check after cracking the egg open.

1. They should discard eggs with any unusual discoloration inside, such as a pink, iridescent, or greenish egg white or yolk.
2. However, eggs that develop a green ring on the hard-cooked yolk after cooking are safe to eat, according to the USDA,
3. The green color is often due to overcooking or high iron content in the cooking water.

An egg white or yolk that is runnier than usual can also indicate that an egg is past its prime. While this does not necessarily mean it is unsafe to eat, it can affect its taste and cooking properties. Before purchasing them, a person should do a quick visual examination of the eggs in the carton.

• If any are cracked or leaking, choose a different pack.
• People who keep eggs in the original carton can also check for an expiration date to see whether they are still safe to eat.
• However, the information on the carton can sometimes be a little confusing.
• According to the USDA, the United States federal government does not require producers to print the expiration or sell-by date on egg cartons.

However, some states require this information. If an egg producer chooses to include an expiration date, it must be in month/day format and follow an appropriate prefix, such as “Exp.,” “Sell by,” and “Not to be sold after the date at the end of the carton.” However, producers must include the pack date on all cartons of USDA-graded eggs.

1. A pack date is a three-digit number representing the day of the year when the producer washed, graded, and packed the eggs.
2. For example, a pack date of 001 is January 1, and a pack date of 365 is December 31.
3. If a producer of USDA-graded eggs chooses to include an expiration date, it must be no more than 30 days after the pack date.

People can keep eggs in the refrigerator for 3–5 weeks, Even though the sell-by date may expire during that time, they may still be safe to eat. To keep them safe, a person should place them inside the refrigerator immediately after purchase. The refrigerator temperature should be 40°F (4°C), and people should place eggs in the coldest spot of the refrigerator rather than in the door.

Candling is a technique that producers use to inspect the quality of an egg. It involves using a bright light to examine eggs for signs of cracking and interior defects. Egg producers generally use automated conveyor belts and mechanical sensors to check large numbers of eggs quickly and efficiently. However, a person can also perform candling at home by holding an egg up to a bright light, such as a powerful flashlight or lamp, in a darkened room.

As with the float test, candling only checks the freshness of the egg. It will not confirm whether it is still safe to eat. When they hold the egg up to the light, a person should be able to see the air cell inside it. The air cell is a small sac or bubble that is usually present in the larger end of the egg.

1. According to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, the egg is still fresh if the cell is less than one-eighth of an inch deep.
2. The larger the air sac, the older the egg.
3. According to the USDA, refrigerated eggs stay fresh for 3–5 weeks after the pack date on the carton.

However, displaying the pack date is only necessary for USDA-graded eggs. The USDA recommends refrigerating eggs as soon as possible to maintain freshness and reduce the risk of Salmonella contamination. The USDA also warns that people should not leave refrigerated eggs at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

diarrhea abdominal cramps fever vomiting

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), symptoms usually develop 6 hours to 6 days after eating a contaminated egg and last for about 4–7 days. Most people recover from Salmonella infection without antibiotics, However, those with severe symptoms may require hospitalization.

adults over the age of 65 yearschildren younger than 5 yearspeople with weakened immune systems, such as those who have undergone an organ transplant or are living with HIV

Not everyone who eats a bad egg will develop Salmonella infection. Steps that a person can take to reduce the risk of Salmonella include :

washing the hands and any objects that come into contact with raw eggskeeping eggs refrigerateddiscarding eggs after the expiration datecooking eggs thoroughly so that both the yolk and white are firmusing pasteurized eggs for dishes that require raw or lightly cooked eggs

When eggs spoil, they begin to smell bad, and the yolk and egg white may become discolored. Cracked or slimy eggshells can also be a sign of bacterial contamination. Easy ways to determine an egg’s freshness include checking the expiration date, visually inspecting its shell, and cracking it open to smell the inside.

Is an egg still good if it stands up in water?

The float test: Do you know how to tell if an egg is fresh? If an egg sinks to the bottom of a bowl of water and lies sideways, it is very fresh; if it stands on one end in bottom of the bowl, it is less fresh but still good to eat. But if it floats to the surface of the water, indicating that air has permeated the shell, it is no longer fresh.

