The Underwater Hack To Easily Peel Eggs

If you've ever tried to peel hard-boiled eggs, you've probably run into problems. Sometimes, the shell breaks into a million pieces, the egg itself breaks, or you keep taking tiny chunks out of the egg white as you attempt to extricate the shell from the egg. 

There's actually a reason fresh hard-boiled eggs are so hard to peel: The egg white in fresh eggs is more acidic. This acidity causes the white to form a bond with the inner membrane of the shell. The older an egg gets, the less acidic it gets; as this process happens, the egg white doesn't form as strong of a bond. So, the first trick is to use older eggs when possible. Regardless of the age of the egg, though, there is always going to be some bonding. When you know that bonding is the issue, you can use a peeling egg hack to interrupt the bonding. The hack that everybody has in their kitchen: Water. By peeling your hard-boiled eggs when they're underwater, you can interrupt that bond between the egg and the membrane, thus making them easier to peel. 

To easily peel your hard-boiled eggs, first place them in an ice bath. In addition to making them easier to peel, this also helps cool them down. While your eggs are still in the ice bath, crack them while they're completely submerged in water. As the water does some of the membrane separating for you, the shells come off almost effortlessly. 

If you don't want to opt for a full ice bath, you can use running water to your advantage, too. For this technique, peel your eggs under a running faucet of cool water. This works similarly in that the water gets between the egg and the membrane to separate it, and it has the additional advantage of the force of the running water. As the pressure of the water hits the egg, it can help wash away all of the little pieces. Now you can make egg salad or pickled eggs with ease.