CRACKED! Soft, Medium, and Hard "Boiled" Eggs in the pressure cooker
I would never recommend pressure cooking something unless this cooking method improves the food or recipe in some way. For example, I didn’t publish a pressure cooker frittata recipe – it takes twice as long as the original, discolors badly, and acquires a rubbery consistency – not an improvement (flans, on the other hand, are divine)!
You can imagine my suspicions about making hard-boiled eggs in the pressure cooker, given that there is no time savings.
The real magic of pressure steaming an egg in the pressure cooker is the ability of using FRESH eggs and getting easy-to-peel hard boiled eggs – instead of old, musty 7-10 day old eggs! The result looks better, tastes better and is totally worth pulling out the pressure cooker to do.
An innocent blogger peeled away the mystery by noting a little technical tidbit he uncovered in a book:
Per Jeff Potter in Cooking for Geeeks pg. 183, eggs that are hard boiled commercially are steamed at 7.5 PSI for ease of peeling.
This blogger was great at connecting the dots but not very clear with his
methods so, armed with resident 5-year-old egg-spert Vittorio, lots of eggs and inspiration from online previews of the scientific culinary epitome, Modernist Cuisine, we set out to perform our own experiments.
Even though the pressure cooker was invented at the end of the Ranaissance (1679), it’s a cooking appliance that has become a must for any Modernist, or in our case, hip cook!
The style of this “recipe” might be a little different than what you usually find here, since it was heavily inspired by the aforementioned, book. Even the step-by-step photos are not immune, featuring our most beaker-like containers and surgical-looking tongs!
“Hard Boiling” Fresh Eggs
Why are fresh hardboiled eggs so difficult to peel? Eggs have an air cell at the wider end of the egg, between the shell and the white (albumin).
When the egg is freshly laid this air pocket is very small and only located at the bottom – the rest of the white remains in close contact with the shell. If a fresh egg is boiled using conventional cooking methods and peeled, much of the white will come away with the shell in uneven chunks leaving an unattractive hard-boiled egg. Culinary experts recommend aging an egg for at least week in the refrigerator prior to boiling to achieve an easy peel.
Aging the egg increases the air pocket to include the areas around the whites creating a distance from the shell that results in an easy peel. Unfortunately, as the egg ages, the size of the air cell at the bottom also increases resulting in a hard-boiled egg with a flat area in the whites, reducing the quality of the egg and negatively affecting the color of the yolk.
Pressure Steaming A Fresh Egg
Steaming a fresh egg at low pressure, creates a pressure difference between the exterior of the egg and the air pocket – inflating it and separating the white from the shell. Making a pressure steamed fresh egg, easy to peel.
When we are referring to low pressure we mean 6 to 8 PSI (40 to 55 kPa, or .4 to .55 Bar). Pressure steaming an egg at higher pressure, will result in the cracking of the shell prematurely, causing the whites to ooze out and be immediately cooked as they exit the shell – resulting in an unattractive, but still very usable and easy to peel egg.
Best Bets for Pressure Steamed Eggs
Pressure Cooker Recipe: Hard Boiled EggsSee above table for exact cooking times for both stove top and electric pressure cookers. The same procedure and cooking times can be used for up to 6 soft and medium-boiled eggs or as many hard-boiled eggs as can comfortably sit in the steamer basket.
Equipment: Fill the cold pressure cooker with one cup of water. Add the steamer basket, or trivet and steamer basket, egg stand and egg. When time is up open the pressure cooker… Open the pressure cooker and place the egg in a container under cold running water, for about 1 minute if you would like to serve them warm, and 3 minutes to cool down completely. Tap the two ends of the egg on the counter-top to crack, peel to remove the shell. depends on number of eggs
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Special Equipment: Heat Proof Egg Stand
Although poaching pans for the pressure cooker are readily available. Egg-stands for pressure steaming eggs are not – they do not exist! We found an Olive Oil Cap (with the plastic insert removed) to be the perfect heat-proof, food-grade egg stand to be used in the pressure cooker.
How would you go about doing a dozen eggs with this method? Do you really need to stand them up on an egg stand? I did hard boil them at high pressure and the first time they did not crack, but then after that they did crack but really none of the whites came out of the egg. For hard boiled it is ok, but for coloring eggs for Easter that would not do at all. I will try the low pressure and let you know how it works for me!
I take a tea towel and wind it around in a circle, then stash the eggs safely inside. I can get 10-12 eggs in that way, and no cracked eggs!
Hi Suzerf, if you have a rack with large holes you can use that. Not using a stand will cause the eggs to roll around and knock on each other when you are moving the pressure cooker.
You can’t go wrong with hard-boiling 12, but if you are going for a soft or semi-soft egg I would limit them to about four – the additional “cold” contents will increase the time the pressure cooker needs to reach pressure (and will also cook during this additional time) so that where is where you would need to be careful on the quantity!
Ciao!
L
Wow, I never would have thought to pressure cook an egg, but you had me at “easier to peel”. How smart!
Oh my, the photo of the soft-cooked egg broken open and sitting in all its glory atop some leaves of arugula made me want to immediately head to the kitchen to make these eggs — but of course I couldn’t as I just unpacked my brand new pressure cooker from the box last night and I haven’t read all the instructions yet or performed the recommended test drive.
