Instant Pot Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
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Now your eggs will come out absolutely perfect every time in the pressure cooker! All you need is 3-7 min! That’s it!
How do you like your eggs? A soft boil, a medium boil, or a hard boil?
I prefer a soft boil. I love a runny yolk.
But, no matter what you prefer, I have you guys completely covered to make the absolute perfect hard boiled eggs right in your pressure cooker! All you need is your metal trivet (the one that came with the IP), 1 cup water, and 6-12 eggs.
From there, you can set your timer anywhere from 3-7 minutes (depending on your preference). That’s it! No babysitting. No fuss. No waiting for the water to come to a boil. No nothing.
And you know what? They’re even easier to peel than traditional hard boiled eggs.
After this, you’ll never want to make hard boiled eggs on the stovetop ever again.
Instant Pot Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 6-12 large eggs
Instructions
- Add water to a 6-qt Instant Pot®. Place metal trivet into the pot. Gently add eggs on top of the trivet.
- Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 3-7 minutes.* When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- Cool eggs in a bowl of ice water for 1 minute. Drain well and peel.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Perfect place to start with the IP. I used 4 eggs, straight from the fridge. 7 minutes , ice bath and perfectly set hard yolks. I’ve never gotten them this good by myself! If you’re an egg lover, I’d get one just for that. It feels like they’re trying to fall out of the shells.
Wow. I was skeptical but this worked perfectly. I left my eggs out for maybe 45 minutes before cooking. Did 5 minutes on high pressure with quick release. The eggs had no cracks, peeled beautifully, and the yolks were perfectly firm without being overly dry. This will be my go to from now on!
Thanks for the tip of leaving eggs out for 45 minutes. I will try that! I had cracked eggs.
Perfectly cooked eggs every time! Thank you
This worked great for making hard boiled eggs! Thank you!
(I’ve already submitted 2 posts, but I’ll add one more…)
I’ve noticed that different egg boiling sessions can give varied yolk consistency results, even though the same settings are used over and over again. I’ve determined that this difference is because little silver button on the instant pot cover doesn’t always seal the pressure at exactly the same time each session, and this slight variance is enough give different egg yolk consistency results each time.
To get a more consistently cooked yolk, I will ignore the instant pot buzzers, and instead, focus on a smartphone timer that I have set for a pre-determined amount of time. This timer will begin at exactly at the same time I start the instant pot.
So, when I manually set the instant pot to 6min at low pressure (for 9 eggs with 1 cup water), I will begin a smartphone count-down timer to 18 minutes.
When the cellphone time of 18 min is competed, I will release the pressure, and move the eggs to the cool-water bath.
When I do this, I find that that there can be as much as 1 to 3 minutes difference in overall cook time, had I relied solely on the instant pot buzzers.
Surprisingly, this (separate timer) technique makes a difference. 🙂
Obsesive Compulsive get a life for christ sake
Thanks Roger, I didn’t realize this is why I was getting inconsistent results. Sherell is just rude.
not nice sorry your having a rough time 🙂
This was the most helpful comment, thank you! Not sure how someone could take it negatively- I appreciate you taking the time to post it (three years ago)! I believe this might be the issue I’m having.
I found that LOW PRESSURE (as opposed to HIGH) helps minimize the number of cracked egg shells during cooking. Just adjust time appropriately.
Also, if an egg is found to be floating, in the cooling water, it either is said to have a large air pocket in it, or it is a bad egg.
a search on the net says that the true test of a bad egg is if it smells bad.
if it does not smell bad, then there was probably a large air pocket, and is safe to eat.
I also learned that chickens in Europe are vaccinated to not have salmonella, so they can be less careful about leaving eggs un-refrigerated.
Here in the states, it appears we should not leave eggs without refrigeration for more than 2 hours, regardless of cooked or not cooked.
In the us and canada we clean the eggs, when you wash the eggs you remove the natural film on the egg called the bloom. When that is washed off the egg needs to be refrigerated. When you buy eggs in most of Europe they are unwashed and because of the bloom can sit at room temperature for quite a long time.
Thanks, Karen, for clarifying my inaccurate conclusion I wrote about about why certain eggs can withstand room temperatures. I’ve been further educated.
I have free range organic pastured chickens. The US is the only country required to refrigerate eggs because they strip the bloom off the eggs by washing. When chickens lay eggs they are coated with “bloom” which protects the egg from bacteria entering while they’re being incubated. Unfortunately the US as usual has to interfere with Mother Nature and wash that off leaving the shell porus and prone to bacteria, and absorbing odors from the refrigerator.
Can I assume the directions above are for refrigerated eggs and not room temperature? I rather take them right out of fridge then right into instant pot then have to plan ahead to get them to room temperature.
Thanks
Good to know. Thank you,
It’s not just the US that washes the bloom off eggs, Canada does too.
I
live in the philippine’s go to the wet market to buy my eggs
I know nothing about bloom or no bloom but my eggs last up to 2 weeks in the fridge when I bring them home
I prefer yolk to be fully cooked, but at tender as possible.
each morning, I cook 9 eggs at a time, using an OXO Pressure Cooker Egg Rack. I found it at target.
1 cup water, and cook manually on LOW for 6 minutes.
I give 3 more minutes (on WARM setting) without release of pressure, then immediately place all 9 eggs in a 5-qt container which has about 3+1/2 qt of cool water .
I swirl the eggs around to cool them for about 30 sec or so, then begin peeling, using the cooling water to remove any shell bits stuck to the eggs after removing the shell.
SO CONSISTENT in results.
