Easy-peel hard-boiled eggs have been something I sought after for many years. I tried so many methods, but once I tried hard-boiled eggs in the Instant Pot, I knew there was no going back. Perfect easy-peel eggs every time – no tricks necessary!
The Quest for Easy Peel Eggs
Easy-peel eggs – at one point in time, I thought they were surely a myth. Since I’m always on the hunt for the best time-saving methods that actually work (and don’t kill the budget), I scoured the internet, found, and tried ALL THE THINGS.
Some of these recommendations helped more than others, but, in the end, it still felt like a bit of a hit or miss.
Don’t Use Fresh Eggs when Hard Boiling
First, there was a recommendation to make sure I had “old” eggs. The fresher the eggs, the harder they are to peel.
There is some truth to this. But, as a busy at home mom, I just don’t need one more thing to keep track of.
I don’t want to jump through the hoops of trying to remember which egg carton is the ‘old’ carton and just exactly how old those old eggs are while also making sure everyone else in the house knows which eggs are the old eggs, so they don’t get used in some other dish.
Let’s face it, this tip is annoying and, honestly, only somewhat effective.
Perfect Timing + A Cold Water Plunge
Then there are all sorts of “perfect timing” hard-boiled egg instructions. If you let them sit either boiling or in the water for one minute too long, they will be tough to peel.
I’m sure this isn’t totally wrong, but I never quite found the exact perfect timing on the stovetop to make hard-boiled eggs easy to peel every single time.
As part of this, or sometimes as a separate recommendation, some people say that if you get the eggs in cold water and then peel them right away after boiling, they are a cinch.
Again, somewhat true, but my success was still intermittent at best. Besides that – life gets busy, and sometimes I don’t want to peel them right away.
Just Cracking the Surface
Then I finally stumbled across a method that I thought was foolproof. Before boiling the eggs, you would put a small crack in each one, which would allow a bit of water between the shell and the membrane and make them super easy to peel.
This absolutely worked, unless my crack wasn’t big enough, or was too big and let egg stream out into the water.
Then at Easter, my kids were always frustrated. Easter eggs were already cracked when they were trying to color them. So again, not foolproof.
You know what is foolproof for easy-peel hard-boiled eggs? Using the Instant Pot.
Where to Buy an Instant Pot
This is the 6-quart Instant Pot I started out with. After a few years, we added an 8-quart partly because I knew I would use two at the same time often enough, partly because it was the Prime Day sale, and also because I wanted more space for certain recipes. Both are a pretty basic model and you don’t need more bells and whistles than that!
If you’re deciding on size, most people say it’s better to get a deal on the 6-quart and just have 2 rather than go big, BUT if your family has 5 or more people or you really like to batch cook or do more than a pound of beans, the 8-quart may be the best choice. My full Instant Pot review and buying guide for features, size, and model.
If you’d like to shop directly at Instant Pot’s website instead of Amazon (or just compare prices), check them out here.
You can even get a carrying case to travel with it! See my review of the Instant Pot carrying case we have.
If you’re still on the fence about adding an Instant Pot to your kitchen appliance arsenal here are my Instant Pot pros and cons.
Hard-Boiled Eggs in the Instant Pot
Although some will say just bake or steam your eggs, the Instant Pot makes it so much easier, and there’s so much less to remember.
The Instant Pot (or any electric pressure cooker) automatically cooks the eggs using steam, which really is the most foolproof way to end up with hard-boiled eggs that are easy to peel.
Follow these instructions for success every time.
Print
Hard-Boiled Eggs in the Instant Pot
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 4
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 8–12 hard-boiled eggs 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Description
The perfect, easy-peel, hard-boiled eggs every single time!
Ingredients
- 8 – 12 eggs
- 1 cup of Water
Instructions
- Put a cup of water in the Instant Pot plus the steamer insert, trivet, or egg trivet.
- Set eggs in the insert.
- Set the Instant Pot for Manual, 4 minutes on high, or 6 minutes on low.
- When the pot beeps that it’s done, open the pressure valve to release the steam.
- It takes about 10 minutes to get up to pressure, then about 1 minute to release the pressure.