That photograph says it all. Without it, an interesting technique would have been described, but I’m not sure I’d have been tempted to try it. With the photo, I know I must try it at some point. The photos you post with your articles and recipes are exceptional, Laura. They add immeasurably to your blog.
Sigrid
I made a half dozen ‘hard-boiled’ eggs today and had an egg sandwich for lunch. Easiest eggs to peel, ever. I used aspic cutters to hold the eggs in place and they worked perfectly.
Nicole, I can’t take credit for the technique but I hope the timing chart is useful – we tried pressure steaming eggs anywhere from 1 to 8 minutes. When we thought we had the right time for each egg, we ran the “winners” another time to confirm. The center of the hard-boiled egg would not solidify even at 8 minutes until we changed the opening method–perfect!!!
Sigrid, Thank you for your comment! It is, indeed my hope to inspire readers into action and even be surprised with how versatile a pressure cooker can be. Let me know how you like the eggs!
umpiremom, I’m so glad you went shopping in your kitchen and found the perfect holders. I had to look up what an “aspic cutter” is, because I’d never heard of them – cute!
Happy Pressure Cooking!
L
Hi Elle, Glad you did this post. I have done eggs in the pressure cooker on high pressure and the shells crack when I release the pressure. I will try this on low pressure and see if the shell will stay on. I love doing eggs this way they peel so easy. Thanks
Don’t ‘release’ the pressure – let it reduce naturally without forcing it – no cold water or anything. You may need to reduce the heating time to compensate.
I’ll continue to try high pressure cooking – having had a raw result from the low pressure attempt. Also, if you don’t blast away with the heat, half a cup of water seems to be plenty. Got to admit, it’s a crackin‘ way to do eggs!
Pmailkeey, I see from your other comments that you’re using induction. With induction, you will need to increase the pressure cooking time a few minutes to compensate for the instant heat.
Here are more details on how to alter your pressure cooking on induction..
Is your cooktop sabotaging your pressure cooker?!?
Ciao,
L
The key is the “natural release” for hard boiled eggs- if you are doing Soft or Medium boiled the shock in temperature change during the release will crack the shells of the cooked egg. Actually, when I run water over my pressure cooker I could hear them caracking! A more delicate transition from hot to cold will keep the shell intact!
Thank you so much for posting this! I had been hoping to be able to do eggs in the pressure cooker, but found only “dire warnings” in my (albeit limited) research online.
I’m looking forward to a soft-boiled egg, finally! :)
Thanks again.
Amy
P.S. LOVE your website.
I’ve successfully cooked eggs in their shells in a microwave – but you can only do this if the microwave can be set very carefully – and it still takes 5 minutes. I think it also relies on the egg rolling around on the turntable to ensure microwave energy isn’t focused at any one point on the egg.
This is a great method! I tried it and it worked perfectly. I used an electric pressure cooker with the trivet on the bottom and separated the eggs with canning lids. See my blog post for details: http://healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com/2011/04/pressure-cooker-hard-boiled-eggs.html Thanks again!
Amy, so glad to be of help!
Heather, I’m glad to see photo of these being made in an electric pressure cooker! Usually, it’s good form to ask someone before copying their post and re-publishing it. Obviously, I’m happy to share – that is why I publish this information – next time, please ask first, OK? Thanks!
Ciao,
L
I apologize for that and have removed that part from my post. Please know it was not intentional! And thanks again for the great idea.
Well the idea of using Mason Jar lids to keep the eggs separated is inspired. So thanks to both of you! Will be trying this soon.
I was so excited to try the mason jar lids and very disappointed when almost everyone cracked. I had 2 that didn’t out of 6. I had my first experience after I found the post about being able to pressure cook eggs and with my first try I made 6 eggs with none cracking and all turned out beautiful except I did have a mildy green/gray ring around the yolk. That time I used metal cookie cutters no problem.
Devo davvero usarla la pentola a pressione! Ne ho una ancora imballata, un regalo. A casa c’è sempre stato un timore reverenziale nell’usarla! Gran bel post! Un abbraccio
Wow. Followed you pic from the modernist cooking page from Egullet…now i have to go home and make eggs, which i never boil b/c they’re such a pain to peel…and i LOVE soft boiled eggs.
Jason, what a compliment coming form such an expert connisuer of cured meats! Welcome, and I’m so glad that you found the link both helpful and inspiring.
Ciao,
L
I am SO thankful for this post!!! We’ve made hard boiled eggs this way since reading it 3 weeks ago, and they’ve all been PERFECT!! Easy to peal (which isn’t a usually easy task with the eggs from our 2 little hens).
I use little cookie cutters to hold the eggs up. Any shape works really….as long as the egg will stand up!
I’ve just read through the comments and it appears I’m the only one who wasn’t successful with this technique. Not sure why. I put the steaming cooking rack from my Wolfgang Puck in the KR rather than the stainless steel steaming trivet that comes with the KR as its legs are a bit longer and I thought it would keep the eggs out of the water better. On top of that I put in this silicone steamer: http://www.amazon.com/Chefn-Sleekstor-VeggiSteam-Silicone-Steamer/dp/B001QXDRIM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305905035&sr=8-1 as I thought that would make lifting the eggs out easier as it doesn’t get as hot as metal. I didn’t have anything to keep the eggs apart on the steamer so simply laid my four XL eggs on top of the silicone steamer.
