Meat and Cheese are the two most expensive categories in my grocery budget. I keep costs down by choosing less expensive proteins a few times a week like eggs. While I’m not a fan of vegan protein alternatives like tofu and TVP, I do enjoy fresh or dry roasted edamame.
If someone in my home developed food allergies to all dairy and eggs I’d consider tofutti. Until then…. nope.
Eggs, on the other hand, are little compact nuggets of serious nutrition. 2 large eggs have 140 calories, 12g of protein, and everything necessary to grow a chick = lots of nutrients. Plus at $1.50 a dozen, a serving of 2 eggs is only $.25.
We like to have hard boiled eggs on hand for snacking. They are also great chopped on top of a chef’s salad, in egg salad, potato salad, tuna salad, creamed eggs over biscuits, deviled (stuffed) eggs….you get the idea.
Boiled eggs are easy to cook, but may not be so easy to peel. When eggs are freshly laid, they are slightly acidic which makes the shell stick tightly to the albumin in the egg white and impossible to peel cleanly. The hen covers her eggs with a protective coating as they are laid which keeps this acidic level intact and the egg fresh outside the fridge for 10 days.
Commercial eggs have the protective coating washed off. This allows the natural CO2 trapped in the egg to dissipate through the porous shell reducing the acidity and the stickiness of the shell. Commercial eggs will ripen in the refrigerator to be easy to peel in about 10 days. By the time they reach our homes commercial eggs are typically perfectly ripe.
If you have your own hens, you’ll need to wash the eggs you hope to boil with warm water and a soft cloth before storing in the fridge. Label them so you’ll be able to tell the date they will be ready to boil and peel (10 days ripened.) Oiling the eggs for storage will make it impossible for them to ripen to easy peel stage.
We enjoy steaming our eggs instead of boiling them in water. They don’t crack since they aren’t in the rocking boiling water to knock them around. We think they are easier to peel than boiled eggs and don’t have the grayish green line separating the yolk from the white, unless we forget about them and over do it.
I use our combo steamer/slow cooker/rice cooker to do it, because it automatically starts timing when the water comes to a boil and sets of an alarm when they are done. I simply fill the bottom with 2 inches of water, fill the top basket with eggs, set it to steam for 15 minutes and go to something productive.
When the alarm sounds , I use oven mitts to lift out the steamer basket and plunge it into a sink of cold water to stop the cooking process. When they are cool enough to handle, I tap and roll the eggs on a paper towel (or cloth towel) to break up the shell, then slip a spoon between the shell and the egg. The spoon curves with the egg keeping it protected and the peel slips off pretty quickly this way. If the spoon doesn’t slide well, I oil the tip with a touch of olive oil.
How about you, does peeling eggs frustrate you? Do you have a family tradition for making eggs easy to peel?
This is the first time I have ever heard about the coating on the egg. It is a very frustrating time to peel farm fresh eggs. Thank you for this information. I can’t wait to peel us some eggs!
Sherrie, it explains why no matter how long I let my farm eggs age, they wouldn’t peel. We worked hard to keep that protective coating intact to keep the eggs fresh, not realizing it was keeping them from peeling well. Live and learn ;). Now I only wash the ones I hope to peel.
Love this especially the steaming. Brilliant!
Thanks, Liz. I hope it saves you some time.
Hi Angela,
I don’t have a steamer, but I just rinse the egg imediately in cold water adn it peals right off.
I do like keeping them on hand, dud?? I never thought of boiling more than I needed?? Thank you for all your good ideas!
Luanne, It’s so nice to have them ready to go and they keep a long time in the fridge. My mom doesn’t have an electric steamer but uses a steaming basket in her pan. I love that my electric steamer lets me walk away. I don’t have to watch for the boil to start the timer. My crock pot broke and it didn’t cost any more than a typical crock pot to get the 3 in one appliance. I use it more than I thought I would.
We don’t have a steamer, but my favorite way to hard “boil” an egg has been the oven. Turn oven to 325. Set eggs in muffin tin. (I like using mini muffin tins the best but any muffin tin will do) Bake for 30 mins. Immediately put them in a bowl of ice water to set for 10-15 minutes. Dry and store in fridge. They peel beautifully!
I had no idea you can steam eggs! I don’t have a steamer but this is so neat to know. Our hens lay eggs for us, I didn’t know the tip about getting them to peel easily. I just thought I was doing it wrong! Now I know we need to wash them. I usually do not wash our eggs so they keep that coating. I can’t wait to give this a try next time we have hard boiled eggs.
Saw your link at This is How We Roll.
Nicole, thanks for stopping by! That’s so cool that you have your own hens. It’s on my to do list 🙂
Angela,
I like to take my hard boiled eggs and run them under cold water then I put them in a jar with water and shake it. It cracks the egg and it peels really easy. Best method I have found yet. 🙂 Thanks for your idea I will try it.
Deana, That sounds nice and simple. Good tip!
Thank you Deana , awesome tip .
Thanks for the info on the steamer. I have the exact same appliance but have never used the steam setting. I like using the brown rice setting. I haven’t heard about the coating on the egg so thanks for explaining that.
I love that appliance! I use it every day for something–slow cooking, steaming or rice/quinoa. To use the steam, just keep pressing the steam button until the desired time appears in the display. It will automatically start after a few seconds of no new commands.
Here’s a method a friend recently taught me…works like a charm! Amazing! Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Gently lower your eggs into the boiling water. Turn the heat down a bit and let simmer for 12 minutes. Quickly plunge the eggs into cold water and let chill for a several minutes. Peels easy peasy. I guess maybe the sudden cold-to hot- to cold thing makes the shell contract and come off easier? When you put them in the boiling water, I usually get one that cracks a little, but it’s not a big deal. In the boiling water, the white cooks quickly and kind of “seals” itself, and they still turn out ok.
Oh, I have that same rice cooker/steamer so I’ll have to try this. Ours gets regular use too. Being GF means we eat a lot of rice and veggies and it works perfectly for steaming broccoli while white rice cooks, lol. How have I never heard of STEAMING eggs?!
Yay, Dani! I hope this makes your life easier.
Brilliant! Thank you. This is quite the time saver with a popular item at our house. Tried it twice now with this method and give it a FULL thumbs up!
Yay Robin! I’m glad it worked for you too!