How to Make Steamed Hard Boiled Eggs

Three brown hard-boiled eggs in white egg cups.

How to Make Steamed Hard Boiled Eggs

Once you learn How to Make Steamed Hard-Boiled Eggs in 20 minutes and see how easy the eggs are to peel, you'll never look back!

Course Breakfast, lunch

Cuisine American

Diet Diabetic, Low Lactose, Low Salt

Cook Time 18

Ice bath 5

Total Time 23

Servings hard-boiled eggs

Calories 63kcal

Author Kristi

Equipment

1 saucepan with a steaming insert

Ingredients

9 large eggs or however many fit in a single layer in your steaming basket.
2 cups water or more, depending on the size of your pot.

Instructions

Add about 2 inches of water to your saucepan or pot. I add 2 cups of water to my 2.5-quart saucepan.
Place the steaming insert in the pan or pot, then carefully place the eggs in the steamer basket one at a time forming a single layer. There should be a little space around each egg.
9 large eggs
Heat the eggs over medium-high to high heat until the water starts to boil. Once the water starts to boil, set a timer for 18 minutes and reduce the heat to medium-high. The heat should be high enough that the water continues to boil as the eggs steam.
While the eggs are cooking, fill a large bowl with ice water.
When the eggs are finished cooking place the eggs in an ice bath right away. I use tongs with silicone tips to carefully remove the eggs and place them in the ice water to cool for about 5 minutes.
Remove the cooked eggs from the cold water and they are ready to eat!

Notes

The nutrition information provided on this recipe post is estimated using a database that this owner is not responsible for maintaining. Exact nutrient information will depend on the actual ingredients and amounts used when making this recipe (example: size of the eggs).

While the eggs are cooking, get a large bowl of ice water ready so you can give the eggs an 'ice bath' to cool them off quickly once they finish cooking.
In my experience, older eggs are easier to peel than freshly laid eggs. Even eggs from a local egg store peel well when I steam them. It's when I use the eggs from our own chickens within a few days of them being laid that they are hard to peel.
Make sure there is more than one inch of water in the pot. Two inches of water is an estimate. For reference, I use 2 cups of water when using my 2.5-quart saucepan with a steamer insert to hard-boil eggs.
You do not want to run out of water before the eggs finish cooking because the boiling water creates the steam needed to cook the eggs.
Hard-cooked eggs should be refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking and used within a week.
Some people say that the steaming time varies depending on the number of eggs you are hard-boiling at a time. I have not found this to be the case. I steam eggs for 18 minutes whether I'm making seven or 18 of them at a time.
If you are going to steam a second batch of hard-boiled eggs right away, be sure to dump out the hot water and place fresh cold water in the pot and start from step 1. I know you might want to make them in less time by keeping the water hot, but your eggs will likely get overcooked.
Cooking time may vary depending on the size of the egg. I hard boil large, extra-large, and jumbo eggs. I've never hard boiled super jumbo eggs. I would think they need to be steamed for a couple minutes longer.
I use tongs with a silicone heads to carefully remove the cooked eggs from the hot pan and place them in the bowl of cold water.
The smaller set that I use holds 9 eggs, while the larger pot that I use for hard boiling more eggs holds more than a dozen eggs.
Use a slotted spoon or your clean hands to remove the eggs from the water once they are completely cooled.

Nutrition