Why is it that eggs are so hard to boil perfectly? Today I am going to share the secrets to how long to hard boil an egg and the best deviled eggs recipe.
I used to get so frustrated when I would boil a dozen eggs and when it came time to remove the shells, they took half of the egg with it. Fortunately, I finally figured out how to hard boil the perfect egg. Today I am sharing my exact, foolproof method to hard-boil eggs and I am sharing the Best Deviled Eggs Recipe which includes my secret ingredient!
The Best Deviled Eggs Recipe
I am sharing these recipes again because it’s almost Easter season and I love deviled eggs!
In our house, that deviled egg season begins before Easter and ends with Labor Day.
I made that up, but I think of deviled eggs as a spring/summer food. Of course, I love to serve them at brunches, picnics, BBQs, and all spring and summer events.
I wrote a post with tons of recipes for a BBQ. I love serving deviled eggs at a BBQ but I also like them as Spring nears and I might be making them this weekend.
One problem with my deviled eggs is that I have to make a ton of them! They literally fly off of the plate. I have one friend who routinely eats so many of them that she suffers from stomach pains the next day (but says that they are worth it!)
(Just so you know, I am not “that friend”. I recently found out I shouldn’t eat eggs so I don’t eat them as often and I am so sad!)
I was recently watching an episode of Magnolia Kitchen where Joanna Gaines was talking about when she first started her cooking show.
She described how her recipes were all in her head and she’d made them for so long, that she didn’t measure the ingredients, she just cooked by color, texture, and taste.
This is very much the way I cook. So when I decided to share this amazing deviled egg recipe, I had to figure out the measurements. I was pretty sure that you would not appreciate it if I told you to add a dash more of this than that. Or mix it until it felt like “this” and tasted like “that”.
Fortunately, I measured everything out for you so that I could share the recipe with you!
Can I also say this is the cutest deviled egg plate ever? I love this White Ceramic Deviled Egg Plate (it’s new) and I got it on Amazon.
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The Best Method to Cook Hard-Boiled Eggs
A lot of people get frustrated with hard-boiling eggs. I think that is because there are a gazillion theories about the best way to hard-boil eggs so that the shells peel easily.
There are theories all over the internet debating fresh eggs vs. older eggs, steaming eggs vs. boiling eggs, peeling hot vs. peeling cold eggs, starting eggs in cold water and bring to a boil vs. adding eggs to boiling water. The list goes on and on.
After years and years of making deviled eggs, I have found a pretty foolproof method.
When you cook eggs the right way and they peel easily, they will look like this! So when you fill them they will look great.
When you are adding the eggs to the water, be careful to gently lay the eggs in the bowl. If you drop them in they will likely crack!
Yield: 12 eggs
How to Cook Hard Boiled Eggs
There are theories all over the internet debating fresh eggs vs. older eggs, steaming eggs vs. boiling eggs, peeling hot vs. peeling cold eggs, starting eggs in cold water and bring to a boil, the list goes on and on.
After years and years of making deviled eggs, I have found a method that is pretty foolproof.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time12 minutes
Total Time22 minutes
Ingredients
- one dozen eggs
Instructions
- Start with a dozen eggs. It doesn’t matter if your eggs are fresh or older. Pull them out of the refrigerator and place on counter so that they will lose their chill;
- Fill a large stock pot with water; Bring the water to a boil (I don’t add anything to the water, no salt, etc);
- Once the water is boiling and the eggs have lost their chill, using a ladle, gently ladle the eggs, one at a time into the boiling water. Be careful not to crack the eggs. Eggs with cracks will spill their whites into the water, so inspect them for cracks prior to lowering into the boiling water;
- Do not cook more than a dozen eggs at a time. The water to egg ratio is important for cooking the egg through to doneness; I may have made this up, but it makes sense to me. The reason this method delivers easily peeled eggs is this; as the egg is lowered into the boiling water, the shock of the heat creates a quick membrane inside the shell. This membrane is what makes the egg easily peelable.
- Boil eggs for approximately 12 minutes;
- Turn heat off and drain eggs into a colander in the sink (I use a colander insert in my stock pot so that I just remove the colander from the pot);
- Run cool water over the eggs to stop the cooking process;
- Once eggs are cooled, easily peel them.
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Deviled Eggs make the best snack, appetizer, lunch assortment, and kids snack! You are going to love this best Deviled Eggs recipe so much!
I love that these eggs look good and taste amazing.
Yield: 24 deviled half eggs
The Best Deviled Eggs Recipe Ever
These really is the best deviled eggs recipe ever.
Ingredients
- 1 dozen hard boiled eggs
- ¾ cup Mayonnaise
- 1 TBL Yellow Mustard
- ½ cup Durkee Famous Sauce (this is the secret ingredient that makes these eggs so amazing!)
Instructions
- Hard boil one dozen eggs.