My goal was soft-cooked eggs like the one in the Hip photo so I followed the instructions and cooked them at low pressure for 3 minutes and used quick cold water release. My housemate tapped the first egg on the counter to crack the shell and as she removed a small piece, the very runny, transparent, uncooked white began to run out.
Back into the PC all eggs went. Back to pressure for an additional 2 minutes and cold water quick release. Since 5 minutes is supposed to result in medium-boiled eggs, I thought surely they’d be soft cooked at least. Wrong. Though slightly more cooked, the white was still runny though at least had begun to be translucent rather than transparent.
Returned eggs to pot again and cooked five more minutes or so but not under pressure. Two of the eggs were finally cooked – actually overdone for a soft-cooked egg, one when cracked open still had considerable uncooked white though not runny and the fourth was unusable as water had gotten in it and we couldn’t peel it at all. I want to try again, but not until I determine the cause of my problems.
Sigrid 10 minutes for a soft-boiled egg definitely sounds like too much! I’m so sorry you had such a hard time, especially since I know you were so excited about this recipe.
Here is a list of things that could negatively affect the outcome:
-Egg too cold, maybe your refrigerator is extra cold?
-Egg too large, I can’t imagine a chicken making an egg much larger than XL but a larger egg could need more time.
-The pot, the water, the egg and the stove burner should be “room temperature”. Because the egg is also cooking during the time the pressure cooker is heating up and coming to pressure.
My Kuhn Rikon rack has three large holes in the center… perfect for holding your eggs upright. You can put a trivet or a steaming rack underneath it to keep it a little higher!
Please give it another shot… I’m sure you’ll be happy with the result!!
Ciao,
L
I too had raw results even going for the hard-boiled variety. Put them all back in and cooked at high pressure – this resulted in positive feedback as the eggs warmed up – so I could track progress as less heat input was needed once the eggs were starting to cook.
I can’t see it being necessary to stand the eggs up. I cooked 6 at a time using the small holes in the KR trivet to stabilise them.
Usually when I boil eggs the regular way, I use a little piercing tool to make a small hole in the “big” end of the egg where the air pocket is. This seems to help keep the egg from cracking as it boils as it lets the air out as the egg heats up (you can see the bubbles streaming out, in fact). Should I make the same hole when using the PC? Would it help to “inflate” that air pocket under the shell, instead of deflating it when boiling them in water? Might be a good experiment when I get the PC that I ordered… Thanks for all of the great info on your site, and I can’t wait to get cooking! ;)
Cynthia, welcome!
So far, my eggs have not cracked when pressure-steamed. They have cracked, however, when I moved my PC around and tilted it too much when I put it under the cold water. I actually heard one fall of it’s “stand” and crack!
Definitely let me know the results of your experiment!
Ciao,
L
I just tried the hard boiled egg method in a Fissler pressure cooker, the steamer basket has three indentations that were perfect to hold the eggs. I compared this with three eggs hard boiled the traditional way using the method in http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_perfect_hard_boiled_eggs/
I took a picture of the results, there was an obvious difference between the two batches, the pressure cooker eggs were definitely easier to peel and they came out perfect, the other eggs all stuck to the shell a little or a fair bit. Let me know if there is some way to send you the picture.
Kathy Z
Hi Kathy, I would love to share your pictures! You can either post them on my facebook page, or email them to me, and I will gldly add them for you!
Something so simple as a boiled egg makes a really fun experiment!
Ciao,
L
Life is so much easier since I learned how to pressure steam eggs in my stove top cooker! I use HIGH pressure with no problems, and just lay the number of eggs I need directly in the steamer basket — no holders, and they don’t roll around — over about 3/4 cup of water. Perfect 3-minute soft cooked eggs every time with quick release, and for hard cooked I do 6 minutes with natural release. Oh, and poached eggs…I butter the inside of a heatproof cup, drop in the egg, season, and top with a dot of of butter. Into the pressure cooker on a rack over 1/2 cup water, cook at HIGH for 1 1/2 min. Instant or cold water release. Fabulous! You can cover the cup with foil, but that will double the cooking time.
I love you Laura. This along with the Pasta series is going to totally change my life!
The picture of the peeled soft boiled egg is exquisite and my mouth is watering.
I just tried boiling some eggs in my 65 kpa Sitra Forza pressure cooker. I simply pierced them from the wide end with a piercer, placed them in a steaming basket, with about an inch of water in the bottom of the cooker, and counted 6 minutes when the regulator started hissing. Easy to peel, perfect results: the yolk is medium boiled.
When boiling in immersed water, eggs tend to bounce around and sometimes crack because of this. Not so with the pressure cooker.
I suppose piercing the shell helps a lot here, since it allows the pressure to equalize between the air pocket and the pressurized steam in the cooker.
dw, !!! ; )
Anonymous, interesting. I recommend not piercing the egg actually DOES NOT equalize the pressure and inflates the air pocket separating the white from the shell.
Glad to hear that our two different methods in the same conditions yield the same results!!
