How to Soft-Boil and Hard-Boil Eggs

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I'm Kelly Senyai with epicurious.com

and this is how to soft- and hard-boil eggs.

We're gonna start with water in a heavy bottom sauce pot.

I'm gonna bring it to a boil.

Next, we're gonna add our eggs, using a slotted spoon.

You want to lower them into the water very slowly

so that the hot water doesn't shock the eggs

and cause the shells to crack.

We're gonna let the eggs boil

for about three to four minutes

to get them to the soft boil stage

and then you're gonna transfer them

to your serving dish.

Use the back of a knife to tap into the side of the egg

to take off the top about third or fourth of the egg.

Then we're gonna peel back

and then you've got that nice, soft yellow yolk.

For hard-boiled eggs, all you're gonna do

is leave them in the pan up to about 11 or 12 minutes

until the yolk actually firms up.

Again, use your slotted spoon to transfer the eggs

from the boiling water to an ice bath.

And the ice water is actually gonna stop the eggs

from cooking and make sure that you don't overcook the yolk.

You can leave them in the ice bath

for about two to three minutes

just until they're cool enough to touch

and so that you can peel them.

Once they're peeled, they're ready to eat

and we're gonna slice into one that I've made here

and you see we have that perfect yellow yolk.

Sometimes you'll notice that there's a gray ring

around the yolk and that's because you've left it

in the boiling water for a little bit too long

or maybe not used an ice bath.

So it's really important that you get the eggs

from the boiling water into the ice bath

for perfectly yellow yolks.

And that's how to soft- and hard-boil eggs.

For more recipes and tips, head to epicurious.com

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