Monday, May 30, 2011

Got EGGS?

I love a good hard-boiled egg.  The emphasis here is on the word good.  It is SO hard to get a good hard boiled egg.  It is almost impossible.  I am forever grateful to Alton Brown for teaching me an easier way to make PERFECT hard-boiled eggs - don't boil them at all BAKE THEM!  A few years ago for some event I got this book (and you can too, just click the link)---

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This book is part recipe book/ part food science manual.  Alton goes into the how and why of cooking.   I was always good at Chemistry in high school and college so Alton Brown's descriptive science teacher style really communicated to me. 

Alton Brown's recipe for Baked Hard Cooked Eggs is the best recipe you can use.  You can find a printable version of this recipe - click here. (I found it on Food.com.)  Baked eggs are better because they are less sulfurous (smelly) and the texture of the finished eggs is creamier.  They are really delicious!  You will be amazed!

Alton Brown's Baked Eggs

Prep Time: 2 min.
Total Time: 32 min.

Ingredients: 

2 - 4 dozen eggs

Directions:


  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Position the oven racks in the center of the oven.
  2. Place the eggs parallel to the bars on the racks.  (see picture below)
  3. Place a baking sheet pan in the bottom of the oven (just in case an egg breaks).  I have never had a mess in my oven in all the times I have made this recipe.  I have had eggs break, but they cooked inside when they do so there is no mess
  4. Bake for 30 minutes.
  5. When the eggs are done, fill a large bowl with ice water and move the eggs into the bowl.  I do this a few minutes ahead of time to make sure the water is COLD!
  6. Peel the eggs as soon as they're cool enough to handle, then return them to the ice water to thoroughly chill.  I think that the eggs are easier to peel if they are allowed to chill in the water for at least 10 minutes.  Also, I peel the eggs under cool running water.  
 This recipe works best with the freshest eggs you can find.

Here are some photos of the process:
See? Parallel to the bars of the rack.  I baked them for YEARS going the other way and I was always worried that they were going to roll around and break.  Sheesh!  I wish I'd figured out this little bit of Physics before. 

Prepping the ice water.  As you can see, I needed to get rid of the strange icy clump in the bottom of my ice dispenser.  It worked very nicely.  Thank you for asking. 

Close Up!  These brown spots on the shells are NORMAL!  They dissolve right off in the ice water. 

Remove the eggs from the oven with spring-loaded tongs or  a heavy duty oven mitt. 

Chilling in the ice water.  See the egg in the bottom right corner, the brown spots are disappearing right before your eyes. 

Store the eggs in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  There are small brown spots on the egg whites.  This is NORMAL and does not affect the flavor of the eggs. 
Now that you have these eggs, what can you do with them?  How about this:


Yummy, Yummy Potato Salad
 or some of these:


Delectable Deviled Eggs


Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of my mini-series on EGGS.  I will share my recipes for Delectable Deviled Eggs and Tanya's Potato Salad.  Delicious!  I can hardly wait!  

To see part 2 of my egg miniseries click HERE

UPDATE: If you only need to make a few eggs, I show you Alton Brown's method for steaming eggs HERE.  The eggs are not quite as great as baking them, but they are still drool-worthy! Check it out!  

Elsewhere at The Asylum, I share my recipe for egg salad HERE. I even made some crafty eggs for Easter HEREBUT - If you really, really want to boil your eggs - I show you how I boil mine HERE!

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Thanks for visiting! 

85 comments:

Sara said...

OOOh I want to try this asap--mostly for that pic of delicious deviled eggs!! Thanks!

Erin said...

Oh my gosh. Who would have ever guessed? Surely not me! How cool!

Christy said...

Now that is just too cool! Thanks for sharing.

Just Jaime said...

WHO KNEW! That is a great trick! Thanks for sharing!

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

I've never heard of this...but I LOVE eggs! How interesting! ♥

Fonda @Southern Scraps said...

I've never heard of this, but it's extremely interesting, and those deviled eggs look great.

Korrie@RedHenHome said...

I have NEVER EVER heard of baking eggs! It's (obviously) just crazy enough to work! Great idea.
Thanks for your kind comment at Red Hen Home!

Unknown said...

What a great idea! I would never have guessed that you could do this!

Jenny said...

I'm off to turn the oven on. I would never, ever, ever have tried this! Wish me luck!