Ciao,
L
Just tried it! I used my Fagor 10 qt duo and the big steamer basket. I didn’t have any egg cups so I did what another reader suggested and used 5 rims from some canning jars and was able to fit six eggs (one in the center). Perfect hard boiled eggs, very easy. I did not find they were any easier to peel than the regular kinds but that might be because I didn’t stand the eggs up on end. The older eggs definitely were easier.
Can one PC hard boiled eggs in a microwave PC?
No. You cannot microwave an egg in it’s shell, so you cannot microwave it in a microwave pressure cooker.
Ciao,
L
First heard of using the pressure cooker to boil eggs from Julia Child, in either Julia Child & Co. or Julia Child & More Co. (written some 30, 35 years ago) The Georgia Egg Board or some such entity developed a pressure cooker technique.
Leu,I would love to have seen Julia Child pressure cooking an egg! My understanding is that previous pressure cooker techniques submerged the egg in water at High Pressure and the shell often cracked. And, of course, the result was a HARD boiled egg. As far as I’ve been able to find, no one has taken the time to steam eggs for descending minutes and test it several times to find the exact cooking time for a SOFT or MEDIUM boiled eggs from the pressure cooker. Even the industrial source cited at the beginning of this post achieved a HARD boiled egg. We’re pretty sure that we’re the first to publish instructions for intentionally making SOFT and MEDIUM “boiled” eggs from an un-craked shell by pressure steaming at LOW pressure. Before this website was started in 2010, there were NO recipes published, in print (from the books we’ve been able to search) or online, using LOW pressure at all!
Ciao,
L
The picture of the peeled soft boiled egg is exquisite and my mouth is watering.
Here are 2 egg holders that I found that may work:
http://www.amazon.com/Sagaform-5015841-Silicone-Boiled-Dipper/dp/B0036UKGC8/ref=sr_1_13?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1326851133&sr=1-13
and
http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/matfer/n4112/p369686.aspx?utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=Matfer-N4112&utm_campaign=Miscellaneous-Servers&utm_source=amazon
David, the silicone egg holder could definitely work! I can’t seem to get the link to work on the second one. Let me know which you plan to use, and how it works out for you!
Ciao,
L
Laura,
That second rack is chrome, less desirable than stainless steel. As for me I’ve been pressure cooking eggs without a rack on high pressure. I am going to start using low pressure without a rack. If it doesn’t work better I’ll consider an egg holder. BTW, My olive oil comes with plastic caps.
David,
Using High pressure is how many people have been taught to pressure cook eggs. I prefer the steaming, as opposed to covering the eggs with water and boiling, because it takes less water and that translates into less time for the pressure cooker to come to pressure.
I’m coming to the US this summer and will spend more time at the supermarket to see what is available to my, in large part, American readership. Five years ago – when I used to live there – they still had a large percentage of the olive oil in glass bottles with metal twist-on caps.
Last year, I was in a grocery store in Kent (outside of Seattle) and I was really shocked to see two isles of ready-foods: just add water for instant dinner, or dessert, or breakfast or… or.. or!!!
Ciao,
L
I also heard that adding sodium bicarbonate to the water does the trick…Not sure about the details why it works…
Another way to visualize what happens inside the egg is that the air trapped inside the air pocket expands liberating the white from the shell. There are no pressure differentials INSIDE the cooker
Cesar, the pressure difference is in the pressure cooker. Between the air pocket inside the egg and the rising pressure outside of the egg (because the egg is in a pressure cooker) .
Fascinating info on the Baking Soda… is there anything it CAN’T do?!?!
Ciao,
L
So, I have an old school pressure cooker. It has one pressure setting….actually, it has NO pressure setting, it’s just a build-up of pressure. There are no guages on it, just the jiggle top. Am I still able to cook eggs this way in my very old school Magefesa pressure cooker (mine is the much older version of this: http://www.magefesausa.com/index.php/en/store?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=78&category_id=44)? If the only thing that happens on high pressure is that the shell cracks when you release the pressure, I think I’m ok with that….
Shaya, your old-school pressure cooker is probably just a tad above low pressure (maybe 9psi?). Check the base and look for numbers next to Kpa, Bar or PSI. Then match it up with the table at the top of the Pressure Cooker Timetable. Either way, try it with one egg and adjust the timing accordingly.
Ciao,
L
Just curious–did you try cooking some of the eggs from the same box just by open-pot boiling? That’s the only way to be absolutely sure the pressure cooker is the essential factor in easy peeling.
Nate,
When I first published this technique, one of my readers (a cooking instructor) did exactly that. I posted her photo on Facebook:Kathy’s Egg-spirament
Ciao,
L
My name is James,
I live in a high altitude area above 5000 feet and have always had hit and miss yolk results with boiling eggs. plus, the shells ALWAYS stuck to the whites.
I’ve used your method several times now and get perfect, easy to peal eggs every time!
The only change is I’ve had to add about 1 to 2 minutes in cooking time to your timing guide. But its still much less time than the old boiling method.
Thank you so much!
James, thanks for stopping by to tell us your results above 5,000 feet – and your high-altitude time modification.
Ciao,
L
Wow.
