Ever wonder how long to cook eggs in the shell to get the perfect hard boiled egg without the green ring?  How long are they good in the fridge?  Does it matter if they’re still in the shell or peeled?  Well, keep reading…

According to FDA.gov, use or eat hard boiled eggs, both peeled and in the shell, within one week.  They also recommend that once the eggs are boiled, either eat, use or put in the refrigerator withing 2 hours.  An interesting idea that they brought up was freezing eggs.  Never thought about that.  They recommend not freezing them in their shells, but to beat the egg yolks and egg whites together and put into a freezer safe container.  Use frozen eggs within one year.  You can also freeze just the egg whites the same way.  I love learning new ideas!

Boiling eggs is not always easy since you can’t cut into it to see if it’s done or how done it is.  No one wants to cut into a boiled egg and see that green ring around the yolk.  Since I have several recipes that include boiled eggs, I’ve had folks ask me how I boil mine.  This is the best way I know!  The eggs I’m showing here are USDA large size eggs.

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Here’s how I boil eggs.

Hard Boiled Eggs

Put large eggs in a pot.  Cover them with cold water to about an inch above the eggs.

Bring them to a boil over medium heat.  Let them boil for 2 minutes.

Turn off the burner and cover.  Let stand 15 minutes.

Drain off the hot water and run cold water over the eggs.  I usually drain off the first run of cold water because the pot will still be hot and repeat with cool water a couple more times.

Run more cold water over the eggs and add some ice to to help cool off the eggs quickly.  Let stand several minutes to allow the eggs to cool throughout.

They are ready to peel when they’re cool to the touch.

That’s it!  Do you have an interesting way of making hard boiled eggs?  I would love to hear them!

Besides just eating hard boiled eggs, I use them in several recipes.  I add them to my Chicken Pot Pie and Spinach Salad.  Check out those recipes!

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Here’s the printer friendly recipe.