I tested 6 ways to peel hard-boiled eggs — and found a new favorite method

Peeling eggs for snacks or sandwiches doesn’t have to be a pain.

Of all the kitchen prep tasks, peeling hard-boiled eggs is one of my least favorite. It’s finicky and requires patience that still escapes me after many years working in restaurants and test kitchens. But it’s a job that has to get done, whether I’m making my family egg salad sandwiches or serving a platter of deviled eggs for a party. 

So I set out to find the most reliable method for peeling eggs quickly while maintaining a perfect shape, with no chunks of whites pulled away by stubborn shells. To my surprise, the way I’ve always peeled eggs —  a technique I learned in culinary school — missed the mark compared to the winning method.

Read on to learn which egg-peeling technique is worth taking a crack at.

Related: I Tested 6 Ways to Cook Hard-Boiled Eggs — and a Simple Technique Stood Out

The method

I tested six ways to peel hard-boiled eggs, with a few controls. I used large eggs bought in bulk from Costco (eggs are still expensive), which were in my fridge for about two weeks before I cooked them. To make the hard-boiled eggs, I simply steamed them for 12 minutes, which happens to be my preferred method. After the eggs cooked, I carefully transferred them to a large ice bath and let them chill for 10 minutes. I tested each method a few times, using two eggs for each test, to ensure consistent results.

I judged the methods primarily on how well the eggs maintained their shape. For example, if I lost a lot of the egg white while peeling, then I docked serious points. I also deducted points if the method was needlessly difficult, or only worked once or twice. I didn’t take into account the peeling time or any mess left from removing the shell as there was little variation between methods.

Using a spoon

Score: 3/10

Method: I’ve seen plenty of trendy social media videos touting this “hack”for peeling eggs. You use the back of a spoon to crack the bottom of the egg (which typically contains an air pocket), then use the spoon itself to peel away the shell. This method makes sense in theory, as the contour of the spoon is similar to the roundness of the egg.

Results: Simply put, this was by far the worst method of all my tests, producing zero perfectly peeled eggs. I also found it very tedious compared to the other techniques. 

Shaking in a mason jar

Score: 6.5/10

Method: For this technique, I placed an egg in a mason jar along with about 1 tablespoon of water. I screwed the lid on tight and shook the jar until the egg was thoroughly cracked. I then removed the lid and peeled the shell off, rinsing under cold water to remove any residual shells. The idea here is that the shell will crack when shaken in the jar, and the water inside will help loosen it from the egg itself.

Results: I was most skeptical of this method, having heard about it from sites geared toward cooking with children. I’ll give it credit as the most kid-friendly method, but it’s also challenging to get right. The first two times I tried this technique I shook the jar too aggressively and completely destroyed the egg. Once I learned the appropriate force, it worked pretty well —  in my second round of testing, the eggs peeled quite easily and resulted in only minimal damage to the tender whites. I can see doing this method with my daughters, but it’s simply too inconsistent to recommend.

Related: We Tried 6 Chefs’ Deviled Egg Recipes — Our Favorite Marries Sublime Flavor With Perfect Texture

Peeling under running water

Score: 7/10

Method: This is the method I’ve always used to peel eggs, simply cracking the bottom of the egg then peeling under a stream of cold water from the faucet. The goal is for the slow stream of water to get under the shell, which releases it from the egg. (You may have to crack the egg on the counter a few times for best results.)

Results: Most of my eggs peeled easily enough, but a couple lost quite a bit of their whites, with shells that refused to peel away. This is a very simple technique, requiring just some running water, but perhaps my years of frustration with egg-peeling can be attributed to the inconsistency of this technique. Others on this list produced better results.

Rolling on the counter

Score: 8.5/10

Method: There’s nothing complicated about this one. I placed the cooked egg on the counter and used my hand to roll it until the shell cracked all over. If using this technique, you’ll want to roll the egg back and forth several times to break that shell up as much as possible, then peel the shell and rinse away any residual shell pieces.

Results: I was pleasantly surprised that the shell peeled away from the egg so easily after rolling under my hand. One slight challenge is getting the pressure just right when rolling, but once I got the hang of it, I found this technique to be consistent and reliable. Very small pieces of whites stuck to some of the shell, but overall the method worked great. And it’s particularly great for anyone like me who has little patience and has one speed in the kitchen (fast).

Related: Does It Actually Matter If You Buy Brown or White Eggs?

Rolling in a towel

Score: 9.5/10

Method: This technique is identical to the previous (rolling on the counter) but I placed a clean kitchen towel on top of the egg and then rolled the egg. The towel increases the surface area and provides a bit of cushion between your hand and the egg itself. Once again, after the shell was thoroughly cracked, I peeled the shell off and rinsed away any residual shells.

Results: This method worked just as well as the counter rolling technique, but with one important difference: The towel helped create many more small cracks all over the surface of the shell, making it easier to peel. I also liked that I didn’t have to pay as much attention to how much pressure I applied, since the kitchen towel seemed to do most of the work. 

Peeling in a bowl of water

Score: 9.5/10

Method: For this method, I filled a bowl with cold water and, working one egg at a time, placed the egg in the water, cracked the bottom to expose the air pocket, and gently pulled off the shell. You may need to crack the egg a bit more as you work, but the water should get between the shell and egg, allowing you to simply peel off the shell in large pieces.

Results: This technique was very consistent, and would also be easy to scale up for more eggs (just use a bigger bowl of cold water and add all the eggs at once). My results were just as consistent as they were when I rolled the egg under a towel: Just about every egg peeled easily and there was minimal damage to the whites. With this method, I also appreciate that I don’t have to run my faucet for an extended time if I’m peeling lots of eggs at once. 

Related: Yes, the Color of Your Egg Yolk Matters — Here’s What It Means

Surprise winner: rolling then peeling in a bowl of water

Score: 10/10

Method: I didn’t initially set out to try this method, but as I was testing the bowl of water technique I realized there was a simple yet important element missing. Instead of simply cracking the egg in the bowl of water, I rolled the egg first under a kitchen towel to create lots of cracks all over the egg, then I placed it in the bowl of water and started peeling. Winner, winner, eggs for dinner!

This combination of two popular methods resulted in eggs that were incredibly easy to peel across tests and left almost no shell residue. Once I figured it out, I was able to peel several eggs at a time. 

Final takeaways

Just about every method on this list worked fairly well, aside from the trendy spoon technique. But the most effective technique is to gently crack the shells in as many small pieces as possible, and then place them in a bowl of water to help peel off the pieces. If you have a method that’s reliable and consistent, by all means keep using that, but if you too find the process of peeling eggs tedious, my new favorite technique might just make the task more bearable — and maybe even enjoyable. 

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