This is so fast, easy, and foolproof. I have tried all the tricks for easy-peel boiled eggs and this is the only one that always works! Have tried it three times (two soft, one hard-boiled) and it’s killer. Check out my write up and pictures:
http://feedme.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/02/easy-peel-boiled-eggs-from-a-pressure-cooker.html
I am SO in love with this method.
Moe,
Fantastic!!
Ciao,
L
My hardboiled eggs cooked fine but the whites turned a dark golden color. Anyone else have this happen? They taste fine and seem completely normal otherwise. Any thoughts?
Miriam, I did a little googling because this has not happened to me (yet). This is what I found:
“A slight yellow or greenish cast in raw white may indicate the presence of riboflavin.”
http://www.calmainefoods.com/consumers/faq.htm#cloudy
I don’t know if this would translate into a yellowish white in a cooked egg. There is another technique that involves pressure cooking an egg immersed in water for 2 hours and that causes the white to brown – but I don’t think you accidentally pressure cooked the egg from 2 minutes to 2 hours!!
Ciao,
L
As a total pressure cooker newbie, could you tell me if I have this correct for a soft yolked egg?
First you put 1/3 C water in PC, put in steamer, egg-holder, egg.
cover PC
Here’s where I get mixed up: do I bring to boiling and let steam come out of vent for 10 mins before putting the pressure weight on? (in this case 5lb)? If so, would you not boil away all your water?
Or do you put the weight on right away and bring to pressure.
Once at pressure THEN you start timing.
Do I have this correct? It is the venting the steam for 1o minutes, which is what I have been told I must do before I put the weight on that confuses me in this particular recipe. I would think the egg would be done by then.
thanks for clearing this up for me
Liz
Liz,
First, you need to add the minimum amount of water required by your pressure cooker – since yours is a jiggler I think that would be about 1 cup (but check your manual to be sure).
Refer to your manual, too, to find out how to recognize that it has reached pressure. Then, you begin timing from that signal.
Venting is usually a term used in pressure canning and not pressure cooking – so I’m wondering if you don’t have a pressure canner, instead of a cooker, on your hands!
Ciao,
L
thanks so much for the reply Laura – I have only just now been able to access the internet again! I do have a pressure canner,but I should be able to use that as a cooker too, or not?
Liz
Yes, and no. Pressure canners usually have an aluminum base – this is “reactive” and will change the flavor of acidic food. You cannot directly cook anything that has lemon, wine, vinegar and some fruits because their acidity will chemically react with the aluminum.
However, you can steam food in it (like these eggs) and you can cook in it “bain marie” – by placing a stainless steel bowl in it to hold food.
Because of it’s size, the differing minimum liquid requirements and time it takes to reach pressure – I cannot guarantee that recipes written for pressure cooker will turn out as planned or in the time given in a pressure canner. However, cooking in a pressue canner will still be faster than boiling without pressure!
I hope this helps.
Ciao,
L
Laura,
Can you tell me which of your recommended PC’s will do eggs perfectly- I have an altitude issue as well, but longer time takes care of that. I just need a new PC with variable PSI that is bomb-proof- my husband can plow through HB eggs like nobody’s business and wants them in the fridge at all times (total jock, likes the easy protein source).
(Currently using my first PC, a Fagor Express, and its not perfect.)
Thanks for the help!
Your friend in all things BACON,
Jen Woodring
Ciao Jen, it’s not the pressure cooker – it’s the cook! ; )
I’ve had messages from everyone in every kind of pressure cooker having great success. You can click on the “reviews” tab to see EXACTLY what I think about the pressure cookers I use.
The valve of the Fissler Blue Point that I used in this recipe stopped working after just a few months of use and for some reason Fissler can’t seem to locate a replacement valve that will fit the U.S. top – NOT GOOD.
Ciao,
L
Many thanks, Laura. I’ll keep banging away at it. :)
I have tried this twice, but both times my hard cooked eggs were really runny. I don’t even think I got them to the point of being soft cooked. I live at 5000 feet, so I added 2 minutes to the cooking time (after reading the comment from someone at 5000ft), and they still turned out runny. The first time I did this I used my 20 year old TFal pressure cooker. Today I tried it with my new KR pressure cooker. I can’t figure out what I might be doing wrong? I am dreaming of prefect hard boiled eggs! Any suggestions?
I also wanted to say that since finding your blog 2 weeks ago, I have tried so many new things in my pressure cooker. Thank you!
I had to get this to work, so I tried several more times today. I got perfect hard cooked eggs at 12 minutes with natural release. I also took the eggs out of the fridge about 2 hours before I cooked them to warm them up a bit. I am happy to have figured it out. Now I can sleep since I was going a bit batty wondering why it worked for everyone but me.
I am at 5500 feet which I suppose is why my eggs took so much longer. I did notice another commenter at 5000 feet said they only needed to add a couple more minutes to get perfect eggs. Does this mean my pressure cooker is not cooking at the right pressure?
Erica, I’m so glad you mastered high-altitude hard-boiled eggs!! I don’t know if your pressure cooker is reaching the right pressure.. what kind do you have?
Ciao,
L
I used a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker. It seems to cook everything else the way it should. For example my pasta cooks wonderfully. Eggs take a long time though. I used an 8L pot though I just bought a 5L KR, so I will have to try it again with the smaller one.