• This simple test can be more reliable than the best-before date stamp each egg laid in the EU must bear.
• But research in the UK has shown that consumers there are throwing away 720 million eggs every year – three times more than in 2008 and at a cost of £139 million (€161 million).
• The scale of waste has been blamed on overcautious consumers relying on best-before dates to decide if eggs are fresh enough to eat, and the growing popularity of vegetarian and “flexitarian” diets has boosted overall sales.

Eggs are a good source of high-quality protein, and Irish registered dietician Paula Mee recommends eating up to eight a week in her recently published book, Mediterranean Mood Food. Last year sales of eggs in the UK were £7.2 billion (€8.3 billion) – a 4 per cent rise on the previous year – according to recent figures from the British Egg Industry Council.

But consumer research from the company behind the food waste app Too Good To Go, published on Tuesday, revealed that UK households binned 720 million eggs last year, compared with 241 million in 2008 according to Wrap, the government’s waste advisory body. Last year sales of eggs in the UK were £7.2 billion (€8.3 billion) – a 4 per cent rise on the previous year – according to recent figures from the British Egg Industry Council.

The research also showed that 29 per cent of Britons throw away eggs solely because they are past their best before date. However, eggs are often still good and safe to eat long after the date on the packaging has passed. EU legislation requires that the maximum best before date on eggs must be 28 days from when they were laid.

• The research found that just 23 per cent of Britons were familiar with the water test that reveals whether eggs are still fresh enough to eat.
• If eggs sink to the bottom of a bowl of cold water and lie flat on their sides, they are very fresh.
• If they are less fresh but still good to eat, they will stand on one end at the bottom.

If they float to the surface, they are no longer fresh enough to eat. This is because as the egg gets older, the size of the air sac inside increases, making it float. “If you’ve been throwing your eggs in the bin based on the dates on the box, you’ve probably been wasting perfectly good food,” said Jamie Crummie, the co-founder of Too Good To Go.

1. Food waste is a huge problem – a third of all food produced globally is wasted.
2. Small changes from each of us can make a big difference.” Too Good To Go is challenging the British public to use the water bowl test to check the freshness of their eggs to help cut down on edible food needlessly being binned.

Meanwhile, research by Wrap has shown that 20 per cent of people don’t realise that it is possible to freeze eggs. It has been suggested that dietary trends popularised by celebrities such as Joe Wicks have reinvigorated egg sales. In addition, the spike in egg consumption may be partly due to a change in advice from the Food Standards Agency in 2017 – almost 30 years after the UK salmonella crisis – stating that pregnant women, babies and elderly people could safely eat runny or even raw eggs.

Can you eat 3 week old eggs?

It can be safe to eat expired eggs if you store them right. But it’s important to know the difference between eggs that are expired but safe and eggs that are spoiled. Eggs are a staple food in households around the world. They’re a nutritious and affordable source of protein.

1. Plus, they make a quick meal any time of day, so it’s no wonder people like to keep eggs on hand.
2. However, if you’ve ever left a carton of eggs in the fridge for a few weeks, you may have wondered whether they were still safe to eat.
3. Egg cartons often have a date printed on them, such as a “best before” or “sell by” date.

These dates make it easier to know how old the eggs are. But if you store them properly, eggs can last far beyond their expiration date and still be safe to eat. On the other hand, eggs that have been contaminated or stored improperly can spoil and contain harmful bacteria.

This article explains when it’s safe to eat expired eggs and how to store your eggs for maximum freshness. In-shell eggs that have been washed and stored in the refrigerator stay fresh for an average of 3–5 weeks ( 1 ). Compared with other perishable proteins, eggs actually have a notably longer shelf life.

Once they’ve been opened, most milk and meats stay fresh in the refrigerator for only 1 week at most ( 1 ). Still, when you buy eggs at the store, it can be hard to know how long they’ve been sitting on the shelf and how much longer they’ll remain fresh once you bring them home.

This is where date labels printed on egg cartons come in handy. Date labels help you determine how long your eggs will stay fresh and safe to eat. Eggs are often labeled with the date they were processed and packed or an expiration date, though some eggs may not have any date labels at all, depending on the source and the regulations in your area.