Anonymous said...

no need to peel your eggs. tap the top and tap the bottom peel a small piece of shell away from each tap. blow into the small end like you are blowing a balloon,you will feel the shell give and hear a sound. out comes the egg. the film inside the shell keeps any germs from the egg.

Anonymous said...

I know this is a silly question but can you do eggs for decorating this way ?

Tasty Eats At Home said...

So can you leave them in their shells to peel later - and will they peel just as easily? I'm going to HAVE to try this.

Kelly Lamb aka Sew Lambitious LLC said...

I'm looking forward to trying this out! Thank you!
Kelly on FB
Sew Lambitious on FB
Kelly on Pinterest

Steve @ the black peppercorn said...

Wow - this is a completely new concept for me. I love Alton Brown. I will definitely try this later in the week!

Tara @ Tales of a Trophy Wife said...

I'm going to try this. THanks

KensHappyWife said...

When they are still warm?

Brianna said...

Worked like a charm! Thanks for the awesome tip!

Trish said...

Is it absolutely necessary to peel them or can you decorate them for Easter use?

AsylumTanya said...

I have never tried decorating the baked eggs for Easter use. Try it and let me know how it works for you!

Anonymous said...

Does it make a difference if the oven is gas or??? electric

AsylumTanya said...

I have an electric oven. I have not tried it in a gas oven. I do not think it would make a difference.

Lisa Chin said...

Just found you and this post through pinterest. What a great idea! It seems everything is better baked than boiled! Have you ever baked your bacon? So yummy and so much less messy!

AsylumTanya said...

I ALWAYS bake my bacon!

Anonymous said...

How long will the eggs last in the refrigerator? I so want to try this! :)

AsylumTanya said...

I have kept them for a week, but usually I eat them too quickly! I can't say exactly how long they will last.

ErinandBill said...

I assume you could make this a "soft boiled" egg by baking it for less time? Has anyone tried this? Thanks!

AsylumTanya said...

I have always wanted to try this, but I never have. I think I'll fire up the oven next week and give it a go!

Anonymous said...

I tried this the other day. I wrote a blog post about it too, but one tip I would say is make sure your eggs are not touching. The place where they touched didn't cook as well. I hope this helps fellow egg bakers.
http://roanemama.blogspot.com/2012/03/baking-instead-of-boiling.html

Christi B said...

My eggs are baking as I type this and I can't wait to see how they turn out. Only problem I ran into is that my oven racks are too widely spaced for some of the eggs...so some of my eggs are parallel and some are not :) I'm using "large" eggs but probably wouldn't have the problem with "extra large" or "jumbo"...

Anonymous said...

I love Alton Brown! I've never seen this before though. I am soooo going to try it.
I found you through Pinterest, by the way.

Nelgkel said...

I am trying this right now!! I really like the way my boiled eggs come out, but am always up for new ideas! I have chickens, so have supply of fresh eggs! When I boil my eggs I do so from room temperature, do you know if this recipe is starting from room temperature eggs or refrigerated eggs? THANKS!! Will post back my results~ I am using a gas convection oven, so cooking at 300degrees, also going to cook for a tad less time for more soft boiled.. can't wait to see how it works!

AsylumTanya said...

I have always used cold eggs for this recipe. I hope you are successful!

cjeter said...

If you are only doing a dozen is it still the same amount if baking time and same temp?

Anonymous said...

I tried this today and didn't have a lot of success. Most of my eggs ended up cracked - with one of them leaking. Do they need to be room temperature before going in the oven? I'm thinking that may have been the problem - too quick of a temperature change?

AsylumTanya said...

I am sorry that you had these problems. Definitely y it again with room temperature eggs, and let me know if you are successful.

Unknown said...

Frizzled farm just shared this on FB, so awesome! Pinning and following on GFC. Your FB button isn't working but I'll hunt you down.

cupsbykim said...

I am so glad I found this! I have the same problem boiling them! I am trying this NOW!!

Anonymous said...

325 degrees? Is that an Australian electric oven?

AsylumTanya said...

I live in the U.S. 325* F is the same as 163* C.

Jealith said...

I know someone said blow threw the shell of the egg to loosen it for pealing but please if you are serving anyone but yourself don't spit on my eggs! I do not think blowing your germs all over someone else's
food is a good idea EW!

jkworth said...

I had to comment because what caught my eye was the picture of your oven with the eggs on the rack. I would have sworn that it was my oven. Down to the heavy pizza stone and the cooking stains on it. Any way, good tip and will have to try this out for my wife who loves them.