Hi Erica,
I live at 6000 feet and work at 7000 feet. I feel your pain.
I just did the eggs in my 6 qt KR, on a silicone steamer basket, about 18 eggs in one shot. I did let them sit out for an hour or two before cooking them.
My guess is, with all my fussing with the flame under the cooker and watching/adjusting/adding time to the clock with every drop of the pressure, I had, in total, about 9-10 minutes of cooking at low pressure.
With the altitude, I know that I have to be generous with extra time. I also let the eggs rest, off heat for about 3 minutes before doing a quick release.
Once the lid was off, I ran cold water for a good five minutes, then shut off the water, threw in a Kold Pak from my freezer, and started the chill process.
The eggs will still carry over cook until the yolk center cools in the water bath. I did not peel to check mine until they were 75% cooled. The extra carryover time should get you where you wanna be.
Then again, a soft centered egg is AWESOME on a bacon garnished salad or in a scotch egg recipe… :)
I tested this method with great success! I have an electric PC, so I followed a previous commenter’s suggestion and cooked the eggs (9 of them) at 6 minutes, the eggs were definitely over done (the tell tale green ring). I redid some (6 of them) at 4 minutes with natural release and they were perfect. I cooked both fresh and ‘old’ eggs, both batches peeled perfectly. I had one egg in each batch that cracked a little but they were still in intact. I also did a batch of soft boiled eggs, 3 at 3 minutes with normal release…perfection! To hold my eggs I used beer caps (any bottle cap would do). The rack for my electric cooker bars were too far apart for the caps to balance well so I wrapped it in foil and poked some holes in it, this way I easily fit 9 eggs in my cooker.
I am over the moon with this method, I am sharing it with all my readers via a link through my Facebook page. Ironically the Friday before I read this I posted my frustrations with peeling boiled eggs!
I just found your blog today after getting a surprise Electric Pressure Cooker from my husband yesterday. We have hens who give us fabulous eggs, but I have never been able to successfully make hard boiled eggs that I can actually peel until TODAY!!! I just made six fantastic, easy to peel, delicious hard boiled eggs from my hens Betty and Lulu. I’m now making the Chinese Marbled eggs with the other five. I love pressure cooking! Thanks for such an amazing blog and resource. May I link to your Cracked Eggs post on my hen blog? Thanks!
Welcome Wendy and congratulations on your surprise pressure cooker! I loved reading about your hens on your blog and would be honored for you to add a link! No need to ask for linking, but if you plan to re-publish a recipe or technique please ask first!
Ciao,
L
Hi,
I never would have thought to pressure cook eggs but it has been working out perfectly for me. Thank you. I do use full pressure for hard boiled eggs, mostly because I forgot, and it works fine. I generally do not use a steamer or rack at all. When I get a lot of eggs, I cook them for our pigs. I can fit 33 in my PC and I add about two inches of water, bring it up to pressure, cook for 4 minutes and let it cool down naturally. The eggs are fine. If I leave them in the pot for too long, the yolks do get green but that really doesn’t bother me or the pigs.
Today, I had a soft boiled egg and it was great. I used the lower pressure and cooked it for three minutes because I keep my eggs at room temperature. I cooled the PC down with water. Next time I might do 2 1/2 mins.
This is so awesome! We have our own chickens and it has been tricky to boil eggs because they were so hard to peel. With this technique I have been able to hard boil an egg the day it was laid and it peeled without any difficulty.
Sasha
Thank you so much for this information. I invested in a Fagor Elite set this week (got a screaming great deal at Macy’s) and wasn’t sure if I would ever need or use the 8 psi setting.
Well the 8 psi sure works great on eggs! I hard boiled 12 fresh extra large eggs using the steamer basket alone, no rings or anything.
They were the most PERFECT eggs ever! Peeled easier than I have ever peeled eggs before. The shells literally slid off. Plus they didn’t have the boiled egg “stink” (maybe because they are fresh?) which is a real bonus for me as I am on a fat loss diet and I usually eat at my desk. Last week my boss complained about the smell of some boiled eggs I had brought in.
Oh and did I mention I cooked the dozen eggs before I left for work? So easy! No pouring hot boiling water. Next time I will have ice water ready in a stockpot then lift and dunk the whole batch at once.
Thank you again for this article. The manuals and cookbook that came with my set did not even mention eggs. I never would have known it was possible.
Welcome Zonee! I try to bring some things to the pressure cooker for the first time. Previously, there was a little-known method of actually “boiling” the egg in the pressure cooker but it didn’t catch on because they would often crack and turn the center green – no advantage over the regular method.
I’m pretty sure that last year, we were the first to propose this steaming method for home, and not industrial use, with the pressure cooker.
Let’s have a toast for non-stinky FRESH hard-boiled eggs!
Ciao,
L
Cheers! I just deviled 8 of those eggs :}
I just did a dozen hard-boiled in my electric cuisinart today. Amazing! Since I didn’t have a dozen bottle caps I just gently laid the eggs all on the trivet directly & it worked great.