Here are a few of the most common date labels on egg cartons in the United States ( 2 ):

Best-by. The eggs will be at peak quality and flavor if you eat them before this date, which is set by the manufacturer. As long as the eggs don’t show signs of spoilage, they can still be sold and are considered safe to eat after this date. Sell-by. This date can be no more than 30 days after the pack date of the eggs. At the sell-by date, the eggs may be around 4 weeks old. EXP. Shorthand for “expiration,” this is another way to label a “sell-by” date. Pack date. This notes the day the eggs were processed and packed into the carton. It’s displayed as a three-digit number from 1–365. This method numbers the days of the year consecutively, so January 1 is 001, January 2 is 002, December 31 is 365, and so on.

With proper storage, eggs typically stay fresh 3–5 weeks past the pack date — the date they were gathered, cleaned, and stored in refrigeration. After 5 weeks, your eggs might start to decline in freshness. They could lose flavor and color, and the texture might even be somewhat altered.

As the weeks go on, eggs will continue to diminish in quality even if you refrigerate them. Still, as long as they remain free of contamination from bacteria or mold, they may still be safe to eat for days or weeks longer. Summary Eggs have an average shelf life of 3–5 weeks. With proper storage, most eggs are still safe to eat after 5 weeks, though their quality and freshness will likely begin to decline.

Eggs are a notoriously high risk food for the growth of Salmonella, a type of bacteria that live in and affect the digestive tracts of animals and humans ( 6, 7, 8 ). Salmonella bacteria are one of the most common causes of foodborne illness, causing side effects like fever, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea ( 4 ).

It’s possible that Salmonella could be present on the inside or outside of eggs when you buy them. The bacteria could also continue to multiply even while eggs are in the refrigerator. This means that even if you’re doing everything right when it comes to storing fresh eggs, there may still be a small chance you could get sick from Salmonella,

The best way to avoid contracting a foodborne illness from a contaminated egg is to always cook your eggs to a minimum internal temperature of 160°F (71°C) ( 3, 7, 9 ). No kitchen thermometer on hand? Not to worry — just be sure to cook your eggs until the yolks are firm and the whites are no longer runny or translucent.

Should you put boiled eggs in cold water?

Tips for success –

Use cold eggs straight from the fridge. Eggs closer to their expiration date will peel more easily. Always cook eggs in a single layer, and add enough water to cover eggs by at least 2 inches if boiling. Prepare an ice bath ahead of time so that it’s ready when the eggs are. Leave eggs in the ice bath for 10+ minutes to allow for thorough cooling/easy peeling (you can place them under running cold water instead, but without the cold shock from the ice bath, you may have a harder time peeling, especially if your eggs are farm fresh like ours). A slotted spoon can be helpful for transferring eggs from the boiling water or hot steamer basket to the ice bath.

Free Range Eggs The Best Way to Peel Hard-Boiled Eggs

What happens if you boil an egg for 2 hours?

Peeled hard-boiled eggs – For the best quality, it’s best to wait to peel hard-boiled eggs until you’re ready to eat them or use them in a recipe. If the eggs have already been peeled, it’s recommended to keep them in an air-tight container along with a damp paper towel to prevent them from drying out.

1. Just like unpeeled hard-boiled eggs, peeled ones should not be left at room temperature and should be refrigerated as quickly as possible.
2. Summary Refrigeration is key to keeping your hard-boiled eggs safe and fresh.
3. Hard-boiled eggs should be stored in the fridge within two hours of boiling and kept on an inside shelf instead of in the door.

Avoid peeling hard-boiled eggs until you are ready to eat or cook with them. When stored properly, hard-boiled eggs — peeled or unpeeled — can safely be kept in the refrigerator for approximately 1 week, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ( 7 ).

1. If you’re unsure how long your hard-boiled eggs have been stored, first check the shell for a slimy or chalky appearance.
2. If present, throw out the egg to be safe.
3. It’s important not to eat eggs past their prime, as this can put you at risk of foodborne illness with symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting ( 8 ).