MOG said...

OMGhee! I just tried this method and LOVE IT! The eggs are creamy and the yokes are nice an yellow and don't have that green tint on the outside. None of my eggs broke in the oven. This is my new method of making hard boiled eggs from now on. Thank you so much.

Kassie said...

Did anyone find out if they could dye these eggs?

AsylumTanya said...

I have never tried to dye them, but there shouldn't be any reason why you could not. Give it a try!

Anonymous said...

How far in advance can I do this if I peel the shells off?? I would like to make in advance and then make deviled eggs on Easter...one less thing to do the day of :)

AsylumTanya said...

I would bake and peel the eggs no more than three days ahead of time, but don't make the deviled eggs until Easter.

Baby Burd said...

Great idea! Think I'll place some in a muffin tin and see how that works. It would certainly assist in placement and removal of the eggs.

AsylumTanya said...

Be aware that if you use a muffin tin to make your eggs easier to move, you are changing the way the heat will be conducted into the egg during the baking process. I cannot guarantee you will be successful. Let me know what happens. I am curious!

Daniel Veazey said...

I just now tried this after reading your blog. My mom kept worrying that the eggs would explode, but I did my best to keep her calm. Everything turned out well. The eggs were tasty, but I couldn't really tell much difference from a traditionally hard-boiled egg. Perhaps the white had a slightly silkier texture, I'm not sure. But overall it was good. Thanks for the idea.

Nathan Rudy said...

The cook time is a lot more than 32 minutes if you include the peeling and ice water.

Trying this tonight. Hope it works.

xoxo GB said...

Doesn't anyone eat their hard boiled eggs warm?

Karen said...

I just made these and only had 7 eggs. I think someone asked if you could do it with less and mine cooked perfectly. They didn't look too pretty when I peeled them (not smooth and round and have the burn spots from the oven rack) so I personally wouldn't make deviled eggs with them, but the egg salad I made was delicious!

AsylumTanya said...

For more esthetically pleasing eggs (or if you are only making a few) try STEAMING them. I did a post about that method too. Here is the link - http://greetingsfromtheasylum.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-am-steamed.html This is also an Alton Brown method. The yolks are not as creamy as with baked eggs, but peeling is always a snap!

Anonymous said...

I tried this today and it worked great! Cooked perfectly. Thanks for sharing!

sf said...

Why do you recommend using the "freshest" eggs? Don't the shells stick to the white unless they have a few days of age?

AsylumTanya said...

When I refer to the freshest eggs, I am referring to recently store-bought eggs. If you get your eggs straight from the source, you may need to wait a few days before baking them. If you don't, you will still get delicious eggs, but the shells could stick a little when peeling.

Mysty said...

Is the ice water step necessary if you aren't going to peel them right away? It's been so long since I boiled an egg, seems like I always ran cool water over them. I just plan on putting them in the fridge to snack on.

AsylumTanya said...

The ice water step is necessary even if you aren't going to peel them right away. The icy water stops the cooking process and helps the membrane to pull away from the egg white, thus making them easier to peel. Make sure the water is COLD, even if you aren't going to do the peeling immediately.

jenbaum said...

JUST finished making these, and have never peeled an egg more easily in my entire life. You have restored my love for hard boiled eggs! Wahoozie! Thank you for sharing your brilliance!!!

Anonymous said...

My racks in my stove are too wide for the eggs so I am using a broiler pan; which is a slotted plan that fits over a bottom pan (I am removing the bottom pan for better air flow. I am placing the eggs in the slits; so there is still air moving under them; probably not as good as the oven rack, but I have not choice. I will repost if it doesn't turn out, otherwise assume they did:)

Mary said...

6 cold eggs, 325 degree gas oven, 30 minutes, 10 minute cold bath and the result...the easiest peel and best tasting hard cooked egg I have ever had! My next batch of deviled eggs will be better than any before. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Apparently you can't skip the ice water step or leave it until later. I tried and you can't get the shells off, they splinter into tiny pieces and stick like glue to the white part of the egg. Attempts at picking each tiny piece off one at a time just ripped apart the white part of the egg. Running them under water didn't help either.

AsylumTanya said...

Yes, the ice water bath is essential to making this recipe work. You can store the eggs in their shells for later use, but you
must use the ice bath first. The ice bath is what stops the cooking process of the eggs, makes the shells easy to remove, and keeps the grey ring from forming on the yolk.