I end up eating 9 egg whites, and about 1/2 yolk (for cholesterol reasons I am limited in yolk consumption)
coupled with Bolthouse Farms ‘Salsa Verde Avocado dressing, and coarse ground black pepper, and I have a fantastic protein-rich, low fat, low sodium breakfast
cooking variables to play with (while maintaining the 6 min low pressure setting):
* the number of eggs being cooked,
* the volume of pressure cooker water,
* the waiting time to release the pressure.
I suppose the OXO egg holder could also be double stacked, so as to boil 18 eggs.
I suppose you could double stack eggs with 2 of these devices.
Can someone please modify the recipe to say how much water to add?
Thank you!
The amount of water is included in the recipe. 🙂
It says one cup at the top of article
Thanks for the recipe! I wasn’t sure where to begin! I tried 4 minutes, in my opinion that made perfect hard boiled eggs. 3 minutes made perfect medium boiled eggs! I used 6 eggs, 1 cup cold water, quick release, ice bath.
I did 5 eggs on high pressure for 4 min with a quick release. When I opened the IP, about 3 of my eggs had cracked during cooking. 🙁
Can I still use the cracked eggs? Are they still good to eat?
I have used this recipe before & never had a problem. Eggs always turned out terrific.
Thank you!
My eggs cracked too. What went wrong?
Did you put the eggs in the water or in a basket?
Doesnt the article say low pressure?
I simply cannot believe how easy the shell just slides off! I’ll never -boil- eggs again, I bought an egg rack for my instant pot, works like a charm towards making eggs, I have noticed that if the eggs touch they don’t cook properly, so I got the egg rack. I steam my eggs at 6 minutes, high pressure, with 2 cup of water, use my egg rack, vent closed, medium heat, the center lite, I have the 3 quart, can only hold 7 eggs, so I make 2 batches, If you reading this, do get a 6 quart unit, set up the unit, walk away, do something else, come back in 15 minutes, I have hard boiled eggs, way cool, I do put the eggs in cold water to stop the cooking, peel them all, check the water level in the pot, add a little more water, do the next batch. It simply cannot be any easier. The egg rack came with a 4 cavity silicone egg bite mold, wash the thing, dry, then I put in sliver of butter, bit of cheese, bit of cut up ham, a bit of cut up spinach, 1 whipped egg, touch of salt and pepper, I did this in all 4 molds, cover with foil, then high pressure for 15 minutes, vent closed, I can’t believe it, natural vent, out popped these 4 egg bites. Talk about *fast* food, I have both hard boiled eggs and egg bites in the refrigerator. NOW, my fav dessert is cut and core an apple, I add a bit of orange rind, high pressure this for 6 minutes, I use the pot in pot technique, add a little water to this pot, still put in the small rack and add water to the master pot, when done, vent, pull out the inner pot, watch it, it is very hot, then add a little butter, some cinnamon, a few drops of vanilla, little honey , you’ll have a dessert you won’t believe. Do remember that this unit is a *Steamer*, make sure you have some liquid in the main pot, the one that came with the unit, minimum of 1 cup of liquid, when I make beef stew, I use beef bone broth, do make sure you have 1 cup of liquid in the unit’s pot, otherwise you’ll get the -‘food-burn’ message. I use my instant pot every day. Stay safe, wear a mask, social distance 6 feet or more, wash your hands and face when you come back from shopping.
this works!!!!
I can’t BELIEVE how easily these eggs peel!!!!
anyone know if 2 dozen egss can be done in one6-quart pot?
I don’t know if two dozen would fit — my stackable racks only hold 14 total.
Chungah, let me start by saying that I’m a huge fan of your site. That said, Thanks for the times on the other than hard boil. That’s very handy. Here’s my experience.
Hard boil: Room temperature eggs. I’ve done up to 18 with perfect results. 4 minutes on high, 5 minutes on natural release, quick release, ice bath for 3-4 minutes, peel. No green.
HOWEVER, I’ll definitely give yours a go because it involves only one cook time step.
You are correct when you say they peel so easily. It makes working with hard boiling eggs a joy. No more stovetop.
I just made these!!! It’s ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!! So easy to do! The shells (cracked and then run under drizzling water) just slipped off the egg! I couldn’t believe it! Nice on the inside, too, with a hard boiled white. The whites are softer than I thought they’d be, but they’re firm. This is the best hard boiled egg I’ve ever eaten! Great for my salads, on keto bread sandwiches with keto mayo, and just in case I want to “fat fast”. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this before: another use for my instant pot for Keto and Intermittent Fasting! YAY!! I’m so impressed with this simple recipe.
I set the instant pot for 4 mins on high pressure and I get perfect medium-boiled eggs every time!! A quick and hands-off recipe that I use every week for meal prep. Love the visuals in the recipe post too!
Did 8 eggs for 7 minutes with quick release then ice bath (after accidentally “DROPPING” the strainer of the instant pot into the ice bath with eggs flying everywhere!) Ice bath for 4 minutes. PERFECT hard boiled eggs. Saw some brown spots on the inside of the shells but the eggs are perfectly boiled.
Second trime making it, got the exact same results as the first – 5 minutes with quick release and an ice bath generates perfect eggs that have a firm outer yolk and a softer Gel-like center that is not runny. This is a keeper.
Oh, and not to take away anything from this method, but it is the ice bath that makes the eggs so easy to peel. I’ve been doing that with the old fashioned stove top method for years with similar peeling results.
Has to be user error with those of you messing these up or your instant pot is faulty.
I did only 3 minutes and they come out perfect for me, the white is done and soft yellows.