Wonderful to stumble across this site. I’ve recently replaced my cooktop with conduction and have had to relearn some ways to cook. For some reason my perfect tried and true boiled eggs (bring to boil, take off heat, put on lid and leave for 10 minutes) doesn’t work anymore – but hey, my new pressure cooker was christened last night with boiled eggs. (By the way, here in Australia most wine bottles have screw top lids and they make perfect egg holders.) The first attempt resulted in one very runny egg, but the second at high pressure, was very good. I’ll need to experiment for the right timing as I’d started with three eggs (on low pressure 5 mins) and returned the remaining two to recook (high pressure 4 mins). I can see this is going to be the only way I boil eggs from now on. And I’d be glad for any hints you might have for pc cooking with conduction. Thanks for this great site. Maggie
Maggie, I just added a note of “caveats” for cooking times by heat source on the Pressure Cooking Time Table!
Basically, pressure cooking times also account for the time the cooker takes to reach pressure with traditional heat sources (about 10 minutes is you’re starting with a cold cooker and water)- during this time the food is also cooking. With induction, the cookers reach pressure much faster (about half the time, if not less) so you need to tack on about three minutes to the pressure cooking time to compensate.
Ciao,
L
That’d explain my raw eggs at the first attempt. I’m getting up to pressure in about 30 seconds !
Thank you for providing the perfectly logical answer to the reason I’m having to adjust a lot of my cooking techniques with the induction cooktop. (I just noticed I called it conduction above [duh!]). That would also account for non pc boiled potatoes taking much longer to cook after bringing to the boil than on the old cooktop. However, I’ll be doing mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker from now on, now that I have my lovely new one. Thanks once again. Maggie
Thanks for this post and blog! Since getting my pressure cooker a few months ago, I’ve used it several times a week. Also, thanks so much to the “commenters” who post how to adapt recipes to those of us who only have the one “high” setting pressure cookers. I thought I had done my research prior to purchase and thought that “low” was not really needed. I am going to try some hard-boiled eggs today!
Luciacara, don’t worry.. you next one can have two levels. You’ll find as you do more and more of your cooking in the pressure cooker that.. you can’t have just one!!!
Ciao and Welcome!
L
Thanks for the welcome, Laura!
I did make hard-boiled eggs the other day – worked perfectly! I used my Fagor 8-qt pressure cooker.
I put one cup water in the cooker and then 13 eggs in the bottom of my steamer basket (this is the most that would fit in one layer so they wouldn’t roll around). Cooked at high pressure for 5 minutes (after fully bringing up to pressure), took the pot off the burner for 5 minutes (natural release for 5 mintues), then submerged the eggs in cold water. They peeled so easily! Thanks, everyone!
I am going to do two layers of eggs soon to see if that works…we have college kids home for the summer and the egg salad I made from those 13 eggs lasted only one day here!
Hello, and thank you for the excellent site!
Here’s an alternative to bottle caps that hold the eggs upright and snug: a silicon ice cube tray. Completely impervious to the heat, flexible, easy to keep clean. Mine has 15 deep “cups” and, using every other slot, holds 8 eggs perfectly.
Cheers!
Great idea! HOWEVER, there are different grades of silicone. If it is not stamped on the silicone that it can resist temperatures up to 250C I would not put it in the pressure cooker!
Ciao,
L
What a spectacular blog!!!!I am so happy to have come across this site. I am from India, and I do a LOT of pressure cooking, and it’s an integral part of my kitchen.
I have successfully boiled eggs in pressure cooker since I was a kid in college. Never fails. My method is to dip them directly in cold water, and cook it for 1 – 6 minutes, depending on how I want them.
But there are SO many things I have never tried. I must try them now.
For standing eggs upright on a flat trivet, these Browne-Halco stainless steel egg cups ought to work:
http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/browne-halco/57-5063/p8488.aspx
And at 99 cents per cup, the price is right!
Quick question- do the times change if you are using large eggs vs. extra-large eggs?
Ok- going with a minute less next time for large eggs- slightly overdone… BUT you are soo right that they peel like a dream! Love it!
Lisa, thanks for reporting back your timing! Generally, it’s a very small difference (a minute sounds good) – timing is crucial if looking for a soft-boiled egg!
Laura,
Another WINNER! The wife had a dozen eggs to hard boil and I suggested we try this. The skeptical one (not me) had their doubts. We put a dozen eggs, loose, in the 8qt Fagor and went for it. They cooked perfectly and even the skeptical one was impressed with how easily the shells came off.
The only negative was that the yolks weren’t centered in all the eggs. Would putting the eggs in stands/caps improved things?
Laura,
Please feel free to add this to my prior question. It looks like how the eggs are stored prior to cooking is the secret to centered yolks. I just saw a couple of references that said to put the eggs on their side (change their orientation) 8 to 24 hours prior to cooking. I’ll try this next time.
I also saw a reference that said to store them tip down. That one doesn’t work, as that is how my eggs were stored.
Ed, I have not figured out the magic for getting centered yolks! The stands only help to keep a few eggs from rolling around in the pressure cooker and cracking as you carry the cooker around.
My guess, is that the fresher the egg the more centered the yolk. In my research for this article I learned that as an egg ages, not only does the air pocket size increase, some of the white becomes less dense (i.e. runny). From this information, we can deduce that it’s probably easier for the yolk to move around and be off-center with a runnier white.