- Cool in the fridge or eat warm. (If you want to peel right away, douse in cold water so you can touch them.)
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 egg
- Calories: 70
- Sugar: 0g
- Sodium: 70mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 0g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 6g
- Cholesterol: 185mg
Keywords: keto, snack, side dish, breakfast
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- You can put a full dozen easily in any size Instant Pot, and it’s even possible to stack eggs on top of each other as high as you are comfortable, and they will all cook. You might be able to get two dozen going in an 8-quart Instant Pot at once.
- Peeling them just after removing from the ice water is easiest, but it’s still not too much of a problem if you cool them in the fridge as well. That again comes in handy for colored Easter eggs, which obviously won’t be peeled right away.
Is Cooking Hard-Boiled Eggs in the Instant Pot Really Faster than the Stovetop?
Of course, I ran a little race to find out.
Six eggs in the Instant Pot, six in my favorite pot on the stove.
My go-to boiled-egg routine on the stove is to cover with cold water to an inch over, add Real Salt, then turn on high heat until just boiling. (The salt keeps the egg from leaking out all over if/when I let it boil too hard and shells crack, FYI.)
Then I turn the burner OFF and set a timer for 12 minutes. When the timer goes off, I pour out the hot water and replace it with cold water. After a few minutes, I pour that water out and add more cold water, sometimes ice cubes.
The IP took exactly 10 minutes to come to pressure (high) and the pot took about 13, so the Instant Pot was 10 minutes faster (15 total) than the stovetop (25 total), not counting the cold water bath for the stovetop version.
The real time-saver, though, is that peeling the IP eggs is easy, every time, compared to hit-and-miss (even using my “crack the end of the egg a little first” technique) on the stovetop. Sold!
RELATED: The best dairy-free egg recipe for breakfast
You’re Just *7 Days* Away From Easier Meals with Your Instant Pot
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How to Hard Boil Eggs in the Instant Pot Without a Trivet
When we traveled with our Instant Pot for six weeks, I completely forgot to pack the trivet. We definitely wanted hard-boiled eggs for potato salad and egg salad to pack as a lunch, and I was stymied! I wasn’t sure what to do.
How could I keep the eggs out of the water without a trivet?
I managed to hack my way into a solution in two different homes and in two different ways.
Once we found a silicone trivet like the kind that you’re supposed to set a hot pot on to protect your countertops. It was about a centimeter tall, and it actually worked to keep the eggs from bouncing around on the bottom of the Instant Pot. They cooked fine with that one cup of water spread out pretty thinly in our 8qt Instant Pot.
The other time I couldn’t find anything that seemed possible. So I folded up two washcloths or a dish towel, enough to keep the eggs up above the water, and again prevent them from just bouncing around everywhere. This worked too, and since I wasn’t hard boiling eggs for Easter, it was okay if a couple of them cracked in the process.
So if you find yourself without a trivet, you can still hard boil eggs, but it’s well worth the space to buy one along with these other useful Instant Pot accessories.
You can even get trivets designed to make hard-boiling eggs super easy and to minimize bumping and cracking. I don’t find them strictly necessary, but I will say this egg trivet looks like a great choice if you’re going to invest in one.
Where to Find More Great Instant Pot Info
If you loved this hack, you’ll love all of our 10 basic Instant Pot techniques over here in the How to Use an Instant Pot post.
- How to Make Deviled Eggs
- No Mess, No Food Coloring Easter Egg Decorating
- Egg Carton Labels: What’s in a Name?
Some Favorite Instant Pot Recipes:
Easy Instant Pot One Pot Meals that any beginner can make!
Hello! I have heard so many say that IP cooked eggs are easy to peel. I haven’t had this experience and I’m wondering if i am doing something wrong? I have a YETI brand pressure cooker with a stainless steel interior and egg trivets. My eggs are still hit and miss with peeling. I felt like I had better luck with my stovetop routine. Any advice?
Sara, do you put your eggs in an ice bath when they are done? I think that’s key. Some cooking methods may be better than others, but if you don’t put the eggs into an ice bath peeling will still be hit or miss in my experience.