A spoiled hard-boiled egg may have a distinctive, unpleasant odor, If the egg still has the shell on, you may need to crack it to assess the smell. Many people become alarmed if the yolk of a hard-boiled egg is greenish-gray in color. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that your egg has gone bad.

The color of the yolk varies depending on cooking time and cooking temperature. When eggs are boiled for long, the yolk becomes paler in color and eventually turns a greenish-gray. This color occurs when you overcook the egg, as this makes the iron from the yolk react with the hydrogen sulfide from the white ( 9 ).

While this might affect the texture and mouthfeel, it’s safe to eat. Summary Hard-boiled eggs can be kept for 1 week in your refrigerator. If the egg develops an unmistakable odor or slimy or chalky texture, discard it, as eating spoiled eggs can make you sick.

What happens if you boil eggs for 30 minutes?

Hard-boiled eggs are safe to eat as long as they have been handled and stored properly. The process of boiling eggs for 30 minutes or longer will effectively kill any bacteria present, such as salmonella, that could cause food poisoning if the egg was consumed raw or undercooked.

Are eggs hard to peel if you boil them too long?

Peel away the complications of the perfect hard-boiled egg Sometimes it’s the simplest things that are the most confounding. Last year, right before Easter, I blogged about how to make a perfect hard-boiled egg. Basic? Yes. Popular? Very. This seemingly simple task received tens of thousands of page views.

1. And, it seemed, almost as many complaints: “But how do you peel them?” Mea culpa.
2. While my method ensures that hard-boiled eggs are never overdone (at last: the cure for the dreaded copper-green ring!), it also can make them harder to shell, because perfectly cooked eggs turn out to be stickier than ones that have been overcooked.

So this year I determined that I would find the absolutely perfect way to cook hard-boiled eggs you could actually peel. I spent a couple of days researching and cooking though several dozen eggs and found that the answer is surprisingly simple. While overcooking hard-boiled eggs does have its obvious drawbacks — rubbery dry whites and pale crumbly yolks — it actually does make them easier to peel.

That’s because one of the determining factors in peel-ability is the pH of the egg — the higher (less acid), the easier. And longer cooking raises the pH (so does aging — and older eggs also have a larger air pocket, which helps even more). But you don’t have to choose between easy-to-peel eggs that aren’t worth eating and delicious eggs that are as pocked and cratered as the surface of the moon.

Do a little research and you’ll find all sorts of solutions, some more fanciful than others: Cool the eggs in an ice water bath. Cook them in salted water. Add baking soda to the water (baking soda is alkaline, so theoretically it could raise the pH). I settled on four alternatives that seemed to be most promising.

I added salt to one batch of eggs and baking soda to another. I transferred another batch to an ice water bath whole, and another I cracked slightly after cooking but before going into the bath. And just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, I also cooked one batch the original way, trying to crack them straight out of the warm water.

What didn’t work? Salting made no difference in peel-ability and didn’t affect the flavor, either. Which was actually better than the baking soda, which made no difference in peeling but left the eggs with a noticeable sulfur smell. The ice water bath turned out to be the key.

1. Eggs chilled while whole seemed slightly easier to peel.
2. But the real winners were the eggs that had been cracked before going into the ice water.
3. They were by far the easiest to peel.
4. Just drain off the water and roll the eggs around in the dry pan until the shells crack slightly.
5. Then transfer them to an ice water bath.

Actually, unless you’re in a hurry, you don’t even need to crack them. When I was done with my experiment, I dumped all the remaining unpeeled eggs into the ice water bath while I ate my lunch. When I came back 45 minutes later, they were all easier to peel — the shells are porous.

Is 7 minutes enough to boil an egg?

How to Boil Eggs Perfectly – Learn how to boil eggs (both soft-boiled and hard-boiled) so they turn out perfectly every time. Watch the video above for a quick tutorial!

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a boil. Ensure there’s enough water in the pot to cover the eggs by about an inch. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, remove the eggs from the fridge (set them on the counter). Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to low (so that there’s no bubbles) and use skimmer to gently and slowly add the eggs to the water. Then, turn the heat back up to a boil. Set a timer and cook the eggs for 6 to 7 minutes for soft-boiled eggs and 12 to 14 minutes for hard-boiled eggs. See the cooking time notes above. While the eggs are cooking, prepare an ice-water bath. Once the eggs have cooked to your preferred time, use the skimmer to remove the eggs and immediately submerge them in the ice-water bath to stop their cooking. Peel the eggs, starting with the bottom end first as it’s easier to get under the membrane.

