How to Hard Boil and Peel Eggs (Even Farm Fresh!)

Have you ever wanted to know how to hard boil and peel eggs the easy way? Including farm fresh eggs? Today I want to share how I hard boil and peel eggs, even farm fresh eggs! It’s all about steaming the eggs and not really boiling them at all. The method I’m sharing will give you perfect results every time so that you have perfectly peeled eggs.

Hard boiled and peeled eggs in a blue bowl sitting on a kitchen counter. The title of the picture is "How to Hard Boil and Peel Eggs."

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Have you ever tried to peel a hard boiled egg only to be left with a mess after you get the shell off? It’s not too pretty when that happens. I’ve tried boiling eggs with and without salt in the water, shocking the cooked eggs with ice water after boiling them, and nothing worked great. Especially for farm fresh eggs!

I want to share the easy method I found that steams the eggs so that the shell slips off easily every time.

How to Hard Boil or Steam Eggs

The trick here is that we are actually going to be steaming the eggs and not submerging the eggs in water to boil them. Here’s what you’ll need: your largest pot (even if you’re not doing that many eggs); smallest colander (that can fit inside your pot); a lid, and eggs.

A large stainless steel pot, a small stainless steel colander, and a stainless steel bowl of eggs sitting on a kitchen counter.

First, add a couple of inches of water into the bottom of your large pot.

A stainless steel pot with a couple inches of water in the bottom, sitting on a kitchen counter.

Next, add your small colander to your pot.

A stainless steel colander sitting inside a large stainless steel pot, sitting on a kitchen counter.

Then add as many eggs as you’d like with the point side of the egg pointed down. (This allows the yolk to be suspended in the middle of the whites.) Add the lid and have it venting.

A stainless steel colander sitting inside a large stainless steel pot and filled with eggs. The lid is on the pot so that it is venting.

Turn your stove burner on High and bring the water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, set your timer and steam your eggs for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and remove the lid. Let your eggs rest for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, gently lift the colander out of the pot so that the eggs sit down into the water. Add cold tap water to your pot so that the eggs are submerged.

Then take the eggs out one by one to start the peeling process.

How to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs (Including Farm Fresh Eggs!)

It’s important to peel your eggs while they’re still warm from the steaming process but cooled down enough to handle. If you let the eggs cool all the way down, the shells start to stick to the eggs again.

I’m going to be thorough here, as if you’ve never peeled a boiled egg before. (I’ve met people who have never peeled an egg before and they purchase them already peeled from a grocery store.)

Have a couple of empty bowls handy…one for the egg shells and one for the peeled eggs. If you keep chickens, you can feed them the egg shells for extra calcium.

A red bowl of egg shell peelings, a blue bowl of peeled hard boiled eggs, and a woman holding an egg with a brown shell.

Take an egg out of the pot and start smashing it on the counter, all the way around the shell.

A woman holding a hard boiled egg with a brown shell and crushing the shell on a kitchen counter. She is showing how to peel a hard boiled egg.

Then roll the egg under slight pressure with your hand so that you crack the shell everywhere.

A woman rolling a hard boiled egg across the kitchen counter.

Then feel around the egg and start pulling off the shell. You’ll notice on the blunt end (not the pointed end…as long as you steamed the egg with the point side down) that there will be an air bubble under the shell. I always start pulling off the shell at the blunt end first for this reason. Make sure you get the membrane just underneath the shell, too. The peeled egg should feel slippery under water.

A red bowl with egg shell peelings, a blue bowl with peeled eggs, and a woman holding a peeled egg in her hand.

Then rinse off your peeled egg and set it aside until you finish peeling all the eggs.

You’re all done! You should have beautifully peeled eggs.

They will store in the refrigerator for several days.

Ways to Eat Hard Boiled Eggs

You can always slice an egg in half, sprinkle some good sea salt on top, and eat it as a side with breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It’s wonderfully high in protein and packed with other nutrients. You can also make deviled eggs or use it in chicken salad, tuna salad, potato salad, or egg salad.