So, let’s ask the experts: Any of you back-yard chicken raisers who are pressure cooking super-fresh eggs have off-center yolks with this method?!?!
Ciao,
L
P.S. Your first post made me laugh out loud. Thanks for the detailed report!
They exploded the first couple of times, but now they’re quite good. Thanks for the recipe, I didn’t even know you could soft boil eggs, let alone in a pressure cooker.
Steve, this is the first I’ve heard of exploding eggs. I’ve had the shells crack when I was slow to turn down the heat but never had an egg disintegrate. What did you change to get perfect eggs?
Ciao,
L
What do you mean by natural release of steam? Mine has a push button to release the steam, it’s electric.
Unplug the cooker and count 5 minutes natural release time. If the pressure has not come down on its own by the, release the rest of the pressure by pushing the button.
Ciao,
L
For a cheap and easy way to put your eggs in the PC. If your eggs come in one of the pressed paper cartons, just separate the segments. I took a carton and divided it into 3 sets of 4. Two of them would fit just fine in the PC and hold the eggs upright. Of course they get wet while the eggs are processing, but they don’t disintegrate and can be taken out and dried and reused. Easy, cheap, and readily available. I’ll be trying different segment combos (single, twos, etc) to see which is the best in using the space.
Laralee
Wow, that’s interesting!
Ciao,
L
Hi, I found this site last week and used my pressure cooker to hard boil 4 eggs today. I took the eggs from the fridge, stood each in an aluminium foil ‘cup’, added cold water in the trivet, pressured on low for 6 minutes, depressurised naturally by moving and waiting and was delighted when they peeled easily and were cooked perfectly. Thanks.
Oh, wonderful!!!
Ciao,
L
My sister gave me her electric egg cooker that she wasn’t using. The basic stand for those should work, shouldn’t it?
I don’t know. Try it!
L
I have done this a couple of times, but the shells still stick to the eggs. My eggs are very fresh, usually laid that day. Is that the reason the shells are sticking?
Marsha, that’s unusual. What kind of pressure cooker do you have?
Ciao,
L
Interesting site! I just tried 4 eggs in my older Presto cooker which has no settings. I adjusted the heat to let the steam escape without the regulator rocking. I let it cook for 6 minutes and rest for 5 minutes. The pin still had not dropped, so I put it under cold water and almost immediately it dropped. The eggs were perhaps a little overdone, but they peeled beautifully! The only issue, which I have never experienced with hard boiled eggs before, is that the whites were golden colour above the egg holder line. (similar to the comment from Feb 27, 2012)
Rick, your older Presto cooker runs at high pressure (15psi) so the eggs may be a little over-cooked. Try doing them for only 3 or 4 minutes at “almost pressure” you achieved earlier with just 5 minutes of natural release time.
Haven’t learned anything more than my reply on Feb 27th on the yellowing of whites. Interesting phenomena!
Ciao,
L
You are my new kitchen hero! I’ve been struggling to get hard boiled eggs that peel with no pitting & tearing. With your techniques, it’s egg cooking heaven.
I did 4 xlg eggs in my 4 qt cooker, with 1 cup cold water under my bottom plate. I planned to crumple & form some aluminum foil to hold the eggs. Instead, I rooted through my kitchen drawer where I found some old brass napkin rings that have never been used on a napkin. It seems that I save everything in that drawer. They held the eggs perfectly.
I want to fine tune my timing. I used the middle, 10 psi setting for 6 minutes from the first jiggle of my weight. I used natural cooling for pressure release of 10 mins (too long). My eggs were very slightly over done. But the shells peeled right off. WOW! Thank you!
After the hb eggs are perfected I’ll work on med cooked yolks. Thanks again.
Doug
I am very new to the world of pressure cooking (my mother taught me to fear all pc’s) and was so excited when I found your site. But finding this post is the cherry on top! I purchase my eggs directly from a local farm and I typically keep hard cooked eggs in the fridge for quick snacks, lunches etc. This method makes peeling a fresh egg so easy – the shell just about jumps off the egg. I do find that for a cold egg 7 minutes and then natural release works best for us. Looking forward to learning my way around this new (old) method of cooking with you.
Welcome Joanne!! Thanks so much for sharing your story.
There will be cooking time variations according to cook top (induction), coldness of the refrigerator, and size of the egg – so I’m glad you found the perfect combination!
Ciao,
L
HI – I just got an instant pot and realizing it’s a little more trial and error in terms of directions and specifics. I was wondering how I could do this with the instant pot? Thanks! and also, I’ve been trying to figure out how to adjust your recipes to the instant pot as I saw you have a page addressing this topic; however, I’m having trouble knowing how to translate regular cooker pressure recipes to instant pot. Thanks in advance!! Love the site so far :)
I have an Instant Pot, and the eggs do not come out perfect with it. The pressure cooker has only ONE pressure setting and it is a bit on the high side. You can still do it, but I would only pressure cook the egg for only 3 minutes – but don’t be surprised if the shell is cracked.
Sorry. : (
L
I love this method! It works for me – every time – here at my 5000 ft elevation. I found I could use shot glasses to hold each egg in the pressure cooker — it works for all but the tiny eggs that are laid by my silkie hen.
I didn’t know that we can hard boil eggs in pressure cooker. I love it.