I love this skimmer as it can easily add and remove multiple eggs at the same time. If you’re looking for new egg cups to serve soft boiled eggs, these terra cotta egg cups are cute! I recommend not cooking more than 6 eggs at a time, as a crowded pot can start to alter the cook time.

Calories: 77.5 kcal, Carbohydrates: 0.6 g, Protein: 6.3 g, Fat: 5.3 g, Saturated Fat: 1.6 g, Cholesterol: 186.5 mg, Sodium: 62 mg, Sugar: 0.6 g ©Downshiftology. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated.

Is 10 minutes long enough to boil an egg?

If you boil an egg for five or 10 minutes, it becomes firm and cooked. If you boil it for hours, it becomes rubbery and overcooked.

Is 6 minutes enough to boil an egg?

The Perfect Boiled Eggs

Put the eggs in a large pot with a lid. Pour cool water over the eggs until fully submerged and add the baking soda to the water. Put the pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the water is at a rolling boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot with the lid. Allow the eggs to sit in the hot water for the following times according to the desired doneness: 3 minutes for SOFT boiled; 6 minutes for MEDIUM boiled; 12 minutes for HARD boiled. Prepare a bowl of ice water. Transfer the cooked eggs to the ice water to cool completely before peeling.

: The Perfect Boiled Eggs

How can you tell the difference between hard boiled and soft boiled eggs?

The Difference Between a Hard-Boiled and Soft-Boiled Egg – The main difference when comparing hard-boiled vs. soft-boiled eggs is how cooked the egg whites and yolks are. Hard-boiled eggs are firmer because the egg is fully cooked so that there’s no runniness.

What happens if I boil a slightly cracked egg?

If an egg is already cracked then it will almost certainly split open when boiled, there’s no way to avoid it, it would be best to cook them using another method. Be aware that once eggs are cracked they no longer have protection against microbes, if you don’t know how long they have been cracked it may be best to throw them away. rumtscho ♦ 133k 44 gold badges 299 silver badges 540 bronze badges answered Nov 26, 2018 at 14:03 GdD GdD 73.6k 3 gold badges 128 silver badges 238 bronze badges I use Egglettes ™ to boil my eggs. You simply crack the egg/s into a silicone cup and place it/them into boiling water. Without wishing to seem like a crappy infomercial (see below), I find it a heck of a lot easier to crack an egg into a cup than I find it to peel eggshells off of a soft-boiled egg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxVT2Q6Vt_c For the avoidance of doubt, I am in no way affiliated to Egglettes other than being a customer answered Nov 26, 2018 at 18:14 Richard Richard 342 2 silver badges 7 bronze badges 12

Wow, you’d be able to poach the egg too with this method. Just add a bit of water/vinegar in? Pretty cool Nov 27, 2018 at 4:32 Yup. And scrambled by topping up with milk and swirling them with a chopstick for ten seconds Nov 27, 2018 at 7:13 Ordering some now then I guess 😛 Nov 27, 2018 at 7:35 Could you edit a clarification/disclaimer into your answer as to whether you are affiliated in any way with this tool? It’s probably not really an issue, but this network has had issues with people advertising products without properly sharing affiliation, which is spam according to our rules. It’s fine to specifically mention a product you have a stake in, but you need to be clear about affiliation. meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/260638/ has more information on our spam rules. Nov 27, 2018 at 9:52 @Nzall – I am in no way affiliated with this product. Also, people don’t generally refer to their own adverts as crappy if they work for the company Nov 27, 2018 at 10:19

You can choose to poach the egg. The egg is cracked into a cup or bowl of any size, and then gently slid into a pan of water at approximately 75 Celsius (167 °F) and cooked until the egg white has mostly solidified, but the yolk remains soft. The “perfect” poached egg has a runny yolk, with a hardening crust and no raw white remaining. MonkeyZeus MonkeyZeus 243 2 silver badges 8 bronze badges 7