Anonymous said...

So....I decided as soon as I saw this to try it. But, the space between the wires on my rack in the oven are too wide! :) So I had to do it the tricky way, here's hoping no one bumps the oven! Oh and I only wanted to do a few eggs, so hopefully that will work.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great idea if you're making several eggs at once! A tip for a delicious hard boiled egg if you're only making a few: Put the eggs in the water before you turn on the heat and then start timing them when the water starts boiling (10 minutes for hard boiled). Makes a huge difference in the taste. I'm going to have to try the ice water trick for easy peeling :)

Unknown said...

Saw this on Pinterest and gave it a try because we really like Alton Brown! :) They turned out great! I'm currently blogging my way through 365 days of Pinterest, and yours was today's "project" :) I linked to you directly! Thanks!

Unknown said...

Oops- forgot to mention the blog address! 365ishpins.blogspot.com

onacliff said...

I tried this today with 9 eggs from a carton showing the "Best By" date as 3 days from now so they were not the freshest. (I always heard that it's best to use eggs that are not so fresh for easiest peeling.) I turned the eggs on the racks halfway through baking and still got small light brown marks on the eggs where they touched the racks, but that does not bother me much at all. They peeled the easiest of any I have boiled in 40 years!!!

Alyssa said...

Two of my eggs exploded. I heard a loud popping sound that sounded like a gunshot and ran to the kitchen to find tiny pieces of eggshell all over my oven.

I used a toaster oven, figuring since I was doing such a small batch of eggs, 325 degrees was 325 degrees regardless of the oven size, right? Not so. Apparently it is best to stick with a normal oven. Other than that, great recipie!

Christine said...

I'm doing this for the second time tonight, because it worked so well the first time.

I'm not a big fan of eggs, but my family loves them. This makes it so much easier for me to stomach them, and they said they're the best they've had!

Thanks!

ybyrg said...

You never said what TEMP!!!

Please tell us.

AsylumTanya said...

The temperature information is in step #1.

Anonymous said...

How would you alter the directions when using a six slice counter top oven? Would you use the convection bake setting?

AsylumTanya said...

This recipe is not designed for a countertop or toaster oven. These type of ovens are unreliable for cooking eggs at a consistent temperature.

AsylumTanya said...

Knitting Nana: Do not change the temperature or cooking time. I would suggest that you follow the directions on the website and not the abbreviated directions often found with Pinterest posts. Also, see the earlier comments concerning freshness of eggs. In addition, the ice bath should be VERY COLD. A very cold ice bath will help in the peeling process.

Lori said...

I just tried this method and it's great. I would, however, say that the eggs come out (after being peeled), with a slight yellowish tinge. I wonder if that had anything to do with the temperature oven was set on (325 F), or the length of time in the oven (30 minutes), or that they were not fresh eggs (they came from Target).

Stacia said...

Can't wait to try this!! Love boiled eggs, but I can never get them right.

oilcitygirl said...

Finally! A way to unseat my hubby who has crowned himself the King of Hard Boiled Eggs. I can see it now: his crumbled little shells, tough, mis-shapen whites and green rimmed crumbly yokes, next to my silky smooth, orbs of delightful white, perfections of texture, melting in his smug little mouth. Eggs, don't let me down!
oilcitygirl. January 3, 2013: the games are on!

Anonymous said...

I just tried this and I ended up with brown rubbery whites which I had to peel off so basically I was left with the yoke of the egg.
Any help as to what happened or how to fix it? Thanks

AsylumTanya said...

I am guessing that your eggs are too old. I have never seen that happen before. I really am stumped. :)

Unknown said...

My racks were too wide also. I put the cookie cooling racks on the oven rack and viola - perfection. They're in the oven now with 20 minutes to go. I have high hopes that all will turn out well.

Unknown said...

Trying this with convection oven. Lowered temp to 300 and like a soft boiled egg so trying 25 min. Will see how it goes...hope this works.

Carrie said...

There were a bunch of comments asking if you could do this method and then dye them for Easter. I just wanted to share that we just did! I blogged about it here: http://pumpkinsandjunebugs.blogspot.com/2013/03/hard-baked-eggs-huh.html

Anonymous said...

I just made your hard boiled eggs..They were so easy and came out great..Thank you for the great idea.

Anonymous said...

Non ci posso credere!!!