Hard-boiled eggs

Hard-boiled egg

Boiled eggs, increasing in boiling time from left to right
Main ingredients	Eggs
Variations	Baked eggs, starting temperature, preparation

Boiled eggs are eggs (typically chicken eggs) cooked with their shells unbroken, usually by in boiling water. Hard-boiled eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both , while for a soft-boiled egg the yolk, and sometimes the white, remain at least partially liquid.

A few different methods are used to make boiled eggs other than simply immersing them in boiling water. Boiled eggs can also be cooked below the boiling temperature, via coddling, or they can be steamed.

The egg timer was named due to its common usage in timing the boiling of eggs. Boiled eggs are a popular breakfast food in many countries around the world.

There are variations both in desired doneness and in the method of how eggs are boiled, and a variety of kitchen gadgets for eggs exist. These variations include:

Chef Heston Blumenthal, after "relentless trials", published a formula for "the perfect boiled egg" that explains how much water to use, how much time to cook and how much time to rest the egg.

Soft-boiled eggs are not recommended for people who may be susceptible to salmonella, such as very young children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems. To avoid the issue of salmonella, eggs can be pasteurised in shell at 57 ºC for an hour and 15 minutes. The eggs can then be soft-boiled as normal.

Soft-boiled eggs are commonly served in egg cups, where the top of the egg is cut off with a knife, spoon, spring-loaded egg topper, or egg scissors, using a teaspoon to scoop the egg out. Other methods include breaking the eggshell by tapping gently around the top of the shell with a spoon. Soft-boiled eggs can be eaten with toast cut into strips, which are then dipped into the runny yolk. In the United Kingdom and Australia, these strips of toast are known as "soldiers". Because the egg shell insulates heat in the unbroken section of the boiled egg (thus continuing to cook it), the yolk gradually solidifies, like a hard-boiled egg. A teaspoon is often used to scoop the cooked yolk and white out of the shell so it can be eaten.