- Once eggs are peeled, cut each egg in half length-wise. Remove the egg yolks to a mixing bowl to mix with the other ingredients and place the egg whites onto the deviled egg platters.
- Start with the mayonnaise. This is the condiment which leads to the creamy texture of the deviled egg.
- Add the yellow mustard and Durkee Famous Sauce to the bowl.
- Using a hand blender (fondly referred to in our family as the guacamole maker, you can turn even hard avocados into guacamole with a hand blender) or hand mixer, blend the eggs yolks, mayonnaise, mustard and Durkee Famous Sauce until smooth and lump free. The volume of the egg yolks will have increased substantially.
- I use my cake decorating kit to pipe the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites so that it looks pretty. Start by fitting the bag onto the tip. Place the tip end of the bag into a medium sized mason jar or glass. This keeps the bag standing upright and any filling leakage in the jar/glass. Use a spatula to spoon the egg filling into the decorating bag. Start by filling the egg in a circular motion, gently squeezing the bag until the egg is filled. When filled, stop gently squeezing the bag and lift the tip away from the egg, moving to the next egg white. You can just use a teaspoon and spoon it in if you prefer.
- Fill all of the egg whites with the egg yolk mixture (you will probably have leftover egg yolk mixture, this is really good as a tea sandwich filling!)
Here is the secret ingredient. As I mentioned in the recipe, if you can’t find Durkee at your local grocery store, you can always get it on Amazon.
In case you are wondering, I do not garnish my deviled eggs with paprika. Of course, you can if you like. I prefer to either serve mine plain, or garnish with crumbled bacon. Some serve deviled eggs with caviar or fish roe. Someday I might be grown up enough to like caviar, but today is not that day!
If you have clever garnish ideas, I’d love to know what they are. Honestly, these eggs sometimes don’t even make it to the platter, I hand them out as they get filled and poof, they are all gone.
The recipe is for 1 dozen eggs which yields 2 dozen deviled eggs. Depending on the number of people I am serving, I usually make 2 dozen hard-boiled eggs that yield 4 dozen deviled eggs. You may be laughing, thinking that there is a ridiculous amount of deviled eggs to make, but trust me, these go fast!
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do you boil an egg?
For a hard-boiled egg, the cooking time is 10-12 minutes. This timing depends on your altitude, the size of the eggs, and several eggs boiled at the same time, which impacts the ratio of water to eggs.
Why do they call eggs deviled eggs?
The term deviled egg comes from an 18th-century culinary term that is used to describe a highly seasoned dish. Over the years the term deviled has grown to include spicy, condiment-filled dishes, as well.
More Ideas From All of You
So many of you shared your cooking and recipe ideas for hard-boiled and deviled eggs. I wanted to share them here.
- Jean: I have been using my Instant Pot to cook my eggs. The 5-5-5 method. 5 minutes using the steam function, 5 minutes reading LO5, and 5 minutes in an ice bath. They peel like a dream. It works foolproof every single time. And one thing I LOVE about this method is, you don’t end up with that dark ring around the yolk. The yolks are all beautifully yellow.
- Steven: Leslie, another secret we’ve found is adding some vinegar to the water. The shells peel off so easily when we do this.
- Paula: Yummy! Thank you! A favorite French restaurant of ours serves Truffle Deviled eggs! So good! Have not tried making those yet.
- Darlene: The instant pot cured this problem for me!! Foolproof every time and easy!
- Sally: We use a Dash Egg Cooker. Perfect eggs and easy to peel every time. It seemed crazy to buy something to cook eggs but it takes all of the guesswork out of cooking perfect, easy-to-peel eggs.
- Marsha: I bought an Express egg cooker. You can boil 6 eggs at a time in a few minutes. Just plug it in with a little water. In a few minutes, you will have perfect boiled eggs. The shells just fall off. $15
- Beth: My husband and 3 sons devour my deviled eggs too! Love all the tips and tricks. My secret ingredient is Mrs. Campbell’s Chow chow. Used to use sweet pickle relish and tried some Chow chow one time and wow, so good! I also top them with chives or a pinch of green onions.
- Becky: A caterer told me this quirky tip years ago. It does help for centering the yolks…if you even care! I just have trouble remembering to do it. ~To center yolks perfectly in anticipation of making deviled eggs: place a rubber band around the carton of eggs, and set the carton on its side in the refrigerator for 24 hours before hard-boiling the eggs.
- Tricia: My daughter is a chef at a restaurant in Dallas and she puts a tiny bit of jalapeño in her deviled eggs. They are so good.
- Sonia: I make mine with mayo, ground mustard powder, and a pinch of Wasabi powder, or more for a kick. Make a lot of them too.
Some of my favorite egg plates and tools for making the best deviled eggs ever!
All My Favorite Deviled Egg Trays!
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