Have you ever tried to hard boil eggs in the oven before? Holy canolies, it totally works. I was baking some cookies yesterday and after I was finished, I thought I would give it a try.
Here’s how to “hard boil” eggs in the oven.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Place eggs in a muffin tin.
- Bake eggs for 30 minutes.
- Remove eggs from the oven and with tongs place them in ice water to cool down.
- Peel eggs. Eat eggs. Yum. Yum.
The only down side to baking eggs in the oven is that they may develop brown spots on the shell from coming in contact with a metal pan. This happened with 9 out of 12 of the eggs.
When I baked the eggs in the oven, they were also much easier to peel than when I have used the traditional method of boiling eggs in water. Plus, the eggs were creamier too.
Pretty cool if you ask me.
Have YOU tried making “hard boiled eggs” in the oven before? Which method do you prefer?
~Mavis
Looking for more kitchen tips? Check out the book How to Break an Egg by Fine Cooking Magazine. It’s filled with over 1,453 handy tips and techniques for around the kitchen.
David says
There are silicone pot holders, spoon rests, etc. that take high heat and can be placed in an oven. Eggs put on one of these won’t have the metal contact brown spot. Firing up a big oven to do some eggs seems to me like a waste.
After trying steaming, baking and stove top, I still prefer stove top.
Nancy says
Sounds like a great idea. I would worry about them exploding in the oven…what a mess.
Lindsey says
Unless you do this while you are baking something else, this seems like a lot of electricity use for hard boiled eggs.
Jill says
When I started raising chickens, I discovered how hard it is to peel truly fresh eggs. Even a month old and they’re still hard to peel. That’s when I discovered the advantage of steaming them instead! The steam is a smaller particle than water and therefore can penetrate the shell and separate the shell/ membrane from the whites.
Kelly says
Please explain your steaming method…would love to try.
Elizabeth says
I would definitely try this. I have a 6 cup muffin pan that would be perfect to fit in with a cake pans or bread pans IF I could turn the temp up to 350? Think so? I don’t bake much at 325.
Sure we don’t use a needle to make a hole first? I would hate to clean up exploded eggs.
Heather says
When I read your title my first thought was “Oh I wonder if she will get the brown spots too?” 🙂 I have done this before and although I found it nice to not boil water, I did get the spots from leaning against the pan. Since then, I have done this using my silicone muffin pan without issues and love it! I only use this method though when doing a lot of eggs at once otherwise boiling is easy for a small batch.
I also make homemade egg muffins, aka Mock MickyD’s, and have success with cooking the eggs in my larger muffin. I just crack the egg into the pan sprayed with Pam, break the yolk with a fork and bake using the same method as above. I have never had brown spots when cooking this way without the shell using my metal pan. (This is a great way to make up breakfasts for on the go in the morning as I wrap them in wax paper and then we just zap them and go. We love spinach leaves in them with a variety of cheeses…yum!)
Mamalala says
I ruined a muffin tin cooking eggs in it. So spray it tons. I finally had to toss the pan out after trying several cleaning methods. I have also used muffin liners but they stick too…..just seemed wasteful either way for me. Tips?
Heather says
I use a newer large sized muffin pan for my egg sandwiches with a nonstick type coating.. I know when I tried to use an older one they stuck, so I had a terrible time with it, so I’d say stick (no pun intended!) with new or like new and spray each “hole” well.
Lisa says
I have not had this issue at all ruining a pan. In fact when I use the muffin paper liner in each spot you couldn’t even tell I used the pan at all. Could be your pan or your oven…? Definitely no need to spray the pan with anything. The egg shell does not stick.
I have done this 3 times now in a toaster oven. I got a tiny brown spot on each egg but no big deal. Today I must have over cooked them because all the eggs had a little brown shading on them on about a quarter of the egg. It did not affect the taste/flavor at all. I had cooked them for 30 min. at 350. I think I have been previously doing it at 325. So that little bit does make a difference.
My stove broke so this works great in my toaster oven.
I will try the silicone cooking pan/sheet next to avoid any brown spotting or shading.
AND NO, THE EGGS DON’T EXPLODE AT ALL!
LaToya says
What she said.
Jane says
Wow, just had one of those “HOW DID I NEVER KNOW THIS?” moments!! Thanks for sharing this. I wish I had heard about this before the infamous let the egg water boil down to nothing on the stovetop and start a kitchen fire moment of 2010. 🙂
Clare says
I tired this and it was a disaster. I HATE boiling eggs and peeling them. This was worse. Much. ALL but one cracked. 3 EXPLODED when they hit the ice water bath (recommended by my “recipe”. And no, they are absolutely not easier to peel, as promised. They were also over cooked with graying centers and browned whites. Glad it worked for you, but most definitely did not for me. To gun shy to try again.
Lisa says
Wow, I am very surprised at your results. I cook mine at 325 for 30 minutes and then let them sit for another 10-15 minutes. Then I run just cold tap water on them – dumping and rinsing twice to get the water cool on the eggs. Only then do I add ice and let them sit for another 20-30 minutes. The shells just come off so easy – easier than any time I have boiled eggs.
I invite you to try again. Areas of geography are different too for cooking – higher elevations, etc. So adjust to your area. And don’t use eggs that are super fresh or super old. ?! And different ovens and utensils all will cook differently. I cook mine in a toaster oven.