Home Ec. 101: To Boil or Bake an Egg?
Did you know that boiling an egg isn’t the only option you have to produce delicious hard-cooked eggs? I had no idea you could bake an egg until the first time I made Easter Bread. I was amazed to learn that you can put a cold, raw, egg in the oven and within about 30 minutes, have a perfectly cooked egg. With Easter fast approaching and Easter Egg coloring on the top of many of our to-do lists for the upcoming week, I thought I would go over the basics of both boiling and baking the perfect egg.
Boiling Eggs
If you do a quick google search on how to boil eggs, you will get the same basic result from every source, with a few minor variations. Here is the basic recipe in bold, with variations or suggestions in italics:
- Place eggs in a single layer at the bottom of a sauce pan.
- Cover with cool water. Some suggest having at least 1 inch of water above the eggs.
- At this point some suggest either adding a small amount of vinegar or salt to prevent cracks and egg white leakage. Vinegar may alter the taste of your egg, so salt may be your best option.
- Bring water to a boil and let cook for 2 minutes.
- Remove sauce pan from heat and cover. Let sit for 12-15 minutes covered.
- Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and cool. It is suggested that for easiest pealing you should bathe the eggs in ice water until completely cooled and then peel under a running faucet.
I have been boiling eggs for years, but for some reason it never occurred to me to place the eggs in the pan before the water. Typically I would get a nice boil going and then place the eggs in the water. Obviously this would result in a few broken eggs 
with each batch. I just thought this was the way things were, and tried earnestly to place the eggs gingerly into the water (without burning myself). Now that I know how to properly boil the eggs, I have had much better luck with every egg coming out perfectly.
Boiling produces the prettiest eggs in my opinion. This method would be best for those eggs you wish to make pretty creations like deviled eggs out of. It is also a quicker method, though you are limited to the size of your pan for how many eggs you can make at once.
Baking Eggs
Baked eggs… who knew? This method is very simple and gives you the ability to cook a lot of eggs at once. Here are the instructions:
- Place your oven racks in the middle of the oven.
- Put a baking sheet on the bottom rack to catch any mess in case an egg breaks.
- Place eggs on the top rack parallel to the lines of the rack so that they don’t roll around on you.
- Set oven at 325 degrees (that’s right, do not preheat).
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven with an oven mitt and place in a large bowl of ice water.
- Once eggs are completely cooled, peel under cool water faucet.
This method gets the award for best tasting egg. Is it possible that one hard-cooked egg could taste better than another? Yes. Baked eggs are creamier tasting than boiled. For this reason, I would recommend using this method for eggs that you are going to pre-bake and peal and keep in the fridge for salads, quick breakfasts, or snacks.
When you use this method you will notice that small spots of brown appear on each egg as they bake. These spots will disappear when you place them in the ice water (believe me). However, some eggs may have light brown spots on the actual egg white beneath. For this reason I don’t recommend using this method for deviled eggs or such dishes that require perfectly white eggs.
Because you can cook so many eggs at once, I would definitely recommend the baking method for coloring easter eggs.
Happy egg cooking!
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