Baked (Not Hard-Boiled) Eggs
Monday, December 31, 2012 at 10:52AM 
I find myself a bit behind on my blogging this month, what with all the holiday craziness and the requisite post-Christmas cold. But I wanted to pop in and wish you a very Happy New Year and thank you all for being such awesome readers and supporters of this humble blog. You guys are just the best!
So until I can get my next post up, which I promise I’m working on, and it will be soon, I’ll share with you my new favorite way to “hard boil eggs”. Which, as you can see, requires no boiling.
I believe we have Alton Brown to thank for this incredibly genius idea, and genius it is, folks. So easy and a very big improvement over the traditional boiling method.
So, if you’re planning on making deviled eggs for your New Year’s party (which is required around here), or, like me, you just love hard-boiled eggs, you really must try this…
Just preheat your oven to 325 degrees and then place as many eggs as you would like directly on your oven racks (per above photo). Or you can place them in muffin tins, if you’d like. Then just bake them for 25 to 30 minutes. Every oven is different and mine seem to be done perfectly in 25 minutes. But I think most people have been letting them go the full 30 minutes.
Then just plunge them in ice water for 10 minutes. The peels just slip right off. No kidding, they really do. And then you can put them back in the ice water to continue chilling or use however you’d like. I found that if you put them in the refrigerator and peel them later, they don’t peel quite as easily.
And here’s an added bonus. They really do taste better. I did a side by side taste test with boiled vs baked eggs and could tell that baking the eggs really did make them taste better. Sort of more egg-y. Or something.
So that’s my little New Year’s tip for you guys. I wish you all a very Happy New Year’s Day and hope that the coming year brings you health, happiness and lots of great food. Here’s the recipe…
Patrice Berry
Just thought I would add a little note to this post... while this method of cooking eggs has worked really well for me (and several others of you out there), the fact is that oven temperatures vary (sometimes dramatically) and every egg seems to be different. I've come to believe that some eggs were born refusing to peel. Having said that, I think that if you have had trouble baking your eggs, but you still would like to make this method work, you might try reducing your oven temperature to 300. The original recipe from Alton Brown says to bake the eggs for 30 to 32 minutes, but I've found mine are cooked perfectly at 25. So I encourage you to just experiment with baking times and temperatures, and if you get stuck with eggs that are still hard to peel, I think they're just the ones that were going to be hard to peel no matter what. Personally, I won't be going back to boiling eggs again.
Reader Comments (23)
What a great idea! Can't wait to try it. Happy New Year to you too!
I saw this on another website a while ago but didn't really believe it would work. Now I'm going to have to do it. Happy New Year!
I've been cooking my eggs using this method for the past couple of months and I, too, will never boil my eggs again. This method makes perfect eggs every time.
Love this! Thanks and Happy New Year!
Just in time! I have to make 30 deviled eggs for a party tomorrow! Thanks so much!! And Happy New Year!
I tried this a couple of months ago after seeing it on Pinterest. I did mine in muffin tins. I heard a bunch of popping noises about 20 minutes into the cooking time and found that most of them had burst their shells. Not sure what I did wrong. The eggs tasted fine except they had a kind of scorch mark where the shells burst. I wonder if my oven runs hot...
That was my fear too, Robin. I wondered if the eggs would just explode in the oven, but they didn't. Perhaps the muffin tins hold the heat around the egg more than just placing them on the racks. There IS a bit of a scorch mark on each egg where it touches the oven rack, but I've had great luck with this method. It's possible your oven runs hot. If you try it again, I'd love to hear how they turn out. Nice to hear from you!
Does it matter if the eggs are cold - just out of the refrigerator - or room temperature before putting them in the oven. Does that make a difference whether they pop or not?
It may make a difference, Maureen. I put mine in cold from the fridge and take them out at 25 minutes and they are perfect. It makes sense that a room temperature egg would cook more quickly.
Just wanted to let you know that I tried this method to make deviled eggs for New Years and it worked like a dream! The eggs peeled easily, although a couple of them were still a bit stubborn. But this method felt so much simpler. I took mine out at 25 minutes and they were perfect - no gray ring around the yolk! Thanks so much for posting this. It's how I'll always be "hard boiling" my eggs from now on!
That's so great, Laura! Thanks for letting us know!
Loved this easy way of hard boiling eggs....baking them!!!! Who knew!!!
Only one problem, mine did not peel very easily....what's the secert??? I followed the instructions perfectly.
Help! Warmly, Carol from Chicago
Well, Carol, with my first batch of eggs, the peels came right off of every one. With subsequent batches, there have always been 1 or 2 stubborn ones, but on the whole, I've found that the eggs have been much easier to peel than when I've boiled them. I wonder if it doesn't have to do with the freshness of the eggs (i.e...the fresher the eggs, the harder they are to peel). I usually save my older eggs for hard boiling (or baking :)). I'm not sure that this was much help, but hopefully, over time you'll find them easier to peel. So great to hear from you!
Had to chime in here. I just "baked" 3 eggs in my toaster oven and like you said, the peels just slipped off of the eggs. This was so easy and how I will always cook my eggs from now on. My son likes soft boiled eggs and I'm going to try cooking those in the oven too. Do you think that will work?
Thanks for letting us know, Sandy! And I don't see why you couldn't soft-boil eggs using this method. If you try it, let us know how they come out.
This is possibly the worst recipe/technique ever. I tried it last night. Recipe was followed to the letter. Results were: One of the eggs exploded, none of the eggs were easily shelled, all the eggs had yellow-ish brown spots, none of them can be used in Deviled Eggs (maybe egg salad if I feel like picking out all those brown spots. Recommendation is: forget about this technique and boil your eggs. Sorry.
Well, gringoBob, I can't tell you how sorry I am that your eggs didn't come out. Sounds like a freakin' disaster to me. In defense of the recipe, I've made these numerous times with excellent results as have lots of other people. So, now I'm thinking that the one variable here, as with all recipes, is oven temperature. Some ovens run hotter than others, and if you think that's a possibility with your oven, I would timidly suggest that you give it another try, reducing the oven temperature to 300 degrees. Again, I'm really sorry. That must have been a bit of a mess to clean up in your oven. And a waste of some good eggs. :(
I will never hard boil eggs again. My eggs turned out beautifully with only a tiny little mark from the oven rack....no big deal! I'm curious to see how they will work with fresh eggs and I'll let you know as soon as my girls start laying again.
Thanks so much, Katie!! I'm really curious to know how this works with super fresh eggs from the coop. They're notoriously hard to peel!
I too tried the method and LOVED it! I love hard boiled eggs but have never been a fan of the boil and peel method. This method is fabulous, and the flavor of the eggs superb. The only odd thing that occurred for me were brown spots on the shells and some on the egg after peeling. I'm not sure if maybe I should cook less than 30 minutes maybe? Maybe the type of egg? I will experiment with brown eggs next. Thanks for the post!
I think everyone has noticed little brown spots on the eggs where they touch the oven rack, Jen. By only cooking mine for 25 minutes, the spots were barely noticeable. So great to hear from you, Jen!
Here's another way
No-peel (baked) eggs for egg salad: Peeling a lot of hard-cooked eggs for egg salad is unnecessary. You can cook them whole in a double boiler or preheated oven at 325 degrees. Crack whole eggs into a buttered or Pam'd dish, cover tightly. Eggs should be at least 1" deep but no more than 3" deep. Bake at 300 degrees or steam about 40 minutes until firm, cool immediately by placing baking pan in cold water. Chop or grate eggs for your preferred egg salad recipe.
Thanks for that great idea, Le Anne!