How to Boil Eggs – 6 Easy Ways to Hard Boil Eggs

Hard boiled eggs are arguably the perfect food. They make for a great breakfast on top of toast, lunch turned into egg salad, afternoon snack sprinkled with salt, or dinner thrown into some fancy looking ramen or on top of a hearty salad! Part of adulthood is figuring out how to boil eggs… And luckily, I’ve put together six different ways to hard boil an egg so that you can choose whichever option seems easiest for you.

Important Note: In every single one of these methods, the eggs become very hot. Please be careful when handling the eggs and other items that you will be using to cook them!

In this Article:

How to Boil an Egg Cheat Sheet (Printable)
How to Make Perfect Easy to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs
What are the Best Egg Cookers on Amazon?
How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs in the Oven
How to Hard Boil an Egg in a Microwave
Instructions for Hard Boiled Eggs in an Instant Pot
How to Boil an Egg in a Crockpot

How to Boil Eggs Cheat Sheet (Printable)

How to Make Perfect Easy to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Somehow my mom has mastered the art of making hard boiled eggs. She always chuckles when I marvel at her ability to simply boil eggs on the stove top without having to Google “how to boil eggs” first. As you already know, we’ll be covering many different ways to hard boil an egg; but since a boiling pot of water is the most traditional method… let’s start there!

Instructions for How to Boil Eggs on the Stove

Put eggs in a pot or sauce pan (don’t overcrowd them)
Add cold water until eggs are covered by an inch or two
Add a teaspoon of salt
Turn on high heat and bring water to a rolling boil
Once boiling, turn off the heat but keep the pot on the burner
Cover and let sit for 10-12 minutes
Run cold water over the eggs

What are the Best Egg Cookers on Amazon?

My life changed after buying an inexpensive egg cooker off of Amazon. I mean… it didn’t change drastically, but having an egg cooker has allowed me to make hard boiled eggs more often without having to use any pots, baking sheets, or bowls. I bought my sister an egg cooker from Amazon for Christmas, and she has now also agreed that this little appliance is a game-changer 🙂

An egg cooker is simply a steamer type appliance. You add water to the bottom of the cooker, poke tiny holes in the top of each egg (with the protected needle that comes with the egg cooker), close the lid, plug it in, and it’ll alert you when your eggs are ready! I also love that my egg cooker allows me to choose how hard or soft boiled I want my eggs by simply changing the amount of water that I add. It comes with a tiny measuring cup with clear labels on it – it’s seriously fool-proof!

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Best Egg Cookers of 2020 on Amazon

Dash Rapid Egg Cooker: 6 Egg Capacity Electric Egg Cooker for Hard Boiled Eggs, Poached Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, or Omelets with Auto Shut Off Feature
Dash DEC012AQ Deluxe Rapid Egg Cooker: Electric, 12 Capacity for Hard Boiled, Poached, Scrambled, Omelets, Steamed Vegetables, Seafood, Dumplings & More with Auto Shut Off Feature
Maxi-Matic EGC-007: Easy Electric Egg Poacher, Omelet, Scrambled, Soft, Medium, Hard-Boiled Boiler Cooker with Auto Shut-Off and Buzzer, Measuring Cup Included, 7 Capacity
Cuisinart CEC-10 Egg Central: Egg Cooker, Brushed Stainless Steel
Hamilton Beach Electric Egg Cooker: and Poacher for Soft, Hard Boiled or Poached with Ready Timer, Holds 7

How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs in the Oven

Before buying my egg cooker, my favorite method was to make hard boiled eggs in the oven. (Sidenote: I also make bacon in the oven because it minimizes the smell and mess of bacon grease and cooks it beautifully!) It just felt easier to put the eggs in the oven and set a timer instead of trying to babysit a boiling pot of water. I know, I know… boiling water is nothing difficult, but I’m all about taking the easiest route in the kitchen!

This option is also great for when you need to hard boil dozens of eggs at a time – like for Easter. You’ll need some eggs for the kids to decorate and eggs to serve while hosting Easter brunch!

{ READ: The Easiest Way for Kids to Decorate Easter Eggs }

Instructions for Hard Boiled Eggs in the Oven

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Use a muffin pan and place one egg in each circle
Bake in oven for 30 minutes
Immediately put the eggs in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes (to stop the cooking process)

Note: The eggs will often come out of the oven with brown spots on the shell, but this does not affect the flavor of the hard boiled eggs. You may also need to experiment with setting your oven to a slightly lower temperature if your oven tends to run hot.

How to Hard Boil an Egg in a Microwave

Yes. You can hard boil an egg in the microwave. And you know that I had to go try it out for myself! As you can gather, if you can use something to boil water, you can use it to boil an egg – including your microwave. This is a method that I could see the kids having fun with too – just be careful when removing boiling water from the microwave!

Instructions How to Boil Eggs in the Microwave

Fill a microwave safe bowl with water
Microwave the water until hot (about 3 minutes)
Stir in a tablespoon of salt
Place eggs in the bowl and cover
Switch the microwave to 50% power and microwave for 8 minutes
Place bowl in sink and let cold water run over the eggs to help cool them down

How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs in an Instant Pot

I think I am the only mom on the block that doesn’t own an instant pot so I had to go do some research for this one! From what I here, you can use these handy appliances to make just about anything so I wasn’t surprised to find that many people are using their instant pot to make hard boiled eggs!

Instructions for Using an Instant Pot to Make Hard Boiled Eggs

Pour 1 cup of cold water into the inner pot of the pressure cooker
Carefully place eggs on the top of the rack
Seal the instant pot
Set for 5 minutes on high pressure
Then let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes
Release any remaining pressure by carefully switching the vent knob to “vent” position
Remove the eggs from the instant pot and put them in a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes

How to Boil an Egg in a Crockpot

There was a time in my life where I used my crockpot on a daily basis. The house always smelled like a mixture of whatever was cooking for dinner, which meant that the house usually smelled like onions – not ideal. Even though I’ve moved away from using the crockpot as regularly, I still understand the appeal of it! Making hard boiled eggs in a crockpot seems like a great idea – especially if you have to make a large batch of them.