To be clear, one of the key differences is water temperature-the water should be hot but not boiling-this helps keep the egg together (or rather, boiling water makes the egg not stay together). Nov 26, 2018 at 18:46 @user3067860 Yep, I think the “75 Celcius” covers that though. At any rate, my answer addresses the “or should it be fried or cooked in another way” segment of the question. Nov 26, 2018 at 18:49 I just never use a thermometer for cooking eggs, I go by “boiling”, “simmering”, etc. No idea how hot 75 C is except it’s between 74 C and 76 C. Nov 26, 2018 at 18:59 @user3067860 Thanks again. That too sounds like an option so feel free to post your own experience with non-poaching cooking techniques. Nov 26, 2018 at 19:26 @MonkeyZeus I don’t think you’re answering the question here. The asker is aware that there are other ways of cooking eggs and isn’t asking for suggestions of them. The question is (paraphrasing) “Can I hard boil it or am I going to have to do something else?” not “What’s the best way of cooking an egg whose shell is cracked?” So the answer is either “Yes, you can hard boil it using technique XYZ” or “No, boiling it won’t work so you’ll have to do something else.” Nov 27, 2018 at 11:24

Adding salt in the water helps as well. There are multiple theories on why this works.

Osmosis direction The egg white will become solid when getting in contact with the salt water and basically it will close the crack again. Boiling point difference

answered Nov 26, 2018 at 15:49 7

It’s hard to believe that the sort of quantities of salt one uses in cooking would make any significant chemical change. This sounds a lot like people claiming that you put salt in the water when you boil food because it means the water boils hotter so the food cooks faster – in fact, the change in boiling point is of the order of tenths of a degree, so makes essentially no difference. Nov 26, 2018 at 15:56 In my experience, this is exactly the correct answer. It doesn’t matter if it’s because of chemical changes, boiling point difference or osmosis direction or whatever, as long as it works. – user70874 Nov 26, 2018 at 16:14 My personal experience is also more salt = less cracking. I admit, I use a lot of salt when I know my eggs are cracky batch. Not quantities of salt one uses normally. I don’t pretend to know or understand why it works. Nov 27, 2018 at 9:13 @Mołot OK, but this egg is already cracked. Nov 27, 2018 at 11:25 The answer has been edited since my first comment so, in more detail: 1. Increased salt in the water would cause a tiny fraction more water to leave the egg; what difference would that make? 2. The egg white will already become solid when it hits the boiling water – egg white hardens at around 80C (176F) and the boiling water is already much hotter than that.3. As I’ve already said, the increase in boiling point from salting the water is negligible: even if you add 60g (2oz) of salt per litre (quart) of water, the boiling point will only go up by about 0.5C (1F). Nov 27, 2018 at 18:37

You can boil cracked egg safely just use 2 table spoons of white vinegar. Put White vinegar in boiling water and then gently put the egg in the water and let it boil. Egg will not come out of its shell. You can also make egg poach. Click here to understand about egg poach answered Nov 27, 2018 at 7:12 user227201 user227201 128 1 gold badge 1 silver badge 6 bronze badges Believe it or not, you can put some Duct Tape (like gaffer tape – heavy tape) over the crack, and away you go. (I’m not sure why anyone would bother with this – boiled eggs which have some white “poking out” are fine – but there you have it.) answered Nov 26, 2018 at 17:36 Fattie Fattie 508 1 gold badge 7 silver badges 23 bronze badges 7

Is duct tape food safe though? Nov 26, 2018 at 18:13 @wjandrea It’s safe to bet is not. This advice is only useful for people cooking for show. But there are people who needs perfectly boiled eggs for photos etc, so maybe someone will benefit from this answer. Nov 27, 2018 at 9:18 The duct tape will leach who-knows-what into the water and the egg. Unless you have information to the contrary, you should assume that duct tape is not food-safe, and boiled duct tape doubly so. Nov 27, 2018 at 11:29 Although duct tape is indeed certainly not food safe, I personally would risk it. Decent duct tape isn’t water soluble (though I’m less sure about boiling water soluble ). I’m actually pretty sure I’ve had duct tape in contact with foodstuff I later ate, and no ill effects. And anyways eggs generally don’t absorb much of whatever is in the water. But yeah, I’d rather not recommend this for anybody else. Nov 27, 2018 at 16:17 @leftaroundabout It’s pretty likely that at least some components of the glue will start floating around in the water, even if they’re not formally “dissolved”. Nov 27, 2018 at 18:31

It’s possible to boil an egg with steam. This usually requires an additional device. The eggs are put upright and won’t split open since they are not exposed directly to the hot water. answered Nov 26, 2018 at 15:40 3

Does this work for eggs that are already cracked? And why would being exposed to hot water make an egg more likely to split? Nov 26, 2018 at 15:54 I have two devices like this and the directions specifically say you need to pierce the top of the egg with a needle (that is included). Sometimes if the hole is a little big or if the hole is cracked, there is a considerable amount of egg white material ejected from the egg. It still makes a good hardboiled egg, but it’s not as pretty. A cracked egg would certainly expand into a weird shape (again, would probably taste fine). Nov 26, 2018 at 16:02 When doing hardboiled eggs in a commercial steamer i have seen the same issue with eggs coming apart as with boiling water. Nov 26, 2018 at 19:48

If the egg’s been cracked for a while, just throw it out. Even though the boiling process should kill anything growing in it, good sense says it’s not worth the risk. If the egg gets small cracks when you put it in the water or while cooking, it’s perfectly fine.

• In my experience, the heat will quickly make the outer layer of white solidify as it cooks, which will lock everything else inside, crack or no.
• The worst I’ve ever seen happen from cooking an egg that cracked early on is that little bits of white escape and get cooked in the water, giving it a cloudy look.

I’ve eaten many eggs that cracked while cooking and never had any problems. answered Nov 26, 2018 at 20:30 2

I wouldn’t trust boiling the egg to sterilize it. The outer parts will get up to 100C but the inner parts won’t – the yolk can completely set at about 70C. Nov 27, 2018 at 11:28 @David Richerby I agree. Better to get a fresh one. Nov 27, 2018 at 17:29

You can “steam” the egg instead. use a separator/sieve to suspend the egg above the boiling water in the pan. It will take longer than boiling to completely cook the egg. answered Nov 28, 2018 at 8:49

Will hard boiled eggs spin?

What you need:

• a hard boiled egg
• a raw egg
• a hard surface

What to do:

1. Spin the hard boiled egg. Then spin the raw egg.
2. Notice the speed at which they spin and which one stops first.
3. Spin the hard boiled egg – once it is moving, touch it to make it stop spinning.
4. Now spin the raw egg – once it is moving, touch it to make it stop. What happens?

https://youtu.be/FBvSafhoV8k What happens: The hard boiled egg spins for much longer (and faster) than the raw egg. This is because the inside is solid, so the entire thing is one solid mass. The raw egg has liquid on the inside, which is not attached to the shell.

The liquid inside it much harder to spin, and it slows the egg down much faster. However, when you stop the spinning eggs, the hard boiled egg will stop instantly. The raw egg will stop, but then will start spinning again on its own. This is because the insides don’t stop spinning once the shell is stopped, so it makes the entire thing start spinning again (though it doesn’t last long!).

Back to Home Science activities.

Can you overcook hard boiled eggs?

How to Know When Your Hard-Boiled Egg Is Overcooked – Depending on how you like your eggs done, a boiled egg should ideally cook for between 9 to 12 minutes (if you want a hard-boiled egg) to avoid overcooking it. Here’s a look at some signs that’ll indicate you’ve overcooked your hard-boiled egg:

1. The first (and most obvious) sign that you’ve overcooked your hard-boiled egg is when you cut the egg open. The yolk will have a grayish/white or bluish/green tinge to it. It’ll also be crumbly and fall apart.
2. The second sign is the strong (and unpleasant) sulfur smell that comes from the eggs.
3. Your egg will be very rubbery and pretty tasteless.
4. The yolk becomes quite chalky and difficult to swallow as it sticks to your throat.

Did You Know: Overcooked hard-boiled eggs release a mineral called iron sulfide, which is